Be ever so little distracted, your thoughts so little confused, your engagements so few, your attention so free, your existence so mundane, that in all places and in all hours you can hear the sound of crickets in those seasons when they are to be heard-Thoreau

The crisp chirp of crickets, the low grunt of buffalo, the impatient neigh of horses, the trickling rivulets of water and sand, and blessed laughter; I gratefully heard them all last week while attending the Zapata Ranch Workshop: Women, Horses and the West.
We rode in the morning and discussed literature in the afternoon.

Thoreau jump-started our week by helping us adjust our sight as he described ‘Simply Seeing’.

Author Dan Flores proclaimed the Plains are the American Serengeti. He explained how the Plains are ‘a sensuous feast of the minimal’ and how loving the grasslands is embedded in our DNA.

Dr. Bonney MacDonald, Professor of English at West Texas A&M university led our lively afternoon discussions. Bonney is brimming with contagious energy and passion and she had me reading and studying like crazy. If you ever have a chance to hear her speak, you must take it. I love her.

It was a special joy to spend the day….beginning at 4:45 am!….with photographer/geologist Stephen Weaver.
I learned I have a nice camera, but I don’t know how to use it. I made terrible mistakes with my photography this day and lost many a fun capture. I felt like an idiot even though Stephen was unfailingly encouraging. Learning is hard. Guess who will forever check her white balance setting before she shoots another photo?
Mostly my pony and I sauntered behind the main group. Merlin wore a comforting, plodding cadence and I wore my appreciative grin.

There was always an experienced wrangler nearby, just in case someone made a newbie mistake or needed help retrieving lunch from the saddlebag.

My favorite and most lasting memory of the trip? Well, that would have to be the ladies in attendance! To describe them as professors, music teachers, caregivers, corporate-types, photographers, volunteers and healers somehow fails to summarize their sweeping personalities and spacious hearts. Conversation is a lost art these days. We’re too concerned with being right. Zapata’s legacy for 2017 is the expansion of my mind. Some days it felt as wide and bright as the sky.
Is it possible my sight was adjusted? Even with the nagging problems with my eyes, was I noticing more?
What am I hearing/seeing now? A certain gray-muzzled wiener dog impatiently dropping the tennis ball at my feet, the greeting neighs of the-best-old-lady-horse-in-the-world, the Texan watching old Star Trek episodes, and the grands giggling over hauling a perch out of the lake.
Oh, Thoreau! Here’s to fewer distractions, confusions and engagements. Here, here to an uncluttered mind and the blessing of a mundane existence! I’m raising my glass to the sound of crickets. Cheers, everyone. Thanks for reading.
Headin’-west love to all.
Dear Kathy,
Beyond beautiful…
Thank you for thoughts and feelings shared through perfectly chosen words and pictures and your gift of insight into a rare and precious experience.
With abundant gratitude,
Dawn
I’m missing your caring and fun spirit, Dawn. I want to be more like you. xo
Wonderful prose from “a sweeping personality and spacious heart.” Thank you for this fine mental journey at the end of a hot day in Canyon, Texas. Zapata will live in my mind for some time. And I agree with your comment on Bonney Macdonald, a woman with “contagious energy and passion.”
Thank you for the kind words, Michael!
Kathy,
Thank you so very much for sharing your wonderful thoughts and photographs. What great memories we have. It was great bringing up the rear with you every day. Lol
Blessings,
Melissa
We understand being at the end of the line isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Thank you, trail buddy!
Elegant piece o prose, Kathy Durrett.
High praise from one of my favorite authors! xo
Girl you amaze me. What artistic creativity you possess! Loved reading your recap – what wit and humor! Loved getting to know you better too – we are kindred spirits. Keep it up ! Miss that Merlin!
Love
Laurie
Merlin definitely deserves his own chapter!