The British

My horse loving cousin V came to visit the last 10 days. As you may have gathered from the heading, she's not from these here parts.  My dad was born and raised in England and emigrated here with his first wife in his late 20s early 30s. He subsequently divorced her and married my mom (there's really no scandal here despite the fact that my mom was a rural farm girl and he was the dashing muttonchopped debonair older man from abroad.) They produced two daughters 10 years apart.  Meanwhile his younger brother stayed in England and married a Geordie and they also produced 2 daughters, who are only 2 years apart.  

My cousins and I were always aware of eachother growing up and we had random visits throughout our childhoods. They came here once when I was very young while our grandmother was living here and we visited them a bunch of times, less so after my sister was born.  It was always family vacation though...until last year when my husband and I visited England on our own. We stayed with the youngest of my cousins as she is the closest in age to us and is single and lives in a beautiful home by herself.  We had a fabulous time with her and invited her to stay with us whenever she wanted. Before we knew it she had booked a ticket for October! It's been really fun to get to know her as an adult and create memories that don't include me biting her finger which is her one outstanding memory from the last time she traveled here when she was 9 and I was 5.  Perhaps she'd been eating salt and vinegar crisps and I was hungry? 

Anyway, carniverousness and cannibalism aside, we had another great visit. We visited my sister in Kentucky, introduced her to the Cheesecake Factory, went to Hocking Hills to hike and even squeezed in a trip to the races, a boat ride and a horse ride.  I think these visits in our 30s will pave the way for a closer family in our later years.  My parents and hers have always been the glue that bound us together across the pond and I think it's really neat that we're creating our own glue so that when our parents are gone (hopefully no time soon) we will still be able to visit and be comfortable with eachother.  

I *heart* family.

I do not believe there are any fish in Buckeye Lake.

But, although I didn't catch any fish...I did catch some beautiful things with my camera.

This is Cranberry Bog (http://www.ohiodnr.com/tabid/932/Default.aspx) It's a no wake zone because it's the only bog island in Ohio and the alkilinity of the water in Buckeye Lake combined with all the boaters is disolving it slowly. This causes some difficulties for boaters and residents of the lake because on occasion big chunks will break off and float across the lake. Imagine waking up with a tree in your 'front yard' that wasn't there the day before?

I just enjoy being able to put my feet up and relax while fishing. I am not too upset by the lack of actual catches...I got to spend time outside in the sun on a gorgeous day. I'm a happy girl.

The husband and his dad... This is posed. I have given up trying to catch both of them looking at me and smiling at the same time.

Peaceful.

All I pay my psychiatrist is the cost of feed and hay

And he'll listen to me all day...

Blogger sometimes aggravates me. First, the pics I uploaded were showing up so large that they were spilling off the 'post' area. Now they're tiny. *SIGH* Oh well. Back to my post. My 25 year old horse died in May of 2010. It was traumatic and awful and horrible and my heart was broken into thousands of tiny little pieces. The wonderful friends I made out at the barn I kept him at for the last year encouraged me to keep coming out and eventually I got the opportunity to ride one particular horse named Dallas regularly. Dallas is the polar opposite of what my Colors was. Colors was a 16 hand lanky and lean Saddlebred with a temper and a high strung personality. Dallas is a *cough* husky *cough* Quarter Horse with a butt that gets cat calls on trail rides and can't be rushed to save his life. I'm fairly sure that where Colors thought "OH MY GOD THE WORLD IS OUT TO GET ME LIFE IS TERRIBLE AND OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT TERRIFYING THING OVER THERE" Dallas thinks " Dohdidohtidoh...mmm grass...hey flower whatsup...dohdidohtidoh oooh sunshine...hey birdie." I rode Colors with English style...Dallas rides western. It's been a great experience riding him and re-learning a discipline that I hadn't touched in over 20 years. My heart is still a little bruised, I don't want to own another horse right now...but it's healed. I have found my center again without the hurting. Very little can lift my spirits like the sight of a setting sun on a chestnut's coat in the autumn light. My husband, I think, is glad that I have this again. He knows it's my 'quiet place' and where I go to find the calm.
This is my calm... enjoy

Dallas and his kind eyes...did I mention that he's trained to give hugs.

Dallas and his friend Buster. serious photoshopping going on here.

Part of the Herd.

Baron. He is the boss. He thinks he's the wildest Arabian stallion in history...but he's beautiful and he takes care of his owner on the trails. He never puts a foot wrong ever.

Why can't I grow highlights like this naturally? I would save so much money...