Hubby had to work today, so I spent the morning catching up with household odds and ends and running errands. Stopped by the farm park to drop off used egg cartons for their chickens and decided to go for a walk while I was there—it’s one of my happy places. I ran into a friend, who had ridden his bike there and was doing triceps pushups on a picnic table bench when I approached. We chatted about his wife’s family (she’s away a relative’s funeral), which led to a discussion about how letting go of old grudges is much better for one’s health than hanging onto grudges, which led a story about a teacher and mentor of his, which will (eventually) be the topic of one my self-care blog posts, which I haven’t written in several weeks because, ahem, I’ve been busy blogging daily about random things that happen in my life. Other items of note at the farm park: a beautiful grandmother oak tree (I can’t resist a picture of a stunning tree), a fox on the walking path, and a couple of young girls doing trick riding on a horse. I watched in awe as they flung themselves around, upside, backwards, standing in the saddle, jumping off and on the horse and in general participating in death-defying acts of fun. It reminded me of when I was in high school and volunteered at two different horse stables (at one I got to exercise the horses on a lunge line and muck out stalls, while at the other I got to ride the horses in an indoor arena). Only, if I ended up backwards or jumping off the horse, I guarantee it was purely unintended.

Hubby and I have been watching a series called Men in Kilts, a guys’ road trip featuring two of the stars from the television series Outlander (the hunky Jamie and the older hunky Dougal, who plays his uncle). It’s mostly silly but cute, and we find ourselves pining for Scotland again—except for the midges and the rain and the cold and the treeless landscape. But the kids are there and we miss seeing them and hanging out in pubs and hill walking and the brooding sea. 2022? We’ll see.

Copies of my book also arrived today! If anyone is planning a road to Montana, I can recommend a great travel companion.