Today was our first client trip post-coronavirus! We drank from the outdoors eagerly, even greedily, as thirsty travelers do when they finally arrive at a spring of water. Due to the cooler, moister April, many flowers are still on full display. This trip was special for many reasons. First, it was one of our clients’ first time horseback riding, and we’d like to thank our partner Eagle Eye Ranch for their great partnership in taking us out. Second, we noted an abundance of yellow and occasionally orange prickly pear cactus flowers. These “yellow roses of Texas” will mature into prickly pears, also known as tunas, that have a sweet, succulent fruit that tastes a cross between a watermelon and a cucumber. The skies were unusually clear today, with puffy cumulus clouds just out of reach. Raptors rode the thermals high above us. A final distinctive was the protocol we had to employ for the first time. When traveling in high-traffic areas, we wore masks and gloves while riding; disinfected our hands regularly; and changed clothes as we transitioned from horseback riding to hiking to avoid contamination from other riders using the same tack. But not even coronavirus could still the magic of the spring of the yellow cactus rose.
