It was a most amazing year, last year that is. I can’t imagine this year is going to be quite as amazing because I’m going to be doing what was left undone last year. Last year my focus was on taking two semester-long courses and doing a pack trip. The icing on the avoidance of all kinds of cake was the Bright Lights Book Project, which took up the remaining few days of the year.

I have no regrets; however, I’m now surrounded by the detritus of my own making. I have a lot of small, seemingly insignificant things to do. First of all, I need to write up and get the holiday cards in the mail. And next, I need to clean up my work area. The acquisition of even more books must be dealt with, and soon.

Hrimmi waits for Tinni

I also have writing projects that must be tended to. I just got started on revising If Wishes were Horses: A Returning Rider’s Search for the Perfect Horse. I abandoned this project several years ago and have now returned to it. I first started working on it in 2013, and even found an illustrator. In rereading it, I must say, its really not all that bad. Nor is If you come to a Fork in the Road, Pick it Up.

I am going to finish the first, a flip book, and the second, a single book. I’m going to have them both done by fair time.

I also need to resume doing my mind-body awareness work, which I abandoned last January. I decided to wait until we finished our living room make-over. We began it today – we moved the futon couch out, and in this way, we opened up more space. We are going to put the chair that’s down in my cabin in the living room, so Pete and I will also have a reading space.

It’s just a matter of using the time that I now have wisely. I am of course torn because the book project is ongoing, and there is a lot that I might do. But the writing has to come first.

And yes, there are the horses. They are getting a bit of a break right now because the temps here are well below zero. I could ride them, but I don’t clip them, this means that they will sweat if I take them out for any great length of time or ask them to exert themselves. And then they’ll be damp and cold.

I am also working on a plan I have, which is to resume teaching riding. Today we went to see Brit and Gregory, who own Saddle Up arena – both are very enthused about the idea of my co-teaching with Ellen, a local horse person who I met during my clinical rotation in the local hospital emergency room.

When I start feeling overwhelmed about all this, I remind myself that I am going to have time now to get things done. I’m not taking any classes this semester, so I’m again going to have more free time. Like money, I’m just going to need to spend this time wisely.

Next: 4. 1/4/20: Walking Horses