Kristine E. Brickey

Icicles cling to her dark muzzle, a frozen water trail left behind from the heated water bucket hanging inside her stall. Black lashes are frosty white, wintery mascara on my blue roan mare. The wind is fierce, burning my cheeks in the spaces not covered by pulled down hat and muffler; but, the sun is bright and the sky is a brilliant cornflower blue, dotted by fat white clouds high overhead. This is what draws my mare outside, away from the protected comfort of stall and shavings. I shove the wheelbarrow out into the deep snow covered pasture, and she walks calmly behind me. As I dump the contents, kicking the frozen layer clinging to the yellow bottom of the deep container, she watches me for a moment before leaping over an invisible barricade into winter. Her blue-black starkness draws my eye, and I allow myself the simple pleasure of watching my horse as she gallivants in the snow. It amazes me, the ground she covers in a single long gaited leap; how her thousand pounds becomes a

A new year. A fresh start. The first day of 365 in 2019. Many are making, or have already broken, resolutions. Get fit. Stop smoking. Be kind. These are not, in my mind, great resolutions, as they are things people should be doing no matter the year. New Year resolutions remind me of the old adage: 'I'll start my diet/new goal/thing I know I don't really want to do MONDAY.' Think about the definition behind resolutions, or, the base of the word, Resolute.           Resolute: Admirably purposeful, determined and unwavering.  If resolutions were truly unwavering, there would be no need for repeating them. Two years ago, my Word of the Year was Purposeful. Last year, I chose Abandon. Purposeful Abandon was my focus, the beacon that guided me through 2018. Some days I was better than others. Some of my choices went completely against my ideal of Purposeful Abandon, as I took on too many new roles, wanting to do so many things for myself and for others in my li