A Horse Tale

Hi all! I hope this week is treating you well. It's been very nice here in Philadelphia, and I am enjoying every minute of sunny days and cool nights and mornings.

Yes, the above image is Mr. Ed, the talking horse. As you may or may not know, Mr. Ed is one of my favorite TV shows *ever.* When I was a kid, I dreamed of having a horse - any kind of horse, really. But if it turned out to be a horse like Mr. Ed, that would have just been a bonus. And Mr. Ed is the reason that I have a lifelong love for horses. Just seeing one makes me happy. If I get to pet one, kiss its nose, or ride one, then it's all exponentially better.

OK, that was some background. Now the reason I'm telling you about this. A month or more ago, when I abandoned my Relax Tee, I said that if anyone was interested in the lovely linen yarn that I was using, I would be happy to send it along. A woman named Barbara who lives in Texas, and obviously reads the blog, sent me an e-mail and said she would love to have it. In the course of our e-mails back and forth, she mentioned that she had horses. REAL LIVE HORSES that she can see every day, whenever she wants to! In any case, I finally got my act together and sent the yarn, and she sent me a very lovely thank you package, which I'll take about in another post. But when I read the note enclosed with it, I was reminded of this story, which I don't think I've ever told you before, so here goes. If you are only interested in knitting or book content, you can skip this post.

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Years ago, when we first moved to Philadelphia, we lived in a neighborhood where about half a mile from our apartment were the City Stables. It was near a little market we used to visit, so when we could we would go and see the horses afterwards. Well, it turned out that they offered riding lessons for adults, but they were so popular, it was by lottery. I took riding lessons as a child, as part of a club at a school I attended in some place where we were living at the time, but hadn't really ridden a horse for years. The Tim had never ridden a horse, so we put our names into the lottery, and we were chosen!

They did the lessons in groups of six people. Our group was 5 women and The Tim. One of the women, whose name was Dottie, said at the beginning that she signed up for lessons because "she was hoping to meet a man." Good luck with that, right?

So after our first lesson, which involved showing us how to put the tack on the horse, get onto the saddle, and then guide the horse around the ring, we were back at the stables, putting things away, grooming our horse, etc. My horse was a sweet boy named Durango. I was the last one out of the lesson, so The Tim was nearby waiting for me to finish. Dottie went over to him and started chatting. Now, you should know that The Tim is a very polite and often charming person in public, and will talk to anyone, but isn't really stellar in the listening department unless he knows he has to be. So he and Dottie are chatting, and I heard her say, "What's your name?" And frankly, I suspected he wasn't paying attention, and that was confirmed when he responded, "Durango." I immediately started to laugh so hard I cried while I was finishing up with the *real* Durango, and Dottie replied, "Oh that's so weird, just like the horse!" Frankly, I was laughing so hard, I have no idea how he got himself out of the conversation. 

Going home, he said, "You know, I wasn't really paying close attention, so I thought she asked me if I knew the horse's name." (No sh*t, Sherlock.) 

Well, this story has become a legend in our family. One of my nieces said the only way it could have been better would have been if the horse's name had been Powder Puff or something like that.

The next 5 weeks of lessons were wonderful, but nothing as memorable as the first night, when we learned that one of the people in our group had the same name as one of the horses at the stable. 😉

Barbara - thanks for the gift, and for bringing this memory into my brain. I hope you enjoy your yarn at least as much as I enjoyed this story, and thinking about it again.

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Happy Trails, y'all. 

Animal of the Day

 California Quail

Every once in a while, I like to look at "____ of the Day" things. Today was one of those days, and I found this photo of the Animal of the Day, the California Quail. 

Look on the top of the head - is that not perfect? I love it when birds have something going on at the top of their heads, for some reason it just pleases me. And I always enjoy learning about and seeing photos of animals I will likely never come across in my daily life.

If you are so inclined, you can learn more - and look at other Animals of the Day - at this site. 

I hope you have a good day, and manage to put a little bit of your own  flair into it, even if you can't pull off a "hairstlye" like this!

Puerto Rico Vacation: Part 1, Fajardo

We arrived home this past Saturday, late afternoon, from our week in Puerto Rico.  The whole thing was perfect - no problems on either of our flights, no problems with reservations where we were staying, and the weather was great.  One day it was slightly humid, but it was mostly in the high 70s/low 80s, and though it would rain a few times, it was 15-20 minutes and then the sun came back.

We had lucked out because we got some nice deals on places to stay that we otherwise would not have been able to afford.  These are the kind of places that some people might always visit, but for the four of us, it was a real treat!

Our first place was in Fajardo, which is a really lovely waterfront town about 1 hour from San Juan.

After we checked in, we walked on to the hotel balcony to take a look around, and find a spot for some late lunch/early diner.  The view is shown above.

Our room had what was called "the garden view."  In the background of the picture, you might see some teeny tiny white things - that's the skyline of San Juan!

The resort was just beautiful - there was even a resident kitty, named Dottie!  She especially liked us. since we had cat treats.

We had made reservations to take the ferry to Palomino Island on the second day, and go horseback riding.  Unfortunately, the trails were too wet (they go up along mountain trails on the island), so they didn't want to risk the horses getting injured.  All of the horses are rescues, and they rehabilitate them and socialize them.  At this time there are sixteen horses (and I realize that my niece Amanda is the one with all of the horse pictures on her camera!)  But it was still a wonderful place to spend the day, and besides the horses, we saw a lot of other critters!

The ferry at the dock.  The ride both ways was kinda crazy, since the water was really choppy!

Here are some of our first views of and from the island:

We saw lots of chickens (including a hen with chicks!), some roosters, and some iguanas.

The roosters were, of course, ridiculously noisy!  Talk about strutting your stuff ...

The iguanas were busy basking in the sun.

This pictures makes me laugh - I call it "An iguana and a rooster walk into a bar ..."

It was a beautiful day, even with a couple of quick rain showers, and we walked all around the island.  We were there from bright and early in the morning until about 1:00, when we headed back on the ferry and took a little break before going to the pool to hang out for a while.

We had a truly amazing dinner (I had vegetarian mofongo and a mojito), at a place called La Estacion, that used to be a gas station.  It was recommended to us by the man who was in charge of the horses, and it did not disappoint.  The Tim also had the mofongo, Pat had grilled red snapper, and Amanda had grilled lobster.  With various drinks of course.  All the food was declared yummy and amazing, and we all ate too much.  But it was worth it - we were on vacation, after all!

We also had an "adventure" involving a trip to a local K Mart because both The Tim and Pat needed belts (a ridiculous story no matter how you look at it), so by the time we got back to our rooms, it was kind of late, and we'd had a busy day.  So we had a nightcap in Pat and Amanda's room, and then we all turned in since the next day we had a bit of a drive to our next destination.

My cold was in full force, but since everything was so leisurely, it was OK.  I'm sure there were others around us though who wondered why someone who seemed to be hacking up her guts and blowing her nose a bazillion times was out of the hospital ... :-)

Suffice it to say that last Monday was a WHOLE LOT better than this Monday was!

Saturday Randomnosity

I'm pretty sure that is not really a word.  But it is now at least in my personal lexicon.  I don't know that it will ever reach the popularity of my favorite personally-made-up word, "Elstwise," but there you go.

Anyway, my brain is to scattered to focus on a focused post so you get this one.

I have just started two pairs of socks.  One pair is for myself, and is Halloween themed.  The other is a pair for The Tim, allegedly for our anniversary on October 28.  Or his birthday on November 18.  Or for Christmas ...

Added to just generally feeling like crap, I am now getting a cold.  Great.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to Rosie's for a few hours, to see how I do.  I'm not doing a whole shift, but I want to see if I can handle at least a little time.

Apparently I am the only person not worried about getting Ebola.

The Phillies sucked this year, the Pirates lost in the wild-card game, so now I want the Baltimore Orioles to win the playoffs and go to the World Series.

Though I have now lived in Philadelphia for many, many years, I will likely never pronounce the word "street" as "shtreet."

Also, in Philadelphia, there is a Street Road.  That always amuses me.  I do not, however, think there is a Road Street.

Unlike the rest of those around me every day, I am looking forward to the cool weather of fall.

Not everyone has to love animals like I do, but I am suspicious of people who don't like animals at all.

Also, people with no sense of humor concern me.

It's a cool, rainy day here.  Perfect for staying in and watching the Notre Dame football game on TV.

Next Saturday, Dug and I will be participating in the Mutt Strut!  We had so much fun last year, and this year we have even gone past our [admittedly humble] fundraising goal! Having said that, you are more than welcome to still donate here.

I am also looking forward to next weekend because it is a long weekend for us - we get the day off for Columbus Day.  Yes, I know it celebrates someone now considered a monster, etc., but it's A DAY OFF PEOPLE, LEAVE IT ALONE!!

And on that happy yet threatening note, my blathering for the day is finished.

Have a wonderful weekend!  :-)

Belated Report

The first week of May is when the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival happens every year in West Friendship, Maryland.  Rosie's Yarn Cellar usually reserves a couple of buses to make the trip, and it is always very popular.  I've missed it for a couple of years for one reason or another, but this year I had the chance to go, and as usual, it did not disappoint.  

Sure, I love seeing the yarns, needles, and everything else.  But I will admit that this year, I had no specific thing I wanted to find.  I figured if I saw yarn that just really called out to me, I'd buy it, but since I have plenty of yarn I decided I would not buy something just for the sake of buying it.  What I always really like the best is seeing all of the animals!  Sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, bunnies, dogs - it's the best time, period.

Here are some of the photos I took this year.

 My friend, DC, likes the animals and the yarn, but was particularly excited when she saw this!

 "Well, hello ladies!"

 This looks like true sheepy contentedness to me.

This is a one-month old baby goat.  Oddly enough, the guy holding him would not let me take him home with me.  Go figure.

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So, what did I buy?  I've decided to save that for another post.  I just want you to enjoy seeing what the day was like, just being there.  It was perfect weather, and with perfect weather, good friends, and all the animals, it just doesn't get better than that.  It was truly one of the best days ever.