Writing for me
is often a bit like pulling a loose string on a shirt or a pair of pants,
I’m not always sure where my intentions will lead me, though hopefully not too
far from where I intended to go initially. Sometimes I start with an idea, then I
have to go around the coffee cup a few times before I remember there is a
handle, such is the delight of falling through the hole in the paper. Yesterday’s entry for your perusal began as
the back story to that handle I never managed to find before it was time to
roll up the sidewalks for the night. Instead, the back story became the story
when my keyboard and I jumped in and kept on falling for a while. While I was reading it over, hoping there
were no typos or sentences with the structural integrity of grape jelly, I
realized I had left out what I had started to write about in the first
place. Thus again I have managed to make
a short story long. I’ve been talking and
ofttimes living backwards since I was 5 so it’s not an earth shattering surprise
to have done it again. My brief sojourn back in time, to the hysterically
inefficient mess that is over-the-air broadcasting did result in a payoff that my wife and myself still enjoy to this day.
My wife admits to
being a horse crazy girl growing up and I have seen first-hand how that feeling still
lurks beneath her quiet demeanor, ready to be unleashed at the first scent of
horse sweat. Myself I had never spent
much time around horses due to the circles I ran in and I haven’t ridden one in
many a year. The past few years have been
a lot of fun spending time at horse shows and riding barns being around these amazing
animals with a few bruises and a slobbered up hoody being well worth the
price of admission.
Late one Sunday
during the cable hiatus we flipped the TV on at my house and saw a small herd
of horses flash across the screen. ”Wait, stop, horses, what was that?” my
honey exclaimed as her eyes grew big and her face lit up when the channel went
past. Of course we clicked back and
stopped to watch and see what this was all about. Little did we know that chance
happening would still resonate three years later since we are still watching
the show. We had discovered a little
Canadian family drama called Heartland that is now in its 8th
season. We made a point of watching on
Sunday nights when we were near a TV and were a bit bummed when it disappeared from
the local late night Sunday fare. We
have a stack of DVDs we don’t watch now and adding to the collection didn't make sense for us after pricing them online so we held out hope it would come
back around again. Lo and behold our hope was rewarded, we happened to see it was
playing on the UP Network and fired up the DVR. The best part was they were running
it from the pilot right on through season 7; love my DVR.
I could say I don’t
know what has drawn me to this series, though the truth is there are too many
reasons to list why I like it. I've never considered myself a family drama fan,
though I did enjoy crazy family sitcoms through the years starting with All in
the Family., and wholesome would definitely not describe Archie Bunker. Simply put it’s a good show with
great scenery, good writing and acting, some really good characters, and oh
yeah horses, lots of horses. I hesitate
to type the word wholesome though the word is inescapable to describe it since
it is just plan good family entertainment. This little show has all the stuff
families live through day to day, the laughter and tears, the bickering, teasing
and making up, success, failure, heartfelt moments and occasional fisticuffs,
but no swearing since the network bleeps out even the word, Damn! That usually
elicits a giggle from the couch. It is
definitely not sappy and takes on issues that each of us has either gone
through at one time or another or we know someone who has. The backdrop is a 600 acre horse ranch in the
middle of Alberta, Canada and to describe the scenery as fabulous doesn't do it
justice, though the amazing camera work makes up for it. It is back to being our Sunday night wind
down to get ready for the week ahead thing to do. Anyone out there with a horse
crazy sweetheart would be wise to check it out with no caveats since you’ll
enjoy getting hooked yourself.
