Born to Ride

I haven't been riding in almost 2 months. We spent a month finishing the garage-mahal, (well, almost finishing it), and then due to a combination of work, being away on weekends, and a cracked quarter-hoof, I hadn't been to the barn. Until this past Saturday.

Friday I chatted with H and found out that Melody, the horse I ride, was finally well again. So we made plans to ride Saturday morning. And oh, how glorious it was! I had been thinking in my 2 month hiatus that maybe I could do without riding. That my life would be simpler and I'd have a lot more time on my hands to do other things. But baby, I was born to RIDE! I haven't felt this good in, well, months. And its wonderful!

So, the ride Saturday was nothing particularly special. The weather was nice, it was sunny but not too hot. We rode in the apple orchard across the road from the barn. From the top of the hill you can see for miles, its one of the highest points around, and because of the size of the apple trees, the view to the west and north is spectacular! You can see the Groton School, which looks a little bit like a castle. And some hills, and other orchards and barns in the distance. One of these days I'll bring a camera with me...

So, I'm back to the barn again. I'm planning on picking up riding 2-3 days a week. And I can't wait until tomorrow when I'm going again!

The Sanity of Books

On January 2nd of 1996 I blew out my knee skiing. On July 2 of 1996 I had exploratory surgery to determine why it wasn't getting better, and it turned into an ACL reconstruction (a story for another time).

That summer encompassed the months between my senior year of high school, which I'd spent at the local community college, and the beginning of my sophomore year in college (I think this is where E says something like I'm wicked smah-t, with the Boston accent, of course). I spent the whole summer hobbling around my mom's in-ground pool with a calf to thigh brace on my leg, picking off dead day lily blooms and reading. While it was painful, it was also great. I had so much time to just be, not to have to worry about anything other than getting my daily physical therapy in. And I read. A lot.

I've always read a lot. In high school it was fairly common for me to read a couple of 300+ page books a day. Its amazing to open a book and escape into a different world. And figure out what to do about other peoples problems. Its amazing how much perspective you have when its not you. That summer I was taking a dozen books out of the library (well, the books by mail, same difference) and in a week I'd be sending back for more. Everybody should have a summer like that (minus the knee surgery).

Anyway, lately I've been reading a lot again. Not as much as that summer. But a lot for me now. I finished a 1000 page book in 2 days. And I feel so much more relaxed than I have in a while. Now the only problem is I'm out of books. Guess I'll have to go to the bookstore...

Blogging slow down...

I know that many of you out there enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. The only problem is, its nice outside now, and sitting inside at my computer seems like a waste of perfectly good outside time. So the blogging is slowing down.

E has suggested that I should give myself a twice a week deadline, and make sure that in the evenings I have a go at a blog. Maybe I'll do that. We'll see.

In the mean time, there could be less blogging, but I'll try to include things that come up periodically. And who knows, maybe I'll get a lap top and be able to blog from outside, the best of both worlds!

Noki the Hunter?

Mosa is a great little hunter, if for some reason she ended up on her own again, she would be OK. And then there's Noki. He understands that little critters are interesting to cats, but he doesn't understand how it is one catches them. He sees a squirrel under the bird feeder, trots across the deck, and then launches at a run toward the squirrel, to watch it scamper up a tree.

So, it was with a lot of surprise that I found Noki had caught himself a vole. Noki was really surprised too. I had noticed that Noki was watching something in the leaves pretty intently, and figured it was a bug of some sort. I watched for a minute, and he pounced on what ever it was. And then he looked up at me, and again at his paws. He picked up one paw and out scurried a vole. Noki pounced on it again, and stood there looking confused. He couldn't figure out what to do with it. After a minute he picked up his paws again and off the vole went. By this point Mosa had come to see what was up. Mosa and Noki tracked it across the driveway and into the brush. After a few minutes they came back up the driveway, without the vole. And Noki went back to the leaves to see if another vole would scurry into view.

Turkey Sighting, Number 2

A few days ago E was walking by the glass door to the deck and scared a turkey that was eating under our bird feeder. It ran off into the woods behind the house.

Tonight, we were in the dining room and I looked out the window to see a turkey next to the driveway. It walked behind the garage-mahal, and appeared under the bird feeder a few minutes later. It got its snack and then made its way into the woods behind the house again.

I think its a nester, and we're going to have turkey babies!

Birthday tunes

Just before my birthday (Feb 25), E got himself a new car. It was time. His old faithful Maxima was dieing a quick death. He sold the Maxima, and remembered (this time) to take out his after-market stereo. It turned out that his new Subaru has a pretty good stereo in it. So, what to do with the old one? Give it to me for a birthday present! Well, OK, the present was really that he'd install it for me. Which he did. Today. What can I say, my honey's a procrastinator, and I know it! So, woo hoo for birthday tunes!

Vacation

We had a great time in the Bahamas! We went to the beach, SCUBA diving 3 days, horse back riding along the beach, and had fun playing Backgammon with our friends that were there with us.

The house where we stayed

E and me on the Pier at Taino Beach

Gold Rock Beach at sunsetN, L, E, and me riding on the beach
E, L, and me playing Backgammon