Cycle of the Solstice: Morning in Peru

I love where my horse lives. Peru is beautiful. And I love morning. This morning I drove out to the barn and was inspired by how pretty it was. The morning in the fall is the best -- the crispness and the light are why I get up hella early on weekend mornings (before it is light out) to go hike and take pictures. And fall mornings are the ones that I most regret that I am heading to work (and I would regret going to work on big ol' dumping snowstorms, but thankfully, we get snow days when those happen and I don't have to go to work -- I can go skiing instead). In the fall though, there are several days in a week where I just yearn to be heading into the mountains, into the fog that is settled in the valleys but will rise and burn off. Today was such a morning. Thankfully I am usually the first one at the school -- means I get here around 6:50 or so -- we don't have to be here until 7:45 -- so this morning, when I was inspired to stop and take some photos, I had the pleasure of time. And so I did.

(Yesterday I went for a ride after work -- with Taco. It was our year anniversary -- I got her a year ago yesterday. I rode bareback -- my favorite way to ride. Someone asked me why I loved to ride that way and it is because I can just quickly brush her and jump on. It is because she is not freighted with a heavy Western saddle. It is because I love how connected I feel to her when I am sitting on her back. It is because of her body's warmth and her muscles working that I feel under me. It is how simple it seems. Horse. Rider. Bridle. Nature.)

So this morning I fed the girls and then I parked on the side of the road and tried to get what I was seeing. So those of you Easterners that are living in the beautiful, wide, expansive, awesome west -- here is a taste of home in the fall. Enjoy. (Remember you can click on the pics to see them bigger if you want to.)

And the Fryeburg Fair starts this weekend too -- horse-pulling and Steve's french fries and a whole lot of Maine cultcha.