My FAVORITE Season

October is here!!! I love the month of October, I love autumn. The way the cool, crisp air smells, the coolness
in the air and the need to actually wear long sleeves. The way my horses smell and the quckness in their step.
(I have always thought I could bottle that aroma and sell it to every woman in love with horses at a resonable
price and still become wealthy!) Life is always good, but this time of year, life is even better, somehow more
beautiful. Of course a beautiful array of autumn leaves would add to the beauty of the season a great deal,
but we will have to leave that up to Mother Nature.

I find it very difficult to stay indoors to work. Let's see, retirement at 52? I could go for that. Of course as it
is now, having my studio in my home, being self employed and not having any employees, that's almost as
good as being retired, right? Take the jobs you want and leave the rest to the multitude of other photographers
in the area. Notice I didn't say "professional" photographers? Digital cameras are great but since they came
on the scene, everyone thinks they can "do it as good as the professionals". Life moves in cycles, changes
happen, things come and go and people tend to learn the hard way. When the event is over, such as a wedding
or reunion or anniversary, etc., events that can't be re-enacted, and the photos Aunt Mary or Uncle Joe took
are back from Walmart...you've heard of 20/20 hindsight, right? Enough said.

We have had many wonderful rides recently, even before the weather cooled. Last Monday, Columbus Day,
I took my 10 year old granddaughter on the 12 mile ride at Giant City State Park. We rode the trail backwards
in order to arrive at the lodge near lunch time. That chicken sure was good! It's always a little tough to get back
on your horse, with such a full belly, for the final 20 minute ride back to the horse camp. We made it though and
my granddaughter had a great time. It was wonderful to hear her laughing and giggling behind me as we "moved
on" down the trail. Mariah seems to be somewhat of a natural horseperson which of course makes grandma quite
proud.

The day before Giant City, Chester and I rode on the "E-Town Ride", Elizabethtown to Karbers Ridge/High Knob.
Now I'm not sure how many miles the ride is but I do know that we spent about six hours in the saddle - and
that's not counting the 45 minutes or so we spent on the ground for lunch. This is an annual ride, I have been
going on this one for about ten or eleven years. Chester on the other hand, at the ripe old age of 89 years and
9 months, has been on the ride at least twice as many times as I have. This is a beautiful ride, even though this
year we had a very warm day with temps in the 90's. One thing I can always count on concerning this ride, even
though I ride often and put a lot of time in the saddle, on the E-Town ride I will manage to aquire at least one
blister. And I'm not talking about a blister on my heel!

On Saturday, the day before the E-Town Ride, Chester, Mariah and I loaded up our animals and traveled to the
Enfield Mule Days Parade. Chester of course was on his mule, Jake, while Mariah and I rode Fancy and Lady,
our horses. Once again, for about the third year in a row, Chester took first place in the mule judging and came
home with a nice little check for his troubles. It was very warm, no, it was HOT! We did have a good time and
Mariah and Fancy did a great job, even though Mariah was a bit dissappointed the horses were not judged as
well as the mules. Well, after all it was the MULE Days Parade!

October is off to a great start, today is cool and the sun is shining. So why am I sitting here, indoors, typing
on this computer?