The last day of August

I had intended to ride Cleo today, but the wind is rivaling a hurricane and I have a headache from dust and pollen. The sun is shining like a hot summer day, but fall is in the air. The leaves are whirling around mingled with the dust and dirt of the stables. Alex's horse came up lame so she couldn't ride either. We hope he was just acting goofy in the wind which always riles the horses up to a frenzy, and stepped wrong or on a rock and that he will be better in the next day or two. I did ride yesterday and, like most rides, I won the war after the battles. Cleo really does think she knows what we should do better than I do. But we made it up and down the lane with Janice as our guide. Tomorrow we'll try again. I am curious how my relationship with riding and Cleo will change when I am only teaching one semester a year instead of Chairing 12 months a year. It seems like I schedule my work week and then what little spare time I have around the horses. I'll still have lots of things competing with riding, but they will be of my own making. Maybe it will feel like being a stay-at-home mom--which I never have been. I've always imagined what it would be like to be able to juggle all the demands of living without the complications of a job with definite deadlines and hours that don't belong to you. I hope that is what retirment is like. I can't understand people who get bored or have nothing to do when they retire. I never thought I would say this...I can hardly wait.