I've Been Tagged!

There is a tag game circulating in the blogger world and I've been tagged by Hidden Meadow Farm.

Here are the rules:

#1 - Post these rules.

#2 - Answer the 11 questions from the person who tagged you.

#3 - Create 11 new questions for the people you tag.

#4 - Tag 11 people and link them to your post.

#5 - Let them know that you tagged them.

 And here are my answers to the 11 questions from the person who tagged me.  I am going to limit my answers to the realm of Aspen Meadows, rather than my whole messy life, since that is the focus of my blog afterall.

 1. are you living your dream? if not what is your dream?

Yes, yes, yes!  I  am most definitely living my dream.  When I was a little girl, I dreamed of having my very own horse.  When I was a teenager, I expanded that dream to marrying a cowboy and living on a ranch.  Well, I fell in love with -- and eventually married -- a cop (that's like a cowboy right?) and introduced him to horses.  We moved to the mountains and we built our ranch.  ....and we filled it with horses.   These are the earliest digital photos I have of the barn -- 2005-ish.

 2.what are you passionate about?

I am passionate about my husband, my children, my horses, and all the other animals.   I'm obsessed with riding well.

3.do you come from a big family?

Average size American family.  Mom, Dad, three kids.  I'm the only horse nut in the group.  ...some sort of gene mutation.


4.what is your favorite food?

This is a difficult question because I love so many foods.  My favorite cuisine is French -- and it's my favorite to cook as well.  The two foods that I could never pass up in the store before, and that I have growing up here now, are rhubarb and cherries.  I planted three cherry trees (and I may not be done) and last year I planted rhubarb -- from Lori, at Skoog Farm, who understood my longing for it last spring.


5.If you could have dinner with anyone who would it be?

I would have dinner with the poet, Mary Oliver.  She is my muse and I so admire her ability to use nature -- poppies, owls, snakes, egrets -- to illustrate life: its hope and love and hardships.

6.describe yourself in seven words

 Moved from the suburbs -- never looked back.

 7.why do you blog?

I started blogging as a way to create an online journal.  I've kept a journal most of my life and I liked the idea of being able to add pictures.  Then I discovered other bloggers, and they discovered me, and I became part of a wonderful community of writers about horses, French food, and living in France, ranching, farming and more.  

 8.where is your favorite place to be?
 

My favorite place to be is outside.  I'm not a house person (other than the kitchen).  I like sitting under a tree on a warm day, or in my greenhouse on a cold one.  I like hanging out in the barn or reading a book on the patio.  I like being where I can hear the birds and I can feel sunshine on my face.

9.what is the bravest thing you ever had to do in your life?

I am not a risk taker.  When we bought this property in 2001, it required selling our home in the suburbs and moving into our small travel trailer with two kids and a big dog.  ...and it wasn't a big travel trailer with slide outs and all that fancy stuff.  We lived in a campground for six months and then moved up onto the property once construction started and the barn was framed.  It was another six months before the house was completed.  It was scary for me moving to the country and taking out a huge construction loan.  The equity in the suburb house covered the land -- not anything we built.  Yipes!  But, it was the dream (see question number one) so I closed my eyes, grabbed Brett's hand, and jumped.


10.favorite time of day?

I love being down at the barn, doing chores, in the morning.  I'm not quick to wake up and my brain takes awhile (and coffee) to get going.  But, I'd much rather go to bed early and get up with the sun.  I love the way the morning sun spills over the top of the ridge and onto the treetops.


11.favorite animal?

Duh....

If you are reading this post, consider yourself tagged.  Same questions for you -- I had fun with these and don't think I could improve upon them.


Go for it!