In which I do the things I always do in August (mostly riding)

We had a break in the heat last week, but then it hotted back up again.

Ugh.  Temps above 80* do not make me happy--and hot temps

make the forest fire smoke even harder to breathe.

I was happier than usual to be working:  my library is a cooling shelter.  Ahhhh.

Then came the weekend.  No AC at home.  What to do?

It's cooler in the woods

All these trees are working hard to clear the air.  Yay, trees!

Feet are cool now, thanks.

You take my picture, then you give me a cookie. That's the deal.

So, that was Friday. 

Saturday had thunder and lightning in the forecast.  Hmmm.

The woods are not a good place to be during a thunder/lightning event.

But wait! 

Madeline is home visiting from Texas, and she will be riding at Fish Creek on Saturday afternoon. 

How about...

Riding under a roof is rarely my first choice, but it's a good option when the weather is dangerous!

Madeline saddled up her old friend Hana, and we doodled around the arena for an hour.

Speaking of doodling around, Eleni was at the barn too, riding a couple of horses.  Eleni is getting ready for a horse-safari trip to Botswana (!!!!!!!) and wants to ride all kinds of horses so she'll be ready for whatever they give her in Africa.

Okay, then:

The Dragon gives Eleni a pony ride

And I rode too, of course.  Here's the evidence that I need to spend more time in the arena this winter:






Sunday morning, out came the sun and dried up all the rain!  So, Betsey and I went to the Festival of the River, which is held about 4 miles from Haiku Farm.

Usually we can hear the music from the festival from inside our house, but the rain and lightning were so scary that they cancelled the evening performances and sent everybody home.

Inches of rain on the stage made the footing slippery...and of course, there's the potential of audience members being hit by lightning.  Better to quit early, so they did.

My old friends Swil Kanim Richard Marshall (violin) and Peter Ali (flute) from Bellingham

Sunday was bright again, and HUMID, because of all that rain. 

It was a good day to stroll around the festival with a friend.

Yes, that is a live bald eagle. It's probably the one called Freedom, a resident at Sarvey Wildlife.

The pow wow was well-attended by dancers from many nations.

I admire anyone who will dance wearing that much regalia on hot days!

Betsey charms the Patagonian Mara.  As one does.

After a few hours surrounded by festival people, it was time to hit the trails again.

Thank you to Duana, who loaned me her truck for the weekend so we could get out!

Fiddle and I explored some new trails, and got a little bewildered.

I know that she has never been on this trail before...I'm just not sure if it's new to me!

As always when we go someplace new, I can backtrack to find the way home again.  But it's more fun to explore new stuff!

The woods appreciated the heavy rain.  Could use more!

It's going to be a busy week at work again, and hot again too. And the air quality is getting worse again because of forest fires in California and Canada. 

So far, knock wood, Washington and Oregon have smaller, scattered fires.  No big ones.  Yet. 

Knock wood again, please.

restoring my soul

Thanks for the ride, Dragon.