Dawdling through chores,
then a dousing in the shower
And rushing to a book event,
I checked the visor-mirror for
hay in my teeth. It was even
better; a coarse white hair
sprouting from my chin, long
enough to pull, too slick to grip.
Aging requires a tolerance
for physical betrayal but gray
mares like me hold hope that
a certain girlhood dream, one
that involved tossing mane
while cantering the living room
in tennis shoes, still might come
true. One whisker at a time.
….
Anna Blake at Infinity Farm
Anna Blake at Infinity Farm
Horse Advocate, Author, Speaker, Equine Pro
…
(WordPress Photo Challenge is a weekly prompt to share a photo–I enjoy twisting these macro prompts to share our micro life here on the Colorado prairie. I take these photos with my phone, on my farm. No psych, definitely not high-tech.)
Oh, I love this! So true; so “real.” (It also helps to have friends with tweezers. 😉
Oh, maybe! My priorities have improved since my twenties. 🙂 Thanks, Michelle!
Amen to that!!
No one warned me about my whiskers. Well, maybe Edgar Rice Burro did. Thanks, Jane.
As one who has left the house more than once with my whiskers showing, I echo this sentiment. 🙂
Better light out there. Not saying I would have cared if I’d seen it sooner. Thanks Karen.
How I have enjoyed your blog and now books! I am so grateful for your perspective and humor and how it crosses the lines between equestrian life and everyday life so effortlessly. More than once I have smiled…with this one I laughed out loud! Thank you.
Thank you for reading along, thanks for giving the books a chance, and the thing that might matter the most, thanks for having a sense of humor about aging!!! Welcome, Candace.
So beautiful….we could knit all of those hairs together and have a lovely breeze worthy hammock!
Will you ever come to Oregon? We would welcome you with open arms!
Sharon, I would love to come to Oregon. It just takes a village willing to come up with air fare… and I keep a list of barns interested. I’ve had a nibble from Oregon already! Thank you for being taken with Edgar’s whiskers!
Anna,
The problem is that some of them are blonde and some are dark — that makes it even more challenging. Huzzah for Edgar and his whiskers.
Nuala
I love this one. I don’t remove my horses’ whiskers, but try to catch my own. They just aren’t as high on the list of priorities any more. Apparently. And I can live with that.
Well, you know, priorities. I’m never that interested in the bathroom mirror. Thanks, Susie.
Member of the whisker club, so can’t say I’ll stop reading your blogs!
Unite WWW! (women with whiskers) (in more ways than one)
Glad to have you onboard, Lynell!
Since I invested in a wonderful magnifying mirror for my bathroom – dont miss as many of those sneaky little devils as I used to! Why is it that as you get older these whiskers crop up at too many places where they never were before? AND magnifying mirror or not – I still get surprised by one or two. (never realized THAT was a part of growing older).
I can’t imagine that kind of mirror would make me feel good about anything! (Thanks, Maggie.)
Yes, one of the great challenges of aging — and the need to check that horrid magnifying mirror. I never touch a whisker on my horses — they are helpful for sensing and I feel they should be left alone.
That does not include the ‘EEEEKs’ — those loud refrains when we meet mirrors at this age.
And then there’s the area hiding under the chin and upper neck. Egad!
Nuala
Ah yes, the chin & upper neck! And they DO hide!
I never touched my horses whiskers either – seemed to me they were there for a purpose – unlike OURS!
Nope, can’t do the mirror. I’m officially turning into one of THOSE women! Egad is right! (Thanks, Nuala.)
Like wild horses, galloping free with manes flapping in the wind, tail flag up and in full whiskers. I always wanted to be the horse when playing as a child. Guess I was destined to have whiskers. Great post and comments. I love you all.
Like you, I’d rather be turning into a horse (or donkey) at long last… than any of the alternatives. I think that’s what the whiskers are about. ( I surely do love us all, too.) Thanks, Judy.
I love this thread!! Anna,,you make the aging plusses & minuses so much more fun!! Whiskers included!
Thank you, Eileen. I am trying to have a sense of humor about it… somedays better than others.
Anna, I know what you mean! Yikes is right … where did that thing come from? It wasn’t there yesterday!
We’re aided by the “softening” of our eyesight. Or at least that’s my excuse. Thanks, Carolyn.
Growing older isn’t for sissies…
Amen. Just amen.