Back To It

We have had a mild winter (so far). We saw temps in the 50’s for a few days, and that is very unusual for January, but I’ll take it. 

I contacted Katie about starting Tweed back up, and she asked if my arena was ready for it. I sent her a couple of photos.

It needs to be dragged, but otherwise, yes, it’s ready to go. We made a date for Friday morning.

We had the most amazing sunset last night. Just stunning. The entire sky was lit up, all directions.

It gets dark around 4:20, which is early, but it has caused us to slow down and read more and even watch a couple of WWII series: Band of Brothers and Masters of the Sky, most recently. It’s good to be reminded of the sacrifices that generation made. Sad, however, that most of them have passed on now. My sons recommended the shows to us, and I’m glad they did.

I tried a new thing the other day: flute yoga. I wanted to see if I could hold the poses and still play the music. It was either going to end disastrously or well, but if it came to saving the flute or myself, I planned to save the flute.  😆 It ended up well for both of us. You CAN do yoga and play your flute, in case you were curious about that, too.

When I play my flute, I position the stand to look out over the turnout and Mt Spokane. The best of all worlds.

Back in the barn, I added wet food to the nightly barn cat routine (at the suggestion of Aurora.) Tuffy, who has never had wet food, LOVED it.

Wild Dan, on the other hand, wasn’t interested in it. And neither was his brother from another mother, Grady.

They’re enjoying their barn freedom, but not venturing far from the warm sanctuary, and it helps that there are not many birds to chase, just the chickadees flitting about. 

This is where I usually find Wild Dan, nowadays, but he is a killer, and spring will be a different story entirely. He’s probably the only one of the three who still has the instinct. Fair guess there won’t be any mice in my barn.

The fog rolled in this morning. At first, we couldn’t even see the barn. Here are some photos from out and about.

Hopefully, it will clear out by Friday.

Barn Cats: Day Out

 

The barn cats continue to enjoy each other. For awhile, Tuffy (above) even started using the kitty litter box consistently. That didn’t last long. I think, at his age, it has more to do with lacking bowel control. But I love him so much, I don’t mind taking care of him in that way. It has, unfortunately, caused problems for other people, if they beat me out to the barn in the morning. 

Grady, above, is loving barn life. He and Tuffy are identical in their sweetness and, at first, it caused some competition. That resolved itself.

Dan is always on the move, but doing well, and excited for his first day out.

Which is happening today.

He is able to explore the whole barn today, but I’ll put him back in around 3, before it gets dark. The Sanctuary where they live has a kitty door that locks and unlocks. 

Hopefully, it goes well. 

Day 2 Yoga With The Horses

 

“I am a mountain. I will not move.”

“I am a warrior.”

“Yes, Epona that’s right. I will fight for you.”

“And I am a goddess, Tweed.”

“You are my Pegasus.”

Yoga With Horses

As I said in a previous post, I am taking my yoga on the road for 2026. Or, at least, down the road of my own property.  

One day, it was in the barn with the sun shining beyond the breezeway. 

When I needed balance for the Dancer’s pose, I used the stall fronts. 

I’ve also done the routine, which is short, on the back deck and in the front yard. 

Yesterday, I decided to do it in the turnout with the horses. 

Epona was the first to get in my space, and face. Tumbleweed watched from a distance, unsure of what I was doing, but joined in pretty quickly. 

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get solid footing, but with my muck boots, I had good traction. 

My routine is: Mountain Pose, Modified downward dog (more of a touch your toes and hold it), then Warrior 1 & 2, Goddess 1 & 2, Dancer pose, and end with Mountain and Modified Downward Dog. Stretch, strengthen, balance. 

I used Epona to balance me for part of the Dancer’s pose, and she was very accommodating. The others all ended up making a circle around me, which, at first, I was unsure about, since I couldn’t react fast if something happened to startle them. But I watched their reactions closely and felt a real calm in them which made me feel safe enough to continue. 

As I was putting my arms up, down, and out to change poses, I thought, wow, this is kind of like desensitizing work we do with them. 

I loved it, and can’t wait to do yoga with them again. 

On my way back to the house, I snapped these photos of the sun and snow. It was such a beautiful day. 

It is these moments I’m chasing in 2026. 

In fact, everything is pretty damn good right now. My daughter, who was so wounded over the last two years, has emerged happier and stronger in 2026. She took my advice to follow a path of grace, forgiveness, and acceptance. She gave herself time to heal, and is now dating the most wonderful young man who is a lot like her in temperament, and fits in very well with our family. He is the kind of person who is very gentle and strong and also hardworking, extremely honest and authentic. Oh, and smart. He joined us for the holidays and he has also accompanied us to a few of our musical soirées. Today, they’re off skiing together. 

The grandson, who was only 20 months at the time of the divorce, was taken under our wings, and now he’s four and thriving. He is grandpa’s shadow when he is here, but also has a very stable, loving relationship with his father and new family on that side. We continue to tell him how many people love him, his mama, his grandparents, his dad and stepmom, step-sibs, cousins, uncles, aunts. There can never be enough love for the littles. (And that is the power of grace.)

Last night, we celebrated my oldest son’s birthday and both of my sons gathered around me at the piano, as both are trying really hard to learn to play it and I was showing them some insights about playing with chords. They may have been a little too excited to play, as some  jostling for keyboard position did occur. Some serious boy, or more accurately, man energy when you have two grown sons competing for the keys, along with their mother who they decided “was trying to show off.” (Haha. I was. It is, after all, the one thing I can still do better than them, though they seem motivated to surpass me).

My husband continues to improve, and we have had a lot of time to relax together in the sunroom, hot tub (enjoying the snow and stars at night) and reading chairs. We have absolutely nothing planned for the weekend since his coughing can still occur unexpectedly. There is a play I would like to attend, but until the coughing resolves, I don’t think that’s practical. 

Onward and upward 2026! I am eagerly seeking joy, love, and all the good things it has to offer. 

Magic’ing Up Our New Year

The New Year came in with a bang, and a horrible flu that, for my husband, turned into walking pneumonia, but we are officially in the quiet time now. Time to visit the horses, barn cats, friends, family, music, plays, and all here at home. No trips planned. Yay!

If we want flowers, we visit the garage patio. 

If we want sunshine, we visit the sunroom, where we can read and listen to our favorite classical music. 

When we’re in the sunroom at night, we pretend we are in a Tuscan villa.

I’m slowly adding things to the room, one-by-one, as we sit in it and get a feel for what it needs. I’ve added more candles (photo above) to give it a feel of a fire pit, and one tree. We will add a second tree this week.  

When we first built this sunroom, we moved in our extra leather recliners, but they were a bit bulky. In 2020, we changed it to more of a patio feel. Now, I’m thinking something in-between. I’ll be on the lookout for low-profile, comfy chairs. The ones we have now aren’t horrible, but they’re not great reading chairs either.

As I thought about the New Year, I felt this need to do something different that would excite my soul. I wasn’t sure what. I don’t want to travel, so it needed to be something at home. 

Last night, it came to me:

Outside yoga. 

I have a basic set of poses I have done for many years, that help with balance and strength. I found them recommended for equestrians, and usually do them in my bedroom. 

But the question hit me, why not do them outside in the sun, snow, rain, barn, and even the pasture with the horses? Why have I been confining myself to the indoors. 

Today, I put on some comfy shoes, a cardigan, and a hat, and headed for the snow. It was gloriously fun! I am excited for where tomorrow’s yoga will take me.

Oh, another winter treat: SOUP season! This one is Zuppa Toscana. (Speaking of Tuscany). 

I want to try a new soup every week. Today’s soup is going to be Sausage Tortellini. (The photo below is not mine. It is from the recipe page at Julia’s Album.) 

Did I mention that my artist sister-in-law painted Tweed? She is the one who formerly painted Cowgirl and Epona. I didn’t know she was doing this one, I just saw it on her Instagram page for Year of the Horse and was like, “Hey, I recognize that handsome face!” I’m not sure how I’m going to wrestle it from her. Haha. 

And last, but not least. No winter is complete without furs. We had two comfy chairs in need of them, so I turned to Overland and oh my goodness, it was like Christmas all over again. 

The packaging on these furs!

Sitting in those chairs now feels like a super warm hug. 

What are you all doing to magic up your New Year?