In which Fiddle decomposes an old song, and we see flowers

I got new shoes today, oh boy!

I had some boots but then I got to trade....

and though some folks think shoes are bad

Well, I just have to laugh.

Check out my photograph.

It's really true that Fiddle strides out better with shoes than she does barefoot or with boots. The photo (above) was taken when Fee was a green-green-green 5-year-old, at a Standardbred playday in Canada. She'd been under saddle with me for about 3 months at that point. Notice that no feet are touching the ground. (You can also see in the picture that she will land heel-first, which some of the more adament barefooters assure me doesn't happen with a steel-shod foot.)

I had errands to run this afternoon, so Fee was turned out in the pasture after her appointment with the farrier. When I got home and hitched up the truck to the trailer, she met me at the gate!
Out we went, for a quick jaunt into the swamp before the sun went down. The salmonberry bushes are beginning to bloom! Spring cannot be far away.

Wild cherry trees are more sensitive to heat than to light from lengthening days, so the recent warm weather has convinced the trees that spring has actually arrived.

I have know idea what plant this is (above). It is one of the very first plants in the Swamp to bud and bloom in late winter and early spring. It has no fragrance, and Fiddle says it's not good to eat. Anybody know?

I took 8 pictures of huckleberry bushes and they were all blurry because Fiddle kept grabbing bites from the bottom of the bush and shaking the branches. Sigh.

The salal plants are starting to grow new leaves as well. Fiddle and Hana both love to eat young salal leaves. The berries are theoretically edible in fall, and traditionally they were mixed with oolichan (bear fat) to preserve them so they could be eaten through the winter. Without the bear fat, they are bland and bitter, so the only members of our family who actually eat them these days are the goats.

After taking as many photos as the light would allow, we trotted. At first, Fee kept to the short-strided trot she has developed in order to keep the boots on her feet. I was very concerned. Had those danged boots wrecked her wonderful stride?

Finally, we swung around a tight corner and I asked for a canter...and got it. That broke her gaits loose, and she remembered how to stride out like she did in that photo at the top of the page.

And we flew!

Life. Is. Good.