Tuesday, August 16, 2005

A new venture begins



Hello world, hmm where to begin.

This is a new adventure for me. I have never had a blog and was never very good at keeping a journal, but maybe this will be a way for me to keep track of some of the events for which I would like to remember "when". I have always wished I could be better at keeping track of when the first Humming bird of the season or the first oriole arrives so I can put out the feeders. When do we get the first ear of sweet corn or the first Mackintosh apple off the trees? Well, that gives you the idea that I watch and feed the birds around our house and that we are gardeners. I think what we do at home defines us better than what jobs we do.

As I write this the sun is mostly shining on a pleasant day that promises not to match the heat and humidity we have been suffering. The Cicadas and crickets are calling and a gentle breeze is blowing, very much a fall feeling day. I spent part of the mooring slaying weeds in my flower beds and am getting ready to go pick the third batch of green beans. We grow way more than we need to can the 100 pints that I like to put on the shelves each summer.

While picking beans and getting rather warm and moist my mind kept running over the options for this blog. To be honest and report the ramblings of a rather ordinary, middle aged, umm "matronly" wife, mother and gardener or to embroider with fascinating fiction. . . . Alas I have never been a good fiction writer and my essays for College classes were only adequate. So the truth or fairly close to the truth it remains.

This last weekend was an interesting experience. Our daughters are planning a trip to England and Scotland together next year and want to go pony trekking. So to that end they started riding lessons on Saturday. Growing up they begged their parents for riding lessons but it was not something my husband and I thought we could afford. I was fortunate enough to have parents who could afford the luxury and I rode as a kid all the way up until I went to College and then for a while after my husband and I both had jobs and until I was pregnant for our older daughter. (I can see her rolling her eyes and saying "I know it is my fault") Now that they both work they can afford what I was fortunate enough to enjoy as a kid. Going with them to watch their first lesson and then going to part of a Three Day Event (horse show) in the area awakened the old passion that I thought had been dead and buried lo these last 29 years. Alas it was only smoldering. Now I am cogitating whether it is foolish and more dangerous at my age to climb astride a horse again or to just give in to my urges and go with them. What is it about women of any age and horses?? I even discussed it with a woman whom I work with at the library and she agreed. God's most beautiful living creation on the planet is a good horse.

This picuture of a Quarter Horse Percheron cross mare was taken by my older daughter. She was a real beauty, and had a clear round.