October 7, 2010

For those who are struggling…  (no need to define what kind of struggle, it’s different for all of us), I would like to offer a suggestion for self help…  Simplify.

Simply remove small tripping stones from your daily life. One here or there has potential to bring a sense of safety and relief from pressure.  Also brings to your struggle a sense of you being in charge having some small bit of control over what is seemingly being pressed upon you.

It appears that a lot of folks are going through some tough times this past couple of months. October being the  meanest of months for some.  Having had my turn at painful changes that seem to fall like boulders from somewhere unknown in the sky, I  would like to share that it comes to an end, and there is sunshine, refreshing water, and breathable air once you traverse to the other side.

How you get through your swamps of struggle will dramatically effect the quality of your life when you do finally emerge on the other side.  I encourage you to grasp onto something you can control something that is medicinal for you, therapeutic for you, and growth or forward moving. Something that makes you feel like you have a future before you.  Maybe that something is making time for regular massage or physical development, or cooking comfort food, or purging unnecessary objects from your home and your life.  Keep only those things essential to your well being or happiness.  Don’t be afraid to purge them as well. You may be surprised at how little you really need to be fabulously happy.

Core happiness comes from within… not from without.

For me it was gratitude.  Finding something to be grateful for, beginning with the most innate of things the most ethereal of things, the most simple of things.  Eventually I opened up to a broader scope of things to be thankful for.  Now I stand on a vast plain where every possible thing to be grateful for stands before me in plain sight to be reveled over,  right down to being available for those of you who are walking your path of struggles.

I highly encourage finding things to be grateful for.  Then start small. pebbles are much easier to maneuver than boulders.  Hug yourself and believe in yourself.

I BELIEVE IN YOU!

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Something amazing has happened this past week.  I am so excited about it I can hardly contain myself.  Sometimes we step back and take a good look around, just to reset our bearings.  I’ve been in this process for sometime now  simplifying my life, healing old wounds, and immersed in new and exciting adventures.  I love stepping back and gazing upon all there is – taking in the awe of it. Feeling the awesomeness of it all.

It? What is that?

Whatever lays before you, could be physically – the landscape – the home – the family or a friend – whatever. It could be something you feel and has no words for its description.  I have that going on right now with Ron my friend in Arizona.  The feel of having him back as my friend is wonderful.  While the lay of land before me causes me to gasp at its primal beauty, well just read a few posts back and you’ll know what I mean.  Whether in the desert or the alpine mountains or near shoreline, Earth speaks to me in so many beautiful ways.  My family and friends, new and old?  Oh My God!  Am I ever the most lucky person in the world to have such wonderful people surrounding me. Observing these things brings new stimulus for me to ponder and absorb.

You know what? I’m in love…

In love with my mother the Earth, my friends and family, the feelings that serge through me.  Spirit!

…back to my exciting realization…

I want to go riding!  I WANT TO GO RIDING!!  I want my horse back home and I want to go spend my time with him!  It’s genuine, brings tears to my eyes!

(Pro in 2009 – otherwise known as Celt’s Prophecy, as a yearling trying on a saddle for fun. Don’t worry the saddle had no cinch and only weighs 30 lbs.)

Ron, I want you to know something.  The day we reconnected I made a decision to bring my colt back home next summer.  I committed to him. Something in reconnecting with you reconnected me with my passion and with Pro.  All of a sudden yesterday comes along and I’m yearning to feel the weight of my saddle in my arms, smell the leather, and Pro’s flesh…    now I’m biting at the bit to get to him and sit WITH him…   bond.  I would love it if someday you and I could take our horses for a week long or more trip into the wilderness and bond with our Mother and our companions and one another.

I’m back!  I want to go riding!

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September 2, 2010

A couple of weeks ago I had a dream about someone  who was struggling for life because they could not catch their breath.  This is someone I actually know, who has in a round about way had an impact on me, having been present for some very major events in my life. As such a presence I have learned over the years to hold them somewhat close – like family.  They on the other hand have no idea.  Not a thought!  In my dream I ran hither and fro to find someone to help save their life.  Then I woke up. I’m not close enough to this person to really know anything about what goes on in their life, however living in a small town some news does travel around. Talking to another friend tonight, we discussed dreams and their possible deeper meaning.  Later it came to me that the person I dreamed about had recently lost a pet… a pet that had a mission, a purpose that had very deep meaning for the object of my dream, and was very close to succeeding in that purpose.  The loss was senseless and helpless. The entire communities feelings were palpable. Being empathic, I felt the empathy, sympathy, and for some the “attitude” or “opinion”  in many cases not favorable… the primary feeling of the town though was one of sadness.  The dream I had occurred a few days after the pets demise. I had wished that I could offer some sort of support to help with the pain of loss.  But that opening is not available to me.  Now it makes sense. I could feel the persons pain  and the communities awareness like it was water touching my skin. Feeling helpless to help.  So in my dream I scampered around trying to find help to save a life, not really being able to make a difference.  Why such a sad story for Thankful Thursday?  Because I realize that I still am connected, that I feel so much more of my surroundings. Something I thought I had shut down  before moving to Colorado.  But my connection to other living things, and people is very much alive and searching for a way to express itself. If only in my dreams for now. I feel like I’m able to open back up and let the empathic juices flow again.  So again my distant friend… you have impacted my life in yet another powerful way.  I wish only the warmest and most generous journey in life for you.

On to a friend whom I am exploring for the second time in life.  He too has given me a gift. Again tonight, while visiting about dreams with my friend, we also touched on other gifts that come in some very surprising packages.  My renewed friendship with a very special man whom I’ve always held feelings for comes after a darker period in our relationship.  Not really dark as in dank and perilous, but just non existent (12 years non existent).  Recently he has shared with me several times that we are embarking anew, the past doesn’t exist for us. We are just meeting fresh and beginning a new journey.  I’ve had to absorb this and fondle it…   and it resonates with me.  As my life each day is one of a new journey!  My friend has freed me of the past. He has opened the gates to allow this mare to run free, take in the wind, soak up the sun and to come to him as she feels the need.  A perfect symbiotic relationship. One of no encumbrances.  How I wish others could find this path and the love and joy and most of all FREEDOM that comes with it.  Thanks HANDSOME COWBOY…  I really do find you (the person you are from your earthly soul to your captivating mind), so very alluring and safe. I wish only to offer the same in return.

I am so thankful for the realizations that came today, for my friend who traveled down the path with me toward these discoveries… HUGS Maryanne!

There is always something to find gratitude in.  Even if it’s found in a dream… or offered as a place from which to begin anew.

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I know I fail on the blogging front.  I have been so busy living life in Silverton that blogging this summer has taken a major back seat.  As earlier mentioned I’ve been hiking, jogging, and enjoying the beauty of this place as much as I can. I wake up go to breakfast and take to the mountains for some powerful empathic communing with Mother and her creatures.  I have to say that I am missing Thankful Thursday. What I am really missing is the euphoria that stays with me through the day from being so thankful and experiencing the feel of it so thoroughly through my body, mind and spirit. So yes I’m about to embark on another flurry of Thankful Thursdays.

Simrat, a good friend, posted a video on Facebook that grabbed me and set me off to contemplate on something I have grappled with for many years.   I have always believed that every person had the ability to communicate empathically, only figured they just didn’t tap into it for whatever reason. Having spent nearly all of my life living empathically, communicating with animal kingdom beings mostly, but also occasionally if not fleetingly with people as well, it always amazes me how few people embrace it.  Horses and other animals I have known taught me how.   I’m so connected to them intellectually and spiritually through empathy that there really is no need for verbal  communication.  In fact I find empathic communication to be the truest sense of communication.

I miss it!

It’s a void here for me other than visiting with Cookie the guinea pig and Dragon the bearded dragon, or someones occasional dog or cat.  There is one person in town who is empathic in a powerful way but does not use it in any beneficial way.  You can feel the empathic nature of another person and see it as well. It is either there or it isn’t, and when it is there the connection is unmistakeable. I have found myself  strongly attracted to this person and wanting to immerse myself in silent communication with them.  But it’s pretty one sided and not going to happen.  They are not aware of their special connection.  It saddens me to find these lost people, who are missing out on a much deeper experience in life

Recently I have reconnected with an old friend who is also empathic, they have a powerful connection and do communicate on an earthly level with other living beings.  This person was strongly connected with me through my horses many years ago that created a certain bond. This reunion as brought back some powerful memories of a time when the majority of my communication was done silently between me and a horse while being around a certain few people who wanted to tap into their own ability.

As my regular readers know, I’ve been broken where  horses are concerned.  I’ll be reunited with them soon, as I’ll be visiting my reconnected friend in a couple months.  It will be wonderful to see him again after so many years, but  I’m petrified to see his horses, one of which I was strongly connected to. The thought though of passing through that veil into a world of empathic bliss is intoxicating.  A dangerous place for a empathaholic. Yet exhilarating!  Being with my friend again will be so perfect, but being with the horses… I don’t know yet.  When I think about it tears seep from my eyes and wash down my face.  Pro will be coming home next summer, and somehow I have to find a way to engage him empathically without fear.  I’m not going back over how I got here – read the blog you’ll learn.

I am so thankful for the reconnect with my friend from the past, all the possibilities we are seeking to explore in the future, and the opening back up of that door to an empathic communication with life.  We have a song.  “Start All Over” by Tracy Chapman.  This song applies to our   journey, my friend and I… but also to everyone and the world in general.  It says it all, and this particular video is amazing to listen to…

Tracy is just the most beautiful woman!

(Paris 1998 – Tracy Chapman)

Here is the video that Simrat posted on Facebook that sent me off  on this reminiscence of empathic connection with life.  Its amazingly accurate in  my book.

(RSA Animate – 21st century enlightenment )

I agree with many of the thoughts in this video – that humanity can recreate their situation if they reunite with a common empathy.  I believe humanity if collectively empathic with their Mother and each other can have a New Beginning.

I believe my friend and I will soar this time around. You know why? Because all we have to do is be presently empathic for one another and set our egos aside. Something we both understand and seek.  To experience a kinder, gentler more compassionate life for the better of both.  Being on the same Red Road is an amazing way to journey through life with a friend.

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Apr 7, 2010

The windows wide open, fresh air filling the room, Bright sunshine filtering in, this was a glorious day!  Started with breakfast with my friend Pam, then home to organize stuff for a bit. Later comes a visit from Mark Garvin one of the resident carpenters in town.  Mark is a master worker!  He transformed my so so bathroom into a spa retreat in no time at all and with little expense to me and great suggestions.  Only a couple more things need to be done to finish my vision and make the space a wee bit more user friendly and wallah(!) a gorgeous inviting place that’s functional and friendly.   Maryanne, Marks wife is the owner and fitness guru of Silverton Movement Center and has become a great friend.  She sent home with me something really cool today to go with my retreat.  It’s called “CALDREA” (countertop cleaner and liquid dish soap), and it smells heavenly and its a safe product.  Okay I have a new product line that I’m buying my household cleansers from!! I came right home and started wiping down the bathroom surfaces with it, relishing in how wonderful it cleans leaving the bathroom smelling wonderful.  I’m getting some of this stuff for Heather to try!!!  Maryanne also set me up with a couple and possibly more massages this weekend at her massage site. Bring ‘em on!  Mark and Maryanne are just really good people and I am very thankful that I have met them both and that they have been so welcoming to me since moving to Silverton.  Truly, I may not have done as well as I have if not for Maryanne’s referrals and support, and I would not be as happy in my abode if not for Marks creation.  Thank you guys!

Pro is not coming home this summer.  It was really causing me hardship to pull it off this soon. Kathy of Kickapoo Center Farm, who is such a sweetheart, is letting him stay at her place, in Wisconsin, until I can move him comfortably.  It takes a huge burden off of me since June is coming right around the corner and I haven’t had the opportunity to locate an affordable boarding situation. Kathy has been a Savior, a Saint, and a good friend!  Thanks Kathy.

Okay that’s it for today’s Thankful Thursday folks. I’m off to spend the evening with Dragon (the bearded dragon), and Cookie (the guinea pig). Great companionship!

Happy Thankful Thursday, All!

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Apr 1,2010

I know its been awhile since my last Thankful Thursday. I’ve been so filled up with great stuff in my life, that I just have been too busy enjoying it all.  Thought today I’d revisit some gratitude for how awesome my life has been recently.

Krissy my bestest friend in the whole wide world came from Arizona to visit me here in Silverton. She brought her man, Jesse,  and son, Evan, with her and we all had a great time. Krissy and I just kinda hung out together, while Jesse, went snowboarding and adventuring.  We all hung out a bit with Heather and Malcolm and played some Xbox.   I keep going back over the awe I feel when I think that Krissy made this huge attempt to come see me.  I’m just not use to that happening.  I’m so thankful for your effort Krissy.  Loved getting to know Evan better and playing grandma.  I’m thankful for Jesse too, for making it possible for you to drive the ten hours each way be with family.

Ive been eating  a paleo ‘type’ diet the past two weeks and am finding that I feel great!  I have had some large toe joint issues that I have assumed was from having my feet stomped on repeatedly over the years by horses.  The other night though I discovered that it may be more to do with gout than the bone spurs. Over the last couple of years I’ve been working toward a more alkaline diet, but of course fall off the wagon occasionally.  Well having read up on nutrition regarding gout and finding that many of the non meat paleo foods are great for lessening the affects of gout. So I am trying  them, and guess what? Three days and my large toe joints don’t hurt as bad. Really I’m not really noticing them.  Makes me want to jump for joy. Especially since I have also discovered that my knee will now allow me to jog!!! YAY!!  I can jog again without pain, which makes me feel like I’m living again.  I love learning about nutrition and how its helps our bodies cope and grow.

When Krissy came to visit she brought me Cookie, the sweetest most adorable guinea pig.  I am having so much fun getting to know her and she is the liveliest, busiest piggly wiggly you could ever imagine.  She has a cavie corral  which is approximately 2 by 4 feet and she makes good use of it scurrying around playfully kicking up her heels like a young foal in play. She comes over to the corner of her corral that is closest to where I sit at night and waits for me to pick her up and cuddle with her. She loves to scramble up around my neck and sit behind me on the pillow I lean against.  It’s just nice having someone warm and soft and cuddly to commune with.  Perfect for my small space living style.

Most of all I am so enjoying my new bathroom. Still waiting for the curtains to be finished and my frames so that I can put up my artwork up on the freshly painted walls.  By the end of this month it will be competed and then I’ll share pictures of it.  Its going to be a mini spa experience every time I go in there. I smile every time I do.

Saturday, Heather will come to enjoy the spa retreat.   I’m fixing it up for her to come soak in the heavenly claw foot tub tucked away within a grove of yummy tropical plants in a beachy like atmosphere.  She needs a “me” day. My heart swells so huge, when I can do things like this for my baby.

Tonight I am having homemade quail stew. Going to experiment with carrots, onions, and yams replacing the typical potatoes.  Yams are part of my alkaline movement in foods.  Being slightly sweet they should compliment the mildly gamey quail.

Life is good in Silverton. I’m so happy to be HAPPY again. I smile a lot just hanging out here in my little abode.

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Mar 5, 2010

Well I skipped last Thursday’s Thankful Thursday.  The day just got away from me.  By the time I got around to thinking on gratitude I was drained and brain dead.  I just  thought for a few moments on all the things I had to be grateful for and hit the sack feeling bountiful.

Today, I’m feeling pretty drained again but do not have any jobs to do. A day off!  Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!!  Ha!  Like I don’t get enough days off…   I just seem to need this day to recoup. Thursday has become my Sunday. The day I reflect, and express, and rest, and heal.

Those of you who follow me on twitter and facebook already know that Celt’s Prophecy will be coming home.

Celt’s Prohecy (Pro) at 1 year in Arizona

Not sure when this will take place, but its definite.   Lots of details to work out but I am anxious. I must say after having to leave him behind and struggling through his mothers disease and death, after trying to leave it all behind, I am so thankful that Pro is coming home. I guess I made my own destiny when I started some 11 years ago to produce this colt. I thought I was working on the future of the Spanish Mustang breed. Seems though I was working on my future with one special horse. Instead of improving the breed, Pro has served to improve who I am and who I will become.

Short synopsis:

I bred quality Spanish Mustangs, individuals that many people admired. I saw a decline in a certain type and quality with in the breed and set out to do something about it. In the process and due to decisions I lost all but one of  my founding stock. A mare named Celt’s Kindlewood.

(Celt’s Kindlewood 3 months before being put down due to DSLD/ESPA complications)

She actually belonged to my daughter Heather and I  watch sentinel over the mare. Having done all the right things, allowing her to mature to 5 years before riding her, training her slowly over her entire lifetime, became one with her, giving her the best care. finding the right stallion to breed her to and acquiring him having negotiated for two years on related stock and waiting for his arrival for an additional year.  All very carefully executed. Having done all the right things its comes down to a colt who was to carry the torch.  Celt’s Prophecy – not the end result but the beginning of the future. A colt who will be gelded and become a backyard buddy. Why you ask?  Because after all that, Kindlewood came down with DSLD/ESPA, a degenerative systemic disease believed to be inherited.   DSLD/ESPA (video of the diesese) sometimes never raises its ugly head, or not until a horse is aged. However, sometimes it takes young horses by surprise. It took Kindlewood at age eight.  All my plans went out the window because I cannot allow my horses to pass this horrible painful disease into the breed.  I’m convinced that the breed already has its share of the disease floating through its DNA as does most all modern breeds and there is no way to test for it at this time to be sure.  It’s just safer to geld Pro, hope that he stays sound, and hope that others who discover the disease in their bloodlines will do the same with their breeding stock.

Kindlewood died Halloween of 2008 as an eight your old  mother of  the future.  Irony,  “Future”,  my greyhound died two weeks later.

Kathy Freymiller of Kickapoo Center Farm graciously took Pro from me to help me out.  I just was not able to bring him to Colorado with me. I had exhausted my resources trying to save his mother and was now in debt over my head. I thought Pro was gone for certain and my horse days were gone with him.  Then…

I get an email from Kathy, and my life has taken another turn. Just like that! Snap your fingers Pro comes home and things are different than they ever would have been.

Reborn…I seem to be reborn every few months lately.  Horses are back… but this time in a very different way. More like it was when I was a child with Chiefy, my gelding companion while I was growing up.  Pro and I will explore life’s gifts together. I get a second chance to  grow up. Only this time I have the wisdom to not “quite” grow up…

My old best friend Asad, during my grown up days, and his grandson Prophecy my new childhood cohort.  I promise we will be into all kinds of mischief. I promise not to grow up.

My senses are completely overwhelmed with gratitude.  I have been so humbled, I am so humble. Thank you from the very depths of my soul!

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Feb 18, 2010

It’s not going to be about me today. Instead I want to share with you how others perceive Gratitude. Quotes from people who have a rich sense of  thankfulness. Wisdom begot from observations and or personal trials.

There is no harder lesson to learn for some of us than to be grateful with utter sincerity.  To freely, openly, and with utmost bravery let go of our safe entombment of attitudes on all fronts in order to be grateful to its truest purest sense.

So if we carry around a stone in our heart – If I remain captive of the fact that someone holds me in disgust because I was willing to put a horse down rather than see it go out into the world and be  subject to a life of pain and abuse, then I try to heal myself by saying thank you for the food and warm home I posses, am I truly being thankful? Or am I being selective, holding my stone tightly within my heart while babbling about being grateful?  I believe that in order to be truly grateful we must let go of our stones.

(This is how I perceive most hearts, mine included.)

Gratitude, the act of being thankful can heal us of our burdens. By casting out the stones in our hearts sometimes one at a time over time or instantly we begin to shine inside and heal from past and present wounds. I see this as the first step to healing our world. One person, one stone, one act of “pure” gratitude at a time.

(This is how I perceive Gratitude (water) as it cleanses us of our stones, if we allow them to be washed away.)

An now some quotes to ponder… They pretty much touch on how I view gratitude and the act of faithfully participating in Thankful Thursday.

FREDERICK TURNER:   To those who followed Columbus and Cortez, the New World truly seemed incredible because of the natural endowments. The land often announced itself with a heavy scent miles out into the ocean. Giovanni di Verrazano in 1524 smelled the cedars of the East Coast a hundred leagues out. The men of Henry Hudson’s Half Moon were temporarily disarmed by the fragrance of the New Jersey shore, while ships running farther up the coast occasionally swam through large beds of floating flowers. Wherever they came inland they found a rich riot of color and sound, of game and luxuriant vegetation. Had they been other than they were, they might have written a new mythology here. As it was, they took inventory.

H. U. WESTERMAYER:   The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

MARC ESTRIN:   Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns.

JOHN F. KENNEDY:     As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

(This image by Montague Dawson British Master Nautical Painter – Painting/Print/Note cards – is for sale at Encore Editions for $15.00 – Please visit this fine site to find many more exquisite paintings.)

Why a painting of a ship on a peaceful ocean you ask? My perception of bounty and a completely free spirit – cleansed of its stones. The feeling and healing one reaps from Gratitude…

BLISS

For more gratitude/thankfulness please visit these sites: Akal Ranch – Tired Dog Ranch – Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch – From The Horses Back – Grateful For – Jonathan Lawson of mysnowpro.com – Maryanne Garvin of the Silverton Movement Center – Gemini and of course our guest blogger Zebrafinch… OUR CIRCLE IS GROWING

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THANKFUL THURSDAY by ZEBRAFINCH (guest blogger)

This week, a blizzard hit our region with astounding efficiency. Everyone stayed home, work was canceled, and even traffic nearly disappeared. People realized this storm was the real deal and did not argue with it. The resulting giant white vacuum chamber got very quiet within hours.

What happens when life goes from overwhelm to a stand still? Again, gratitude was my tool for mining stillness and empty space. But there really are no empty spaces, I think. If anything, maybe empty spaces are the moments we miss, because we were never there.

My ritual “count my blessings” walk across the “largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world” the bridge outside my door—

(This amazing image of the William Taft Bridge in Washington DC was taken by Declan McCullugh – Please check out his work)

( Wikipedia William Taft Bridge – http://tinyurl.com/yzq47dk )

—was more interesting for the twilight-spooky snow. The railing between me and a creek 125 feet below seemed frail and small. I was more aware of the spaces between balusters and the frosted treetops. The entire landscape was so quiet you could hear a mouse burp. I was reassured by cars rolling slowly by and glowing lamp lights.

I began: “I exist, I grow, I love, I explore, and I thrive.” This was my energy healer’s mantra for me during the darkest days of my Lyme disease. It now helped to propel me 1,000 feet across the ice. By force of habit and intention, thankfulness began crowding out my fear of slipping or falling. I pondered how many seasons I had missed by not really being present to their passing. I resolved on the bridge to anchor the loveliness of this winter by being consciously thankful for its structural gifts: darkness; lamplight; soft snowfall; blessed cold, fresh air; silence; even restrictions.

I continued: “I am grateful for my friends, seasons, peace, my warm coat….” Snow attached to all that made my week so special. Dear friends and I had lunch before a fireplace and watched feather-like flakes descend. We later had wine in a beautiful hotel. It was a rare day when our schedules were cleared for friendship, nature, food and conversation. I learned something new about people I had known for over 30 years. Snow will help me remember this rare and special time. Thanks, snow.

Seasons and weather as reminders of abundance kept coming back to mind. What is it about weather that many people resist? Blizzard? Yay! It insulates the soil and protects little animals. Rain? Bring it on. Plants and animals will drink all summer, and trees will have big, shady canopies. Sun and heat? (OK, I’m working on this one.) I do not need memories of summer—or any other time—to get me through winter. I am thankful for this winter for what it brings now. We’ll see how that adds up.

Blizzard Washington DC Feb 19, 2010 by Zebrafinch

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Feb, 11, 2010

Been putting a lot of thought into Thankful Thursday and what I have to contribute today.  It has been hard to come up with new stuff to discuss.  Why?  Because I live a very simple life and I am equally grateful for the things I continuously speak of. My family, this town, my abode, my creature friends and plants.  Grateful for my clients and friends, for the snow, for the mountains, for the sunshine gleaming off the mountains. Grateful for the continued improvement of my health and healing.  This is my world, small yet huge!

Last week I discussed health benefits obtained from the act of being grateful. Every Thankful Thursday post discusses how gratitude is changing my life. So what cold really stand out today?

1) first and foremost – My daughter, Heather tells me that she and her husband Malcolm had sat down the other day to discuss how their parents would manage in our elder years.  They came up with a plan for me. I don’t have a retirement so they came up with a way that I’ll have a home for the rest of my life, and I kinda like their solution. I’m proud of my kids. Heather was worried that I’d be offended – I  told her I was proud, that her concern spoke of the the way my parents raised me and how I raised her. I’m so thankful for the lessons I learned from my parents and what I was able to pass on to Heather. I’m one PROUD and GRATEFUL mom!

2) my friend Krissy is always looking out for me. She listens to me and knows my heart. I told her awhile back that I wanted to get a guinea pig for a cuddly pet that I could keep in my apt in an orderly manner. So she went right out and began researching guinea pigs. I mean she researched them, then started searching for them, then got herself one, then found the exact piggy I had told her months ago that I would like to have. Check out Cookie.

Isn’t she just adorable?!!  I like guinea pigs (cavies) because you manage them much like horses, you even make corrals for them, feed them hay, groom them and more similar things.  They become friendly like horses and to some extent are even trainable like horses. So I have my own little horse like critter to care for without the hard work and huge space and cost.  Well actually Cookie will come up to Silverton with Krissy and her family when they come to visit in a few weeks.  I am so thankful to you Krissy!  I so appreciate you always going far and beyond to see my happiness flourish.  You are the best friend anyone could ever have.  I am so thankful that Cookie is coming to live with me.

I’m so happy!

We had a visitor here on THE PONY EXPRESSION recently who also  shares in Thankful Thursday’s – meet Gemini and check out their blog for another approach to being thankful.

For more gratitude/thankfulness please visit these sites: Akal Ranch – Tired Dog Ranch – Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch – From The Horses Back – Grateful For – Jonathan Lawson of mysnowpro.com and of course our guest blogger Zebrafinch,  and our newsest Heart of Gratitude Maryanne Garvin of the Silverton Movement Center… OUR CIRCLE IS GROWING

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