Vee Bar Highlights

Howdy!  (FYI, that's how you greet someone in Wyoming.)

Let me backtrack for just a minute...last Christmas I received a beautiful travel journal from our daughter Summer & her husband, Grant.  Knowing I was already registered for the Literature and Landscape Retreat at the Vee Bar Ranch in Wyoming, I saved the journal specifically for my trip west. 

Right after returning home from Wyoming, however, I had a chain reaction of events that kept me from having access to my computer, subsequently delaying any posts or making a fun photoshow, like Page, Jenny and Alice did.  And now, since a whole month has passed, I thought the best way to share the experience is to simply make a list of some of the highlights.  (My new journal even had a space to record the highlights!)

Day 1 - listening to the rushing of the Little Laramie Creek & the birds singing, watching the sun going down--all from the Adirondack chair on my front porch, with a glass of wine in hand.

Day 2 - watching the wranglers--Tommy, Darcy, Dave, Connor, Brent--bring in the whole herd of 60 horses from the pasture to the corral

Day 3 - riding bareback on Jello with Tommy telling stories; the beauty of the Little Laramie River Valley in every direction

Day 4 - a few, brief moments where I felt like I belonged in the saddle with Lollipop! 

Day 5 - writing the poem, Little Laramie

Day 6 - view from the camp up on Centennial Ridge at the neighboring Deerwood Ranch, about 9,700 feet elevation

Added to that were all the nice people I met, sixteen writers from all over the US and two from Canada, plus Page and Sheri who facilitated the retreat, and all the wonderful staff at the Vee Bar.  As I get back on track here at home and relive some of my thoughts from Wyoming, I'll share more about this unique experience.

Blessings,
Barbara

Little Laramie

It was a long drive out to the Vee Bar Ranch west of Laramie, but the entirety of the experience was well worth it.  I have many fun and wonderful things to share about the Vee Bar staff, the other writers/riders I met, and the adventures of a greenhorn (that would be me!) riding horse in Wyoming . . . but I'm simply too tired tonight. 

I got home from Wyoming at 1 a.m. Friday morning, only to leave Friday afternoon for a weekend camping trip with the hubby to entertain some of his employees with a BBQ Saturday evening.  So tonight I'm simply going to share a poem (keep in mind, I really don't write poetry!) from an afternoon in the Adirondack chair in front of my cabin, not five yards from the Little Laramie River, still swollen and rushing with winter's snows and spring rains. 

Little Laramie                                                                                                                                 

Little Laramie, where you oft' to girl?
In such a big hurry, your brown water a'swirl.
'Round each crooked bend you go,
Splashin' and rollin' over rocks and stones.

Are you lookin' for your sister?
The Big Laramie, or where she might be?
Maybe she's over that mountain or across that next ridge.
Perhaps farther west, where so many hearts are called.

Keep on rushing, Little Laramie.
Under the light of sun, stars, or moon.
May you find your way through this valley, long through it is.

I too am on a journey in life.
A little unsure the path the Creator has planned.
So I'll listen to your pretty music outside my door,
And wonder . . . will the answer come tonight.

More to come later!
Barbara