Since spring is decidedly here in SoCal, I thought I’d post my last winter picture. This is a picture of Stoney Point, a local rock climbing place where some of the reknowned climbers got their start. It’s about a mile from where we live so my husband goes climbing there frequently. When I was climbing I went too but now I’ve been more interested in horses and my climbing shoes hurt my feet. Two good reasons to not climb.
Speaking of spring, the reason I haven’t been posting on my blog regularly lately is because I’ve been doing other things, like living instead of being introspective, a winter habit for me. The shoots and blossoms are bursting out of the fruit trees in my back yard, I’ve harvested lettuce from my little container garden, the tomatoes have blossoms and the eggplant has fruit. I’ve internalized this signal to go forth and do things. And so I have. My days are busy with school stuff then I spend my evenings taking walks in the neighborhood. On Tuesday evening, after a day of being an oceanographer on Santa Monica Bay, I rode a horse and twirled my lariat around his head. On Sunday I intend to chase a few cows from the back of said horse and hopefully catch a couple with said lariat. My roping is rather rusty so I may just end up chasing the cows. My jumping trainer doesn’t relish the notion of me riding in a western saddle and chasing cows but I’ve never been one to fully commit to one event or another. In the words of Sammy Davis Jr., “I gotta be me!”
Yesterday, though, I had a fabulous jumping lesson from the back of Sophie, a wonderful Thoroughbred mare (Goldie is still recovering from her stone bruise). Sophie will jump anything and she makes it easy. Even though I hadn’t jumped in about 3 weeks, my trainer had me jumping new heights and I was comfortable with it. Why should I give up jumping so I can rope or vice versa? There’s no real reason I can’t do both. Regular people either pick one or the other and get good at their chosen sport (vice?). I’ll be mediocre at both but have a lot of fun and know why I’m not an expert at either.
Whew, this looks like a real challenge to me. Both my sons are climbers; I’ll ask if they teethed there. Whenever Joe comes home, he’s usually off to Joshua Tree. But, hey, this is in your backyard and a whole lot more challenging than a climbing gym.
Have fun at whatever you choose to do, Corinna. I always admire how athletic you are. When I think of you, I picture the classic American California dreamin’ blond-haired girl.