A perfect day on the mountain

Recently I came into some good fortune. I was asked to house sit for a man who is mostly away on international legal affairs. He has an amazing house on the mountain--totally secluded and appointed to the nines. Cooper and I have been staying here with some frequency, enjoying the quiet and the woods and the bright stars. The house is just a quick minute from the farm, and the Intrepid Cowgirl.
Yesterday, the Coop and I got up, drank some coffee in the sunshine on the deck, and listened to the nearby Sandy River. Then we went for a hike up the trail. Cooper is growing up, and instead of racing away from me like he used to, he trots ahead not more than 10 or 20 feet and stops to check in with me frequently. We had an excellent fun hike with lots of scrambling on the rocks near the Sandy, breathing that perfect perfume of Doug Firs and dirt and sunlight. It is really fun to see him so happy running and playing in the woods, his beady little eyes gleaming.
After that, Jackie and I went down the pass to get some lunch, where we had typical bad food and crappy service, but we drank some cokes, so that was fun. After lunch, we tacked up some horses and went for a ride. Yesterday's ride was the best ride I have ever been on. In the past I have been downright scared at times on this horse, mostly because he has alot of motor and I didn't trust him to take care of me or to stop when I asked him to. I also tend to overthink, and when Jack had me on this horse in the arena, I would just screw everything up because I thought it to death, and this horse would get frustrated with me and things would fall apart. Yesterday Jackie decided to say fuck it and throw me to the dogs on this horse and off we went into the woods. We gaited and galloped and rode those horses across the river and up the other side. We got ambushed by dogs and spooked and there were times I was nervous, but I rode it all. On the way home, she had me go ahead of her, and it seemed I was all alone on this horse, who had his ears trained on me and we were moving along at a nice clip and the sun was going down and the air was that delicious temperature it hardly ever is, that temperature that makes a magical backdrop for all good memories.
We were dirty and dusty and tired and laughing.
I had Jackie up to the house for dinner, and we sat out on the deck watching the moon come up and drank a bottle of wine together and even though it was late, we still had to come inside and dance in the livingroom until midnight. Days like this are few, when all things align perfectly to create this most rarefied joy that only lasts so long, and then it is time to sleep hard and awaken with sore muscles and a smile on your face.