In this situation…..I am not talking about the tonic that goes with a scorching gin…..

…..although there have been a number of times that combination has been just what the doctor ordered…..

…..and I usually follow doctor’s orders…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other day, I realized just how remedial being outdoors is for me…..

All my life I’ve been an outdoors-person…..

I feel like I’ve been cooped-up all these last months during Florida’s super-heated summer…..

I actually haven’t…..

I’ve been outside doing chores, keeping up with what’s necessary, but it hasn’t been fun…..

…..it’s been a sweaty/hot responsibility…..

…..nothing enjoyable…..

But this last Hunt my younger daughter and I went to…..reminded me just why I love Fox Hunting and being outdoors…..

…..I know I inherited this love of Mother Nature from my Father…..

…..he would hike with my older sister and me when we were little…..

…..my sister & I would go on long rides into the woods with our donkeys…..

…..my Dad would hike on foot with us…..

…..he would always have his 12-gauge broken over his forearm…..

Dad would say that he just enjoyed the excuse to be out in the woods…..

…..Fox Hunting is my excuse too…..

…..the wind…..the morning chill…..the smell of wet bark and loam…..

…..then later…..the sun-warmed smells of dog fennel and other greenery…..

…..dew on spider-webs…..hounds giving voice…..and steamy/sweaty horses…..

…..that’s my therapy…..

Add to that…..a herd of other people doing the same thing and loving it…..

The quiet checks…..

The raucousness runs…..

Even though I’m on a Clydesdale in the back…..

…..Fox Hunting cures what ails me…..

…..even when my daughters and I just go to a Tea…..

…..and sit there in the quiet…..surrounded by empty horse trailers and trucks…..

…..until the hounds and horses return…..

There’s a foundational sense of peace and connection…..just being outdoors…..