"I can love you, can you love me?"

Happy Saturday friends!

I was out mowing on Thursday evening and finished up just outside the lower pasture. Blu (little red pony) was watching me, all by himself, right next to the fence. When I was done I walked into the pasture to finish the animal chores and Blu stayed where he was. I got down on one knee and he came right over. I let him smell my hands and then dropped them and just lifted my face to him. These words kept repeating over and over in my mind: I can love you, can you love me? For some reason it took me a few minutes before I realized that they weren't mine. I looked into his blue eyes and they were soft and questioning. Interesting. The only other time I've heard him was the day I went to bring them home when he and Tori were both being haltered and I heard him clear as a bell, "I get to go too?" 

We have not bonded hard yet. Sometimes it takes time. He was super pushy, mouthy, and nippy in the beginning. He often shies if I move around him but he doesn't see well in his right eye. Lately I've been ever so gently floating the idea to him, "Maybe we can be friends..." And then Thursday happened. So I was kneeling on the ground, listening to him repeat: I can love you, can you love me? while softly exploring my face and ears with his little muzzle. He even licked me! I took my hat off because he touched the brim a few times. He took a step toward me and put his chin over my head and tapped the back of my head with it as if to get me to bow my head. I did. 

Then he rested his muzzle on the back of my head. I could feel his teeth resting on my head but closed. He nuzzled my head, neck, shoulders, and upper back and started saying over and over: I can heal you, can you heal me?"

Well for heaven's sake.

I'm realizing as I write this that I was so take aback at this whole exchange and finally hearing him again after 18 months that I never answered either question! I sent back to him just now, "Yes please!" He has never been that soft and sweet with me and I've never had a time where I felt completely trusting of him. YAY! At the end he walked a few steps away and yawned and yawned. Whew. It's tough trying to get through to the thick skulled humans ;-)

Oh dear, it's that time of year again:

For those of you living back in Colorado, believe it or not, that's pollen. Sadly we aren't even in the bad stage yet. Oh gawd...pray for a few good hard rains in the next few weeks to wash it out of the trees! But for now, this is spring gardening:

Do you know about the magic natural weed killer? I mixed some up for the first time this week and within a couple of hours, all the weeds were brown. For the areas that I'm worried about the soil, like under my beautiful 40 year old Japanese Maple, I will omit the salt. 

Also! Diatomaceous earth for red ants? Who knew. They are moving away fast! And just in time too, a yoga teacher has approached me to do yoga on the farm. She'd like to use the grassy area by the pond so, ants be gone!

More gardening this week, got the bed under the Japanese Maple done, whoohoo:

Saw a beautiful black snake, thin and maybe three feet long. These are non poisonous and eat mice etc. Brad noticed something shiny first and pointed it out. I knelt down to take a pic and it slowly turned and came toward me, allowing this pretty photo:

And this cool little lizard:

And something called an "oak leaf gall":

Claude AI says: 

That fuzzy little sphere is a oak leaf gall — almost certainly a wool sower gall (Callirhytis seminator), one of the most charming and strange things you'll find in a leaf pile!

It's made by a tiny cynipid wasp that lays eggs on the oak leaf. The tree responds by forming this protective structure around the larvae — that woolly, felt-like texture is plant tissue, not fur. Inside are tiny seed-like structures, each containing a wasp larva.

A few fun facts:

• They're completely harmless to the tree
• Only found on white oaks (which fits — that leaf shape looks like a white oak to me)
• The adult wasps that emerge are all female and reproduce without mating (parthenogenesis!)
• They're sometimes called "oak roses" because fresh ones can look almost like a small flower

Since this one is dried and papery-looking alongside the leaf, it's almost certainly an old, overwintered gall — the wasps long gone. You'd have found the fresh version last spring or summer when it would have been more pink/white and squishy.

Great news — they are essentially harmless to humans! Cynipid wasps (gall wasps) are tiny, non-aggressive, and females technically have an ovipositor (the structure that could sting) but it's adapted purely for egg-laying into plant tissue, not for defense. They have no real ability or inclination to sting people.

They're also so small you'd barely notice one if it landed on you. Think more "flying speck" than anything threatening.

Definitely a cool find — one of those little reminders that there's a whole world of fascinating relationships happening in the leaf litter! 

And how exciting, now that the trees are gone, the iris are blooming in all the sunshine they are getting!

See the pollen on the petals?:

Our two lone geese continue to rule the ponds nearly by themselves. Usually by now there are 20 geese hanging around, everyone chasing each other around, the girls trying to get away by diving underwater and swimming away and popping up somewhere else, leaving the boys flummoxed. 

We scared a mama Mallard duck out from the middle of a pampas grass clump, Brad wouldn't have cut it back if we had known she was in there! Look, blue eggs!

I did see her there a couple days later so maybe we'll have some babies soon!

Found a tree wrapped in honeysuckle:

And it's cool to see old dying trees supported by their friends:

HOW TO WORK WITH ME:

Equine Partnered Coaching! With horses, without horses, in-person, or online, your choice. 

Neurofeedback Train your brain to calm and ease. The most common response I hear about neurofeedback is, "I'm so much less reactive in my life!" It really does smooth out the sharp spikes. Super helpful if your world feels harsh and spiky right now. 

Reiki Another way to facilitate relaxation, calm, healing. If the weather is nice, you can choose inside, outside, or outside in the herd. 

And of course Women's Circles! The Wednesday circle has a waiting list, I will add you to it if you'd like.

Monday night online art group anyone? Playing with watercolors with other kind women AND in your jammies, no bra, no makeup? Yes please! The current one started Monday, March 16th and there is a drop in option if you'd like to paint just one mouse piece. You can learn all about it and sign up here! 

Don't forget my monthly, online, freebie art watercolor classes! These are for all abilities, even if you think you have NO ability. There is a line drawing to trace and then we saturate our paper with water and play with dropping in colors we like and watching how they dance together. We finish it up with some splatter, a little black outline, and of course, EYELASHES!

Saturday, April 11, 10—11:30am ET, spring foal watercolor
You can sign up here!

You may notice the memes are missing this week. There's a story. I'll tell it eventually. This girl is filling in:

This is an AI-free newsletter! While I love to use AI to help me figure out a piece of software I don't understand, my intention is to use it to help me with the drudgery, never with writing, art, creation. All em dashes are intentional and mine, I was using them way before ChatGPT was a twinkle in Sam Altman's eye :-) 

••• 

Thank you for reading :-)

If a friend forwarded you this email, you can subscribe to my Saturday morning newsletter by clicking here.