Happy trails

I know it's a radical thought, but here it is: priests need time off, too. Not just a "day off from church work so that I can get all the household stuff done," but actual, frivolous playtime.

With Mark in town, I have the perfect excuse; so this afternoon, we did some of that.

First we wandered over near the Stillwater River and spent a couple of hours on horseback, meandering around the foothills of the Beartooth Mountains. It's been a long, long time since I last rode, and it took a bit to remember and get comfortable in the saddle; but after a while I was able to relax and pay more attention to the trail and the scenery than to Sassy (my horse for the afternoon). I even managed not to fall off and break anything when she decided she'd rather jump a narrow creek than wade through it!

It was also the first time Kyle had ever been on a horse (we had tried to encourage him to ride a pony when he was just a little guy,

but he would have none of it back then. Wouldn't even pet the poor thing! As you can see, times have changed). He was a bit nervous at first, but very quickly got the hang of it-- and he had a ball! He spent a good portion of the rest of the trip trying to figure out how soon he could do this again.

After supper at a new little cafe in town, we took the long way home

so that Mark could see another part of my appointed rounds. This is part of the route I drive regularly; but this time we didn't have anywhere we needed to be, so we did something I often want to do-- stopped several times for pictures and general appreciation of God's wondrous creation.

I am dog tired... and it's been a grand day.