This is what it's about. This is what keeps me going.
The chalk hills whose soft spaciousness is so welcoming in these tentative days of early spring.
The old land that is so mysteriously steeped in history.
The stony hills that seem to shimmer in the sun as if I had been transported somewhere exotic. The spare bleached colours are curiously un-English on a lovely day such as this.
I used to think that I was pining for my mountains of exile. I tried to look for fragments of that life here. But, no, now I realise that I love this place for what it is. It doesn't need to mimic anywhere else. It is wonderful simply for being what it is.
It's the reassuring knowledge of open spaces that give me the strength to keep on going, working in a town, spending most days indoors after almost a decade working outside.
This is a difficult balance to maintain. There are days when, looking at the blue skies beyond, it feels as if a part of me is dying. Sometimes out there on the warm turf I want nothing more than to curl up and sleep in a sheltered hollow.
All of us are presented with challenges, I am proud of those who continue to overcome challenges and misfortunes and remain confident in truth. A good man is made better when he has the company of a good horse. I am glad to see you riding.
Posted by: Samuel Scott Smith | March 08, 2013 at 10:48 AM
I feel that way about the mountains that I miss, sometimes desperately, though I have come to love this desert I live in.
Posted by: The Equestrian Vagabond | March 14, 2013 at 03:05 PM