Along for the ride:

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Balance

Yesterday was so special; a Monday off; a day when some are working and some are not. We call them Mickey-Mouse Holidays and usually do not partake. Last year I even had occasion to work on Independence Day thanks to a very needy, Maserati-owning client. California Whine Country
This Fourth of July we headed out for the beach. The forecast was for a warm fog-free coast. They lied! After half a day on the sandy shore; fully dressed and wrapped in towels to keep warm, we had lunch at Margarita-Ville, served by a "Fourth of July Barbie" with cowboy boots on, then sat in the nice, comfortable, and wind sheltered, car reading our beach novels for an hour or so, until the buzz from the Mexican coffee had worn off and it was safe and legal to drive.
The road back to blue skies made us smug as those who were late heading out would still be in traffic two hours later and be watching the primordial grace of flights of pelicans  looming and fading in the mist, rather than slathering on the sun-block.
This morning dawned with no painful sunburn, no tiredness from a late night of partying and a whole day to play with.
I rode at 8:30, the air still a pleasant temperature making my exertions possible. A new youngster at the stables, Macho is four years old; a large and well proportioned thoroughbred with great natural balance and head carriage. His trot felt more like a German horse, full of "schwung", if lacking consistent tempo. Nice natured too, I can't wait to ride him again.
It was still early when I got back home and I exchanged my boots and breeches for tennies and shorts and took myself for the walk I used to make when I had the foster dogs for motivation. I knew we were planning a lunch with Lovely Daughter and her man and I was trying to pre-empt the calories, or at least mitigate the guilt.
Basic salad, grilled steaks and mashed potatoes, followed by home made crumble/cobbler of blackberries, apples and rhubarb, and a nice Chateau Margaux, had us lounging around in a wonderful torpor for the rest of the afternoon.

17 comments:

  1. Your fourth sounds pretty darn good.

    I got your message... my blog is messed up and comments are not showing up... I see that others are having the same problem.

    I have been so hungry for rhubarb this year... I can get it on rare occasions in the frozen food section... but frozen never compares to fresh.

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  2. @eloh, glad to hear from you. There has been a spate of disappearing bloggers so I was concerned.

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  3. Delightful. I do appreciate the way you relate your days. And Chateau Margaux! Imagine that...

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  4. Love the sound of your torpor-inducing meal. Torpor is just SO good.

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  5. Sounds wonderful. You've made me feel good just describing it. A virtual holiday.

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  6. I am so glad you didn't get a sunburn and you waited to drive till the Mexican coffee wore off. Your ride on Macho sounds like it started your day right. And look at you, come home after the ride and go walking. I did a little exercise today but mostly read my book.

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  7. TechnoBabe, the exception is not the rule, unfortunately, but I did walk again this morning and my horse awaits tomorrow at 8am. I'm trying to self-motivate.

    Steve, it was a total disconnect-weekend. Too few and far between.

    Fran, Torpor is so torporific, is it not?

    Deborah, The Chateau Margaux is a left over gift from The Artistic One's big birthday bash. We are saving the signed bottle of '95 Crozes Hermitage until it has appeared in a painting. There is a series "en cours" of great vintages as still life.

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  8. Balance - so hard to achieve, so good to hold on to.

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  9. Mitigating the guilt... a very important part of life, after which one can indulge in blackberry crumble and margaux with no nagging conscience distracting one from fully enjoying the decadence... Hope you saved us a little nibble and a glass ? Share the wealth, right ?
    :-)

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  10. sounds like a wonderful way to spend a holiday.

    tennies?

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  11. Yeah, I wondered what they are - tennis shoes? Trainers? Amyway, sounds like a great day.

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  12. Sounds delightful there. Shivering on the beach would actually be quite pleasant here compared to the horrible heat we have.

    Macho sounds like a delight. I love a good, forward TB. Actually, I love most any TB....*G*

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  13. Now that sounds good. I like the way your contentment spills gently out across the page, or over the ether or whatever.

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  14. And that is what holi-days are for...to disconnect and reconnect :>)

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  15. Magpie, so disconnected, in fact, that I missed a bunch of comments. Glad you are back doing the rounds.

    Elizabeth, An excuse to worry about nothing more than turning the pages of a good book for a few hours. That's one of the main reasons I don't mind traveling or even getting stuck somewhere indefinitely. It's also a big reason I've missed a lot of beautiful scenery on road trips. As long as I'm not the driver, it's O.K.

    Jean, we had sweaters so we were fine. Your heat wave sounded lethal. I don't want to jinx Macho by getting too keen. and they gave him to me again yesterday and put a snaffle on him instead of a kimblewick. I hate a curb chain, it totally inhibits me. He's a naughty baby. He pretends to spook as an excuse to return to the others. I'm guessing he was maybe a trotter. He seems to know a lot of verbal aids but is unclear on cantering more than a stride or two. A voyage of discovery.

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  16. Argent & Friko, Sorry. Sometimes I don't know what vocabulary goes where. Plimsoles, trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, tennies.

    Owen, I love blackberries but I cannot face them unless I cook them first. I adored picking blackberries in late summer as a child but when we would put them in a bowl of water afterwards small wriggling fly larvae/maggots would float about. Fresh blackberries have a very suspicious crunch factor that I cannot abide.

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  17. Martin, balance is important and invaluable. Don't let anyone put you off balancing your dreams. You won't lose touch with family, they will visit all the more.

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