smiling over the weekend

Once in a while, it rains on our parade, or in this case, a horse show. A little rain is one thing, but days of damp and hours of downpour make for a whole lot of mud.  With Saturday's plans rained out, we headed the extra hour north to get ahead of Sunday's to-do list... shopping with our girl.  We let her know we were close and I could hear the excitement in her voice I can't wait to see you! And when you haven't seen each other in six weeks, any amount of rain falling from the sky won't stop you from leaping out of the car for a full oh-we-are-here-together-hug.

She piled her groceries in the cart while I pushed... amazed.  She has her cooking repertoire down, and this week she was adding a new recipe from the cookbook we sent as a birthday gift.  Rotisserie chicken?  She'll take all the meat off and use it for different meals.  Pork roast?  Only half fits in her tiny crockpot, so she's planning barbecue pork and then pork with sauerkraut, using the rest of the sauerkraut for the new Reuben recipe.  Me?  Amazed?  Yes. She's been living on her own for nine months, and she is good at it.

Groceries stowed, we headed south to Ocala, horse capital of the world!  {Did you know that?  I did not!}  We had plans for a visit, Mexican food, and a book signing.  It had been over a year since our blog-friendship turned real, but we fell right into step once again... with laughter and prayer and conversation that could have gone on for days.  Laura amazed with origami paper cranes and hearts, and we played Doodle Dice until our hunger for chips and salsa won out...

We woke to a blue skied Sunday.
Perfect for a horse show.  Perfect for just a little more visiting.  Perfect for the long ride home.