More Ponies and Dresses

Virginia brought the girls over Sunday afternoon so they could ride Clyde.  

But first, Allie had to try to give Golden Boy a leaf.  She has really gotten very brave around the animals now.  

Then it was on to Clyde.  There was lots of brushing and combing going on.  Clyde is such a good boy.  

Allie rode first.   She is still content to just walk.  I took the lead rope off and let her walk around on her own.  She did really well.  

While Allie was riding, Sadie did poop patrol with Joe.  

Then it was Sadie's turn.  I think she has grown 6 inches since the last time she rode Clyde.  I might just have to keep her on Otoelene now.

Back at the house I had my dining room full of clothes from my mother's house.  There was a box of 60 year plus dresses.  Sadie couldn't keep her hands out of them.  She picked out one for Allie.  

And she chose this one with matching gloves for herself.  I think she will want to wear it to church.  Virginia might need to learn how to iron for this one.  But Sadie really did love the gloves.  
 

Sixth Annual G.O.A.T. Sheep and Goat Festival

Joe and I tagged along with Virginia, Mike, Sadie and Allie for a day at the Sheep and Goat Festival.  We were a little late for the best prizes at the wheel prizes.  Joe, Virginia and Mike got Farm to Feet socks.  I don't know what Allie got.  I got a $10 voucher that I used for lunch.  And I did my best to talk Sadie out of a coloring book in favor of a $10 voucher.  But she was not having any of my arguments.  She does not have enough understanding of money yet to make an informed decision.  She ended up with the coloring book.  

Next, was picking out pumpkins to paint.  

It took a lot of concentration.  A surprising number of adults painted pumpkins also.  

Sadie finished her pumpkin first and got her face painting while waiting for Allie to finish.  

Sadie is definitely the flower child.  

The hay maze was a big hit.  

The line for the horse buggy rides was too long so they settled for the barrel train ride.  

After lunch, we had to go pick up the painted pumpkins that were done drying so Allie got her face painted too.  

Can you tell she is a rainbow unicorn?  

Time for a framed photo.  

And of course we had to pet a goat.  Allie had milked one earlier but Sadie opted out of that.  But she was fine with petting it.  There was lots to do and see.  It was a nice afternoon.  
 

Five Minute Flowers

I had some time at lunch at work yesterday so I thought I would look up more videos on drawing flowers like the one I showed Sadie how to do. There is a teacher that has several tutorials. I think I am obsessed. 

I wasn’t trying very hard to make them look good I was just trying to keep up. But somehow they all turned out looking like flowers. Now I will have more choices for Sadie the next time she wants to draw. You can follow the link HERE to her YouTube channel if you want to try too. 

 

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.