pauses&clicks

I’ve been gone from this blog for several months.  I entered the month of June excited about traveling.  I knew there would be little time to process all I would see, experience and record with my camera during four weeks of planes, trains and automobiles but had no idea it would take me this long to start writing again.

So much happened.  I took thousands of pictures.  I saw beautiful and amazing things.  I had so much to share.

Then I met a horse who was too much for me.

This is the story of how I spent the rest of my summer.

Jim and I had traveled to England, France, and South Carolina with just a day or two separating trips.  We were now in Cheyenne, Wyoming for Frontier Days and Jim was going to be the Grand Marshall in the parade during the second weekend of the event.  I was going to be riding in the parade with him and because I’m a bit skeptical of horses from a childhood experience, we had taken riding lessons in Louisiana to prepare ourselves for being on horseback in front of a lot of people in a very public venue.  Our sole purpose was to enjoy the parade and NOT end up in a YouTube video.

I was excited.  I had my hat.  I had my boots.  I had my blinged out cowgirl jeans.  I was going to go flip pancakes at the world’s largest pancake breakfast and then I was going to meet my horse for a little practice in anticipation of the parade.  And yes, here I am taking that all too predictable picture in the bathroom mirror just before leaving for the day’s events.

And here I am on the back of Monk, iPhone in hand, snapping pictures from a very cool viewpoint.

The last thing I remember is Monk starting to trot, then to gallop.  I remember my hat flying off my head.  This is when my memory starts up again a few hours later.

In-between the remembering I suffered a concussion, a few cracked ribs and a punctured lung that required a chest tube a few days later but luckily…..no YouTube video exists out there.  At least I have that going for me!

Recovering took a lot longer than I expected and although I came home and spent a lot of down time it didn’t include organizing any thoughts that were coherent enough for blogging.  And now I’m out of the habit so, in reference to this post’s title, it’s time to get back on that horse!

The blogging horse, that is.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I did get some pictures from the one afternoon I was out of the hospital, before I was readmitted.  For the record, those few hours did nothing to satisfy my rodeo and cowboy fantasies.  I might just have to make a trip back to Wyoming next year for Frontier Days to take care of that but this time I’ll ride in the carriage, thank you!