I say "delude" because the feeling this morning, as I sat atop the wonder horse of the century, was not that I was riding in our normal pasture; rather, we were riding somewhere foreign and, strangely, surreal.

The trees have dropped these fuzzy little balls all over the place.  Coupled with the complete lack of light, I felt like I was.. somewhere else.  The closest comparison I have is skiing at night.  Everything looks the same - uniform - with the darkened outlines of trees and people.

Speaking of skiing, which has been on my mind, the husband and I are talking trips.  This isn't the sort of trip that we would normally be able to afford, not with saving to buy a house, but it's one of the perks of his employment.  Every year, my husband gets to go somewhere for a conference.  The first year, it was Chicago and I tagged along.  The second year, he went to San Diego.  I didn't go because we would be going again a few months later for my cousin's wedding.  This year, he's got the choice between a ski resort in Utah in February or N'Orleans in the Spring.  I'm leaning towards Utah.  I've skied the East Coast* - I want to try some real mountains!

*Growing up, I would go on ski trips with the high school at which my mother taught.  When she stopped going on those trips, we would still take the occasional trip as a family.  The last time I went skiing was the winter before D and I got married.  I've done one black diamond, but prefer to stick to the blues and greens.

I woke up at about 5:45.  Walked dogs, fed cats, gave dogs a treat and ran out of the apartment.  It was pitch black when I got to the barn, so I spent a few minutes extra just grooming.  Finally, at about 6:25, I figured that I need to get on if I was going to and get moving.  I turned on the floods, but, after mounting, Archie marched to the front pasture.  I turned on the program that I use to track us, CycleMeter, and set an alarm for 6:50 (it was actually one of my wake-the-fuck-up,-it's-late alarms).  I gave him an extra lap walking warm up for two reasons: he was stiff and I still wasn't able to see much.  When it lightened just enough, we trotted a large figure-8.  I wanted to work both sides in not a lot of time. There were a few moments when I felt like he was strongly debating being naughty, but he reined it in. (Har har)

He wasn't sweaty or blowing or anything - we didn't work that hard - so I just brushed him quickly and gave him his beet pulp.  I was back at the apartment at about 7:02.  Next time, I'll have a better idea of what I'm going to wear for work and will probably already set it out.  Instead, I set the dog food to soak and ran up the stairs to get dressed and clean up the effects of having ridden.  Fed the dogs, packed my lunch, and was out the door at the normal time.

Tonight, we're going to meet at the gym when he gets off of work.  I'm sort of excited about not having any huge obligation to squeeze in a darkened ride after walking dogs.  Instead, I'm going to finish the frame for one of the photos, clean off the glass, and get those things ready.  The art show is some time in December, but the exhibits are due this week.

Here are some random iPhone photos taken last night (I'm venturing in to Instagram.  Surprised?):

Lili Leau

Scarlette (LOVE THIS)