Catchup

This is what happens when one post goes wrong....last Thursday I wrote a lovely long post about my three day trip to DC. And then lost it when I hit "publish". I thought I had outsmarted this problem by writing my posts in Word, then C&P into this editor. But I thought I was safe when I hit "publish" and promptly closed the Word file.

So disgusted I haven't felt like saying anything, and lots has happened. So I'll briefly mention what's up in my life right now.

Last Week in DC
In for a Photoshop conference. It was great, learned loads. Good to get away from your own habits and see what others have learned. It was gorgeous weather, Cherry Blossoms were out. Had lunch with my former CD which was great, hadn't seen him in over a year. Just being in the city felt great, busy, lots of people, sounds, smells, riding the metro, etc, etc. All so nice to be back in. To top it off got to stay with my friend G and her baby girl. Her husband was out of town so we got in some great girl talk time. Hated to leave, made me miss it all.

Last Weekend
Became the exact opposite of my time in DC. It was finally warm/hot/sunny spring weather here. All the flowers were out, daffodils, forsythia, lots of yellow. Tons of birds going crazy singing. We spent the entire weekend outside trying to create a garden out of a field. It's going to take forever, but it felt great being outside, the dog running around, sun shining down, diggin in the dirt, knowing we owned all the land we looked around at. This weather, this is the time of year when I love where we live and I feel I'd never want to live in the city.

Volunteering
Last weekend I also started my volunteering. Sat & Sun morning I worked 3-4 hours. Sat. was spent mainly being checked out on things like brushing down the horses, feeding, tacking up, etc. So they know I know how to do it correctly, Passed. Then got to help out with a pony ride. Walking the two ponies around the arena for two small brothers. This was great. One of the little boys was autistic and he loved it! His other brother was actually very timid and quiet, but I really enjoyed helping them get to experience horses. Sunday, did more of the same, pitch out stalls, blah, blah. But I got to ride. The first time we had to walk way out in the field to bring in the two horses we were riding on the trail. One of which is my favorite, Heidi. She's half Clydesdale, and HUGE. She stepped on my foot when I was cleaning her hooves, ouch! Anyways, she doesn't want to come in. We manage to clip both horses onto lead ropes, and the owner looks at me and says, 'you ride right? Let's just ride them back up'. Bareback, halter, lead rope. I love riding bareback, but I haven't done this in years! (Holy shit, I'm thinking) AND I want to look good in front of the owner. I remembered neck reining, using your legs to steer, so I did fine. But I had clipped the other horse, Cappy, who was really skinny and bony, which means I'm still sore. But later I did get to ride Heidi out on a long trail. Had a great time. I'm hoping they let me lead trail rides this summer.

Now
This week has been busy: getting taxes out, had a freelance job to do, working on the garden. Plus D is out of town for a few days. Also trying to finish my bookclub book by this Sunday. Yes - this month's book is the DaVinci Code. I am finally reading it. So far it's just really interesting fiction. Fast paced like everyone said. Something I'm glad I did was that I bought the illustrated version. This has photos of the places and artwork mentioned in the book. It's very helpful. I'm not thinking it will be a life changing read, but I think it'll lead to a good bookclub discussion.

Ok - there. Up to date. Now I'll post a few pics.