A Budding Bloom

Maery Rose
“We have this mistaken idea that either we have regret or we get rid of it. Trungpa Rinpoche talked about holding the sadness of life in our heart while never forgetting the beauty of the world and the goodness of being alive. There comes a time when we are able to be pierced to the heart by our own suffering, and the suffering of others, and by our own regrets, without it dragging us down.”
— Pema Chödron, “Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears”
I have a post on Vision and Verb today that embellishes on the quote above and how it relates to some stuff I’m going through in my life. I don’t want to repeat everything that I wrote there in my post here though, as I have other show and tell stuff to share. 
Last week, I went trail riding at Crow Hassan park with two friends, who rode their gorgeously-athletic horses. Both of these women are showing this year, and I am so impressed with how hard they work.

I was mounted on my steady horse Luke. We are both making the best of what is as Luke’s not been quite the same since getting COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). His energy level is lower and he coughs when he first gets started trotting, but it’s better for him mentally and physically to stay active. He perks up on trail rides and seems to enjoy the change of scenery.  
Luke is such a handsome boy, especially adorned with zebra-patterned ear covers. I cannot express how much I love this horse and how gentle he is with me.
After our ride, the boys wanted a Northern Lite Caribou Cooler® (dark chocolate, of course). And yeah, I totally drank out of the straw after Luke-man slurped it.

There is always joy to be found when dark chocolate is involved, especially when shared with good friends. And that’s enough, really more than enough, to be thankful for.

    Similar Posts

    When You Need a Pep Talk

    When You Need a Pep Talk

    I’ve been working on becoming a published writer for a long time. It can be discouraging. Sometimes (a lot of times) I need a pep talk when I feel like giving up. Periodically, I also spend time assessing what is getting in my way. I came up with five problem areas to fix. Maybe you…

    Life Goes A Buzzing Bye

    I’m working a lot And thinking and worrying about work a lot And trying to figure out how to stop stressing about work a lot Many visits to a financial planner later Walla! There’s a retirement plan I say, “I’ll work for five more years.” “Eight would be better,” he says. “I’ll tighten my budget,”…

    Evolution

    Evolution

    “Evolution is a funny thing, developing defense mechanisms that work solely on the element of surprise. Case study: when I was 7, Scott Haley and I caught a lizard in his backyard. The lizard was so shocked it shed its tail in Scott’s hand at which point Scott started bawling. His dad said the tail…

    River Views and Gratitude

    River Views and Gratitude

    The days are a bit longer, but it’s still a challenge to take Java for a walk after work before the sun sets. Tuesday, Java and I did our speed-walk down to the river and caught the sun just over the trees. As I was busy snapping photos, a couple teenage boys walked by. One smiled…

    3 Comments

    1. Beautiful post! I loved all the photographs.

      I’m a real dark chocolate lover myself and just finished dipping strawberries, apricots, mangoes and pretzels to take to a party tonight. Yum.

    Comments are closed.