Monday meanderings

Monday.  We have an appointment to go look at a car this afternoon--hopefully it ends up being the one because I am tired of shopping, I love cars/trucks/motorcycles but the searching and test driving absolutely pushes all the wrong buttons for me.

What does push the right buttons? Being less than half a mile from 30 plus miles of a multi-use trail network if I take the sidewalk (aka pavement in the UK) to the trail start or just outside my gate if I cut through the horse pasture.  Every morning I meander out on it has been amazing, you are right next to the road but it feels so serene and I don't think I will ever tire of hearing "G'morning luv" while I'm out running.  The only "downsides" are dodging the piles of horse crap and the stinging nettles--my right ankle is stinging a bit from a brush against some this morning--but how amazing is it being able to see horse-back riders sharing the trail with you every day??? The mutts seem to be loving it as much as I am :-)

Speaking of horses, I had a moment when I thought I'd been transported back to south Texas last week when what looked like a Hispanic man in full working western gear and saddle rode by outside our office window. Kind of made me miss my trucking days down I35 south of San Antonio.

Another thing I love is that we have blackberries growing along our back garden fence and they were ripe in October!!!! That's something you don't get in the muggy south of the US.

blackberries and red currants

Snack! 

The dog in the picture above is Ben, I need to formally introduce him on the blog but he has been in our family since this time last year.