Memories

 As promised, here is a glimpse into what has been taking up a lot of my time recently. 

For the last few months my siblings and I have been getting together to go through our parent's house.  We are trying to get it ready to sell to Emily and Keiran by the first of the year.  My parents built the house in 1958 and lived there until their deaths, my father in 1990 and my mother this February.   They collected things from our childhoods, their interests, work, World War II and the Korean War, their parents, grandparents, sisters, aunts, and friends of  relatives.  There is a lot of stuff.  Sometimes we find a treasure, sometimes trash.  Sometimes a Christmas miracle, like when there was a missing piece from a Santa puzzle that was in an upstairs closet.  The missing piece was found in a box of stuff in the basement garage. Sometimes we find things that we don't know anything about.  Since it was saved, should we continue to try to save it?  Sometimes I wish I could ask Mama, "why was this special," why did she keep it.  But if I don't know why it was special why am I keeping it?  Will I just be burdening my children and grandchildren with things they have even less connection to?  Should I expect them to treasure something that has meaning to me but not to them.  Letting go is hard.  But our houses are full, our lives are full, and our hearts are full of all the love that we received from our parents.  The problem is my mind is full of the chaos that I am trying to organize and make space for. I have tried to set boundaries, as much stuff has to leave my house as comes in.  But I haven't been able to keep up with enough stuff leaving.  It is easy to bring home one or two things from a trip, from a thrift store, from a gift and incorporate that into the house.  But how do you incorporate 100's and 1000's of things?  Is it still my home then or is it a shrine?  We all work through it in our own ways.  We all have our own struggles.  But we have been able to share our time and memories with each other and that helps.  There is still more to go, more closets, drawers, cabinets, shelves.  More stuff.  And hopefully, more good memories.  

Reframing

I had gotten a pair of pretty frames at the thrift store a while back. 

But the pictures where fairly blah and mass produced. 

I also had some quilt blocks that I think my great grandmother made. I had framed some and given them to the subs for Christmas one year but never got around to framing one for myself. 

 I think they turned out pretty nice. 

Two Riders, Two Mounts

I picked up Sadie and Allie after school today and brought them home with me.  It seems like kidnapping is the only way to get them here to ride. 

And as luck would have it, Joe was available to help out.  It was decided that Allie would ride Clyde.  

And Joe had that under control.  

And look who Sadie got to ride, Otoelene.  Sadie wasn't quite as confident on Otoelene.  Going from a small pony to a full size horse can be intimidating.  Plus, Otoelene is much more sensitive to cues.  At one point, Sadie said she had been practicing her clicking and proceeded to demonstrate.  Otoelene started trotting.  

She has a much smoother trot than Clyde and no posting was needed.  

Allie was even brave enough to give Otoelene a treat.  

Sadie has gotten so much taller.  I'm sure it won't be long until she is riding around by herself on Otoelene.   And everyone was in a better mood without having to take turns.  And did you notice their clothes.  I am now keeping jeans at my house to make sure they have riding clothes.  

Golden Boy got a little attention too.  He even got a treat.  
Back at the house, the girls wanted to pick flowers.  

I put Sadie in charge of the clippers.  Allie told her which flowers she wanted.  

And they brought me back a beautiful bouquet.  

Allie wanted a snack, but since it was dinner time, I said no.  Taco salad was ready in a jiff and they had 4R beef and tomatoes from the garden that they picked.  Plus, flowers decorating their places.  

After dinner, I told Sadie we could practice drawing flowers.  

 I showed her how to draw cosmos.  Then she asked to be shown how to draw a dahlia.  Next, she wanted to draw the salvia.  I said, just look at it and see what shape it is.  She drew that without any other instructions.  I think she did fabulous.  But the real treat was what she said she wouldn't just have to draw daisies anymore.   When Virginia saw Sadie's drawing, she said it was suitable for framing. 

I guess Camp Mimi has turned into an after school program.  

Going Slow.

There has been a request for more on Golden Boy. Unfortunately, Sadie and Allie haven’t been over in a while. So no interactions there. 

But do you notice anything different about him? 

That’s right, he has finally accepted me putting a halter on him. At first he didn’t like the jingling of the buckle. But now he doesn’t seem to mind. I work with him about 5-10 minutes at a time.  I can pick up all 4 feet, rub him all over and get him to take a couple of steps in the direction I ask. And he loves to be brushed.  So far so good. 
 

Reenforcing

In case you haven’t noticed, spelling and writing do not come natural to me. Case in point, the title of this blog post.  Spell check did not like how I was trying to spell it. So I googled the word and found out it is an uncommon variant of reinforcing.   But to me, posting about a horse event, I just see rein forcing.  So I am sticking with my archaic spelling. 

Anyway, I thought it would be good to follow up on my successful ride yesterday, by repeating it today.  Golden Boy was there to say hi.  The barn work went fine.  

I rode past the cattle guard.  Otoelene was acting more like her old self and so was I.  No singing was needed.  And I was even able to let my mind wander at think about things like I use to when I rode.  

We went further today, past the two neighbors at to the far gate leading back into our farm.  

As I was thinking about what to write about the ride, how well it was going and all, Otoelene spooked and bolted because of a squirrel.   No harm done and we continued on.  She didn't spook at the cattle, she usually like those.  But there was one hiding behind the bushes, up to her belly in mud making odd sucking sounds as she was moving.   That did take our attention.  

The spooky abandoned house and outbuildings were not an issue either.  

I think a second hour long ride was just what we needed to reenforce our success. 
 

Across The Cattle Guard

Sorry about the long break.  I will post about what I have been doing later. But for today,  I reached a milestone.  It may not sound like much, but to me it was monumental.  This was the first time since my accident that I rode Otoelene past the cattle guard and up the gravel road.  (those of you new to my blog can read about the start of the accident HERE)

This morning I started out in the barn.  Otoelene is not bothered by the other horses hanging around.  After some routine riding stuff, I left the barn to ride down the driveway.  

The weather was nice, there weren't too many flies, and Otoelene was her usual calm self.  

So, why not go further. 

I made it to the road and went as far as the next neighbor's house, about a mile away.  

Otoelene was cool as a cucumber.  I, on the other hand was getting by, by singing Amazing Grace.  Don't worry, I didn't record that.  But by the time we turned around, I decided I was fine too.  

And we got the see the cattle guard from the other direction this time.  

Golden Boy, (probably his real name now) was glad to see us return.  And I'm glad to have gotten back in one piece.  You never know what will happen from one minute to the next.  This week, a local rider had a tree fall on her while trail riding.  It broke her neck.  She may end up paralyzed.  I pray for her recovery.  I was lucky enough to walk away.  
 

Otoelene Again in the Barn

I rode Otoelene again yesterday morning. I decided to not try to shuffle everyone around and just rode her with Draper and Golden Boy (not his real name) running around. 

There were no issues.  

Did we go through the gate and ride outside? 

Yes we did!  I’m sure Otoelene wonders why we don’t go anywhere anymore. 

But at least I made it up and down the driveway twice.