Uninspired Ramblings

Spring is in the air and the snow seems to be melting at a reasonable rate without flooding everywhere. It's getting up into the 40's during the day and 20's at night. Bart discovered the joy of digging in the mud yesterday and we have the footprints on the carpet to prove it.

The memorial for J at the barn was lovely. I only stayed for about an hour and a half but there seemed to be a steady flow of visitors. I had helped scrub stalls the day before so everything was spic and span. There was a nice array of photographs displayed. J had been an artist prior to her disabling accident and they had some of her artwork exhibited. There was also a screen hooked up to a DVD player showing her back in the day when she was still riding. There were blank books scattered around where people could write their memories. I don't think her girls could have put together a nicer tribute.

I am volunteering at grooming one day a week in addition to my twice weekly lessons. Hopefully my body is getting in better condition. I helped lug around 30 pound packages of stall bedding last Saturday. That's almost as good as lifting weights, right?

I am improving my balance while in the saddle and had an awesome lesson this past Monday. The majority of the time was spent riding without stirrups and using my legs to get the horse to travel in a large circle. Somehow this is improved by keeping my eyes focused not only in the center of the circle, but up, almost to the ceiling. I don't get it but it works. I have to remember to keep my right shoulder up and back because I can't spend the rest of my life riding with my hand on top of my helmet.

One of my friends had hernia surgery a while back so she and I have been watching movies together once a week. So far we've seen Buck, Sex and the City 1 and 2, and the old Disney classic Sleeping Beauty. Yesterday we splurged and saw Mirror Mirror at a theater. It was okay - at least I didn't feel that I'd entirely wasted my money. What really surprised me is that I now want to see Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp. It looked really funny, which I didn't expect, plus the music is from the seventies, right up my era. There is also a Pixar film called Brave that's supposed to be released this summer that looked cute.