Happy Friday Things

 This week has flown by.  It's been a busy one for sure, and in some ways feels like it may possibly have been 14 days long rather than the regular seven.

Here are some things that made me happy this week:

>Beautiful weather.  Truly, you couldn't ask for better October weather in Michigan than what we've had: chilly nights, cloudless (and mostly windless) days, and highs in the 60s.  I have done so. much. riding. this week, taking advantage of the great days while they last.

I am so in love with that blue sky!

>Because of the great weather, I've still been able to hang laundry out to dry on the clothesline.  And because I've been out at the clothesline, I discovered mushrooms under the leaves that have coated the grass there for the last couple of weeks.  I don't know what kind of mushrooms they are, and because of that, I won't be eating any of them.  But I still like seeing them.

>DH got home from elk hunting in Colorado.  While he himself did not get an elk this year, his hunting buddy finally did (buddy has gone every year with DH and until now never shot anything).  Buddy insisted that he does not like tenderloins, so he gave those to DH.  We enjoyed several meals of tenderloin this week.

>I made a trip to the nearby Amish market for spices, baking supplies, and raw milk cheese, and happened to be there on the day that they make cinnamon rolls.  So I brought home a pan of those to share with DH.  Two breakfasts I don't have to cook!

>The road I take to get to the Amish market is nearly covered in trees in a few places.  It was hard to get a good picture of the fall colors through there, but it was a really pretty drive.

>One of the days I was riding the Poetess, she actually took proper dressage contact (versus racehorse training contact) with the bit at the trot, rounded through her back and just gave me the most big beautiful trot!  This is something we've been working towards for a while, and it was such an outstanding feeling when it finally happened.  Of course, as all things go when training horses, the very next ride we couldn't reproduce it.  *sigh*  But at least now I know it's in there and she is capable of it.  I will hold that powerful yet floaty feeling in my memory and keep working at making that our normal trot.