Saturdays at the Barn - Barbour, Horses, and a Sweet Little Corgi Puppy

Saturdays at the Barn - Barbour, Horses, and a Sweet Little Corgi Puppy

uyguguygu   08.28   Comment  

I've been lucky enough to double the amount of riding I've been doing this month. This means I get to spend much of my Saturday morning at the barn with all the various people who make up that precious community, the horses, and the occasional guest star, like my trainer's 9 week old corgi puppy who thought walking across the piled cavaletti was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced!

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Dressing for the barn means function and form - while this barn doesn't have a dress code or serious expectations about what we wear I still feel it's important to both look nice and make sure my clothes stand up to the beating they get when I'm there and help me be a more effective rider. With one horse I wear gloves, with another I don't because of how I want the reins to feel. I dress in layers and wear protective clothing like a helmet and halfchaps. Today I'm wearing Ariat Paddock Boots, Tuffrider Breeches (like always...), Dublin Halfchaps, a very old sweater from the GAP, my trusty Barbour Beadnell, and Betsy Johnson sunglasses.

I am also wearing two of my vintage turquoise bracelets we've picked up on various trips and a wonderful leather one with an equestrian theme from Wild Horse Feathers. I've taken to wearing it almost every day and have gotten a lot of great compliments and comments on it, both around and at the barn. 

Farm Scenes and a Word of Advice

Farm Scenes and a Word of Advice

uyguguygu   20.59   Comment  

There is something to learn from everyone, that I know is true. 

I used to work with this man when I was restoring antique textiles who I learned so much from simply from saying good morning to and asking how his morning was every day.

"Every day above ground is a good day!" he would exclaim honestly as we filed in to start our days of quiet, solitary work. 

It's easy to learn gratitude from someone with that sort of relentlessly positive attitude. Thank you, friend, for teaching me the glory of morning and the worth of work. With that approach to life how could I possibly ever lose?

(More pictures from the farm, as shot by Jessica Triggs!)

Barbour on the Farm

Barbour on the Farm

uyguguygu   15.57   Comment  

I had a few wishes for my riding gear bag - sturdy, classic, something that would match both my riding gear and my every day wear. When Barbour offered to send me this bag I knew immediately I'd be putting it to good use back and forth from work to the barn to my house. It fits everything I need for riding in it - sunscreen, my boots and clothes, my helmet, and anything else - with style and class.   It's even a bit horse proof because when we brought it out onto the field the horses knew they needed to inspect it and promptly slobbered all over it. 

Jess and I took a little drive out to L's farm one evening and Jess brought her camera and generously snapped these gorgeous shots of Henry and I. She is so amazing! Thanks to Jess and L for taking these pictures and lending me the farm for the evening!

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Pearls: Gifted Vintage

Shirt: Caslon

Breaches: TuffRider

Half Chaps: Dublin

Shoes: Ariat

Bag: c/o Barbour

Under the Shadow of Denali

Under the Shadow of Denali

uyguguygu   17.29   Comment  

It's so wonderful to blog about the trip after you get home because it's kind of like reliving the trip, in a way. You get to reflect on it when all is said and done, and really think about the way it went. 

We left Anchorage and drove to Denali National Park. The sky was so blue, Southwest blue, the color of the turquoise found in bracelets out here, that it was startling and almost oppressive. I hadn't expected it to be so hot or humid.  

The roads up there have lower speed limits than the roads we have here so it felt like we didn't so much drive to Denali, we ambled. And I think it was a good thing. We stopped wherever we wanted. We took in the view again and again and again, and we watched as Denali loomed closer and closer, finally becoming clear in the distance, floating on that blue sky like a mirage or a dream or a reflection of something bigger than everything.

"That," JR said to me at one stop where we looked at it "is bigger than anything I've ever seen that's been made by a person." And indeed it was, towering over us, omnipresent in the way that only God's creation can. 

After we got into the car I thought to myself, "It's good to be awed. It's healthy. We don't do it enough." I thought about what awe was, about awe as a transformative process. To be awed is to allow ourselves to be humbled and that's a tough thing to do. Humility, at it's core, is making ourselves lesser to become greater people and I don't want to be lesser. I struggle with that and it is a continual process I have learned to at least allow myself to be humbled by the experiences I have and the people I love, and yes, even the things I see. 

Finding Alaska: Cruising Prince William Sound

Finding Alaska: Cruising Prince William Sound

uyguguygu   17.19   Comment  

We went looking for Alaska last week, flying into the never ending days, into the alpenglow that never quite settled on the mountains, and the forest so thick you need some major orienteering skills, a map, and a compass just to get through it and not get lost. 

One of JR's and my goals is to visit all fifty states. I think we have about 10 or so left - mostly the Pacific Northwest and New England. We also had Hawaii and Alaska left so when I saw amazingly cheap flights to Alaska I jumped and off we went!

Alaska is a crazy place to be - the cost of living is exceptionally high with food being outrageously expensive. The beauty is second to none, and the 24 hours of sunlight in summer will start to drive you just a bit crazy if you don't have a good eyeshade or blackout curtains. 

We did Alaska on a shoestring budget - we chose one "major" outing (a glacier/whale watching cruise that was certainly the highlight of my trip - watching a blue whale breach is unlike anything I've ever seen before!), bought camp fuel and cooked most of our meals over that from the grocery store, camped inexpensively (hotels run between $150 - $300 a night!), only ate out twice (to the tune of $40.00 for an average dinner!) and chose lots of free activities - driving up as close to the arctic circle as we could get, climbing a mountain in Denali, lots of walking and hiking and looking.

Packing for Alaska was a bit challenging - the weather is pretty unpredictable up there and every single travel source I read said to pack technical hiking clothing, quick dry, waterproof, etc. It's just not my style to look, for lack of a better word, like a superhiker head to toe in Patagonia and I have slowly culled most of that out of my wardrobe and replaced it with more everyday clothing that can double as hiking apparel. 

The weather forecast was predicting sun for the first half and rain for the second half so I packed accordingly - the Barbour coat with the hood shoved in the pocket, a fair isle wool sweater, some t shirts, a few pairs of jeans, my hiking boots, some random shirts. It turned out to be almost 85 degrees the entire trip...so I only wore about half of what I packed. The sweater and jacket came in handy for an early morning hike and a boat ride but the rest of the time I wore a short sleeved shirt and a lighter chambray shirt over it to try to outsmart the massive mosquitos that own the state. By the end of the trip I was definitely sick of what I had to wear.

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All pictures taken in Whitter, AK. 

Barbour Pockets

Barbour Pockets

uyguguygu   14.50   Comment  

It's no surprise from my last few blog posts that I'm slightly obsessed with my Barbour jacket. I wear it just about everywhere - to work, the mountains, on hikes, while traveling. 

I can't remember how or why I knew I wanted one - people don't wear them much here in Colorado since technical fabric seems to be the preferred water resistant fabric, but I knew that I wanted to be both stylish and functional in the back country and mountains, especially when weight isn't an issue (like during long backcountry adventures when every ounce matters). I was also attracted to the idea that people who have Barbour coats wear them forever. If there's one mantra I live by it's buy once and use forever. A Barbour coat was just the ticket - warm, waterproof, sturdy, stylish, with lots of options like a hood or a liner for different adventures. 

I saved up my clothing money, purchased a jacket directly from the UK via Skype, and as it turned out we've had an usually wet spring so I've worn my Barbour coat more than I had anticipated. In addition to that it's been a layer under my sleeping bag in the Utah desert, it's protected me from the spring showers while shuttling my students to their cars after school, it's gone on numerous adventures to the Colorado Rocky Mountains, and it's huge pockets have been purse, tote, and hand warmers based on what I've needed that day. 

So...what's floating around in the giant pockets of my classic Beadnell? It looks almost like an homage to the southwest and to-do list made out of objects all rolled into one:

- A tiny book of poetry published by Centennial Press. I had intended to share a poem with a friend. 

- Several pens and neon sharpies used to write thank you notes for my parent volunteers. 

- A vintage silver and turquoise Native American bracelet picked up on my last trip to Moab, taken off so I could take notes on something. 

- A letter with an overdue reply owed to a dear friend.

- A rock picked up on my last hike with my family in Rocky Mountain National Park. Yes, that one where I fell through the snowpack into the meltwater below! Brr!

- My wallet and keys