roverandom

bonjour, bonjour! and all that jazz.

Ooh, I've been away from Blogger for a long time! Partly purposely, and partly because of some great adventures. Purposely because I am desperately trying to pare-down my list of 'hobbies', so that I can fully invest in the ones that make me happiest. Namely: riding, writing, music, and gardening.

Now, if that gives you a vision of me spending the long summer days blissfully pursuing such activities, you are - unfortunately - wrong.

Caring for my six month old(!!) nephew and trying my best to run the household for Momma (whose chemo sessions are nearly over! :D), have kept my nose to the grindstone. Plus we are planting this week after two weeks of constant rain (nearly 11 inches, which is unheard of).

But you don't want to hear about all that now.

You would rather read a bit of my Adventure.

It might as well begin here, at the heart of horse racing. 

My sister graduated from med school this May, even as I unofficially-officially graduated from homeschool-high :) I still have some finishing up to do, but now she can have Dr printed before her name on return address labels.  

The whole familial troupe, except for my other sister and nephew, made the 2,000 mile road trip down in time for the ceremony, but not without making a requisite stop at Churchill Downs on the way.

One very important item scratched off my bucket list!

rosie napravnik
 We were there on Mother's Day and they were running races one after another. We saw three and Momma should have bet on two. I can't even describe what it was like being there after watching the Kentucky Derby every year on television. It was great. greatgreatgreat.

calvin borel

 The next day might have been even more amazing, as we spent the morning at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. (FYI: I have decided Lexington is the place for me. I will live there one day. That is all.) There at the park I got to meet two of my biggest track heroes: Cigar (above), looking magnificent at 25. And Funny Cide (below), who is a giant. Both live in retirement at the Park, and on certain days are brought out to meet the public their adoring fans.

 Then it was onward to Charleston to meet family, graduate Sister, and to eat waaaaaay too much good food. It's a good thing so many of Charleston's residents jog. I suppose they have to, otherwise they'd just roll.

best breakfast scones. ever.

 The last weekend there, we rented a beach house with my aunt and cousins on Kiawah Island. It was great. Breakfast with Sister & Brother in the village, beach in the afternoon....

arnold the three-legged alligator
 ....alligators in the golf course hazards.... 

 ....friendly photogenic squirrels, watching Psych under the covers until the wee hours... and a cockroach raid even later that involved a flip-flop, muffled screams, and a wobbly kitchen chair not intended for a vantage spot when swatting the offending creature from his ceiling refuge.

..................

This is the simplest version of my second trip down South with the least amount of detail. I took over 500 pictures, so what you're seeing is also just a sample. But I think it will all have to do for today.

of amazons and coffee

Somedays are just made for writing of adventures in the Amazon in Pirate Bob notebooks, learning the Anglo-Saxon alphabet, and snuggling fat babies. Swirling snow outside and cinnamon tea is also a plus. 

Later Little Brother, Baby, and I will cruise into town to the feedstore for pellets and cracked corn and to order this year's new batch of chickies. Then we'll mosey down to the coffee shop for a treat and a Mum, ready to go home.

Then I might try to get some ponies to jump.

It's going to be a good day.

Much left unsaid will be said

I haven't posted anything worthwhile for a long time have I? {And I call myself a writer!} Well,  I'm sorry and I hope this post will make up for the long absence of my usual brilliance {insert sarcasm here}.

 Life has recently decided to put me through the wringer at a great pace, chucking at me pain/illness, un-creativeness, mood swings, and a nasty cold storm {-20* with a windchill of -45* @ 35mph} to boot. Today at last I got the chance to get away from all that unpleasantness because the Stock Show and Rodeo is in town!
   Well, not my little town -- but it's close enough. 'Close' is a relative term around here.

 I always get excited and over active at such events. I blame the smell of fresh donuts and sugared nuts, sawdust, and tooled leather. Or maybe it's the 'you're a cowboy I'm a cowboy, that makes us friends' atmosphere. Or the vendor stalls that sell everything from saddles to handmade soaps, bronze sculptures and paintings to shining new horse trailers and Dodge pickups.
  The animals help too. We got there during a bull show and walked the aisles of cattle all being prepped and primed for their big chance in the show ring. One particular bull had a thick winter coat that was being fluffed and combed until he looked like a poodle.
 I still hold firmly to the belief though, that a cow is still a cow no matter how much you scrub it.

As with every year, the Stock Show has a 'petting zoo' for the little kids. Piglets, chicks, a nanny goat and her kids, border collie pups, a llama, an alpaca, and a burro with a sign "Caution: I bite". Poor beasts. Ten days of being gawked at by hundreds of screaming children and their parents with flash cameras.
 I asked the alpaca how he was doing and he just looked at me as if to say, "Seriously?". So I nodded and left. I'm not going to pester the living daylights our of those poor creatures.

I was disappointed to learn that we missed the stallion show. Last year there was a really beautiful boy; a blanket blue roan with a little sliver star on his forehead. He looked really sweet, not all big and intimidating like most of the others. He had big brown eyes and a soft face. sigh.

After we'd toured every leather-working shop and artist's booth, and munched a few hot donuts, we had to leave. I was hoping we'd get to go to the rodeo tonight but we have time constraints this year so we probably won't see any this time. Rats.


I have not been completely idle since my last post, I suppose. But I got pretty dang close, to my own grief. I knocked up a few necklaces to add to my little shoppe - of which will be in for a little change in the near future.

I really liked this locket but have struggled forever with what to pair it with. I finely settled on just a simple silver chain and a bit of ribbon {which is having technical difficulties at the mo.}

I also really love this 'pearl' one strand. It's simple and sweet - my kind of trade mark in fashion :) - yet it is surprisingly elegant. I wore it once to a church function paired with my creme pea-coat, skirt and flats, and it looked quite smart.

 It was one of those days when I felt like something different besides the regular boots-and-jeans.

This one is incredibly basic but I think has a certain thing-ness about it. In the photo you can see a tiny bit of my afore mentioned coat. Not that I like it or anything. ;)

I came across a set of these pendants a few weeks ago and love them! The only problem is deciding on a design that will do them justice.

The photo renders the beads bluer then they are; their actually more lime colored.

Alas! Time has flown like the bird through the windows and I must leave you to go feed my freezing ponies before it is pitch black out. I hope this post made up for what ever lacked in the last!

-Gwyn

A chill winter mourning

Hullo to one and all!
 That looked incredibly peppy and enthusiastic, didn't it? But I'm afraid I'm not. As you may or perhaps may not know, this week has been my Grandpa's funeral as well as a memorial for my Grandmum who passed this spring. Three days of prayer, tears, laughing with family, and moments of lonely silence. Longing for some normalcy,  a sense of stability, amounts to nothing more than a heavier blanket of grief.
 Grief cripples me.

 I cannot function under it. It's like I need to be perpetually happy and light hearted. Or at least have control over what I call excess emotion; anytime I feel overly - perhaps even vulnerably - angry or upset or excited, I can take a walk or a ride, or even just write in order to get a grip and stabilize my feelings. Maybe that's why I'm writing now.
 But I just cannot fix grief. And it frustrates me. {I suppose its my German engineer side coming out.} Yet it fascinates me and compels me like no other emotion. {If that confused you just now, don't worry, I'm a bit lost my self.} Of all the blithe jigs and reels in the history of Celtic music, it's the heartbroken songs of mourning and loss that I love the most. All the tales of adventure and bravery are lost on me unless there is a great and beautiful loss in it. Something that makes the characters vulnerable; their world fragile. Yet I hate being there myself.
 The majority of my own characters have incredibly sad or at least stirring backgrounds. And if they don't, they soon will. *insert evil laugh here*
 I'm strange, I admit it.

 Right now I'm mediocre. Neither glad nor sad, stuck instead in a sort of limbo between them.
 I am glad my grandparents are together again, as they always were, and now it's even better with no pain and with Jesus. Can you even imagine what that must be like? Right now, the same Grandmum and Grandpa that watched my soccer games are now viewing the heavenly throne!
 At the same time I am acutely aware of the fact that they are no longer here, no longer touchable. It takes time to heal wounds, and prayer and petition to heal the heart.
 Mum says times like these, when grief is near and the stress of musical performances is hovering with certain doom, build character - and they do. But to me they are more faith-builders. Without them I would still be the same stubborn daughter of Eve trying to piece and patch together everything herself. I am in no way saying that I'm no longer stubborn - heaven knows far better than that! - but I am growing. And learning.
 It will take more than a lifetime to learn, I'm sure. But you must start sooner than later, right?
Hmmm. I feel infinitely better, now that I've wrote this. Even if nobody reads it all the way through :)

The pictures are from our Christmas tree hunt.

Until next time {hopefully then we can begin the giveaway!},

-Gwyn

What makes it Christmas?

Ah.

Just, ah.

That's what I feel like at this moment as I sit typing to you with my bandaged fingers {pinky - argument with a 5lb metal pole and solid ice. Index finger - broken Christmas light.} after a long day of Christmas decorating.
 From the time I awoke till sunset I was effectively bringing Christmas cheer into our home. Mum worked all day and had a nice surprise on her return :)
 But as I was risking my neck to put up lights above the stove and candles near the clock, a thought occurred to me; simply

what makes it Christmas?

Now the obvious answer to a similar question would be, "Well, Christ's birth, of course!" But that's not what I was asking. You can have a Christmas without the tinsel and all that, but it doesn't feel like Christmas, does it? There are certain things - traditions, foods, decorations - that you just need in order for you to feel the full effect of Christmas, aren't there? I realized that as I unpacked all our décor, each with its own special meaning. After putting every one of them in there proper places {and heavens, do we have a lot of 'every ones'!}, I decided to go on a hunt, camera in hand, to find the pieces that make my Christmas puzzle complete.

Christmas tree hunting. Tramping about in the wilderness, tracking rabbits and some kind of weasel, watching a herd of elk, and finely finding our Tree. What could be a better to start the season? The long drive up into the Hills is very much worth it.

Christmas lights... that shine so brightly and warmly. Gives one a cozy feeling just glancing their way.

Decorating the tree. Is there any more to be said?

Music. The Christmas season wouldn't be whole without it. Besides making everything more acutely beautiful, I believe music has a deep affect on our spirits; something that words alone cannot encompass.

Carmel-apple-spices and decorated coffee shops. That delicio hot drink to see before you now is the holiday spirit in beverage form. The little coffee shop where my mum works makes it exclusively. What is it? Oh, I thought I said already! Well, apple cider is a big part of it, cream too. Lots of carmel and spice. Yup, that's all I can tell you ;)

Our little glow-church. The warm lights from this little church has always greeted us merrily when we  return from Advent services in the dark of night for as long as I can remember. I love it.

The Nativity scene. One of my favorite pieces by far, my mum's Italian Fontanini figures. The stable is extra special too. Da, my older brother, and I made it as a Christmas present for Mum when I was about four or five. My job? Gathering the rocks to make the walls.

When setting these up, I try and give each character a story; like this one where the frightened lamb in the shepherd boy's arms is crying for its mother. The ewe, also bleating, I always imagined butted the boy eventually to reach her baby. :)

A portrait of Jesus. This statue isn't really part of the Christmas decor, we keep it all year round, but I think it is an important, if not vital part of Christmas, a reminder. It is after all why He was born. This statue has always fascinated me, especially when I was small. Whoever the artist is, they did beautiful work portraying the pain and sadness our Savior went through for us.

Those are all most of the things that put me in the holiday spirit. What are yours?

Ah! And concerning the giveaway I promised, I hope you all won't be upset if I delay it for awhile. With the funeral arrangements for my Grandpa and all my music gigs in the next two weeks, I'm afraid I won't be able to host until maybe the week of the nineteenth... maybe. Well, I'll get it figured out, don't despair.

But now I must bid you, all 100(!) of you, good night!

-Gwyn

A Thanksgiving prayer request

Last night my Grandpa passed away. It did not come as a surprise: he's been fading ever since Grandmum went ahead in May. Now together they will celebrate the true Thanksgiving feast with the Giver Himself. And that make me happy.
 But prayers for those of us still waiting behind would be much appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

 Be truly thankful for your family this year!

(c)Gwyn

"The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord" -Job

Second snow

... of this season is happening on the other side of these glass windows.
 It's both saddening and funny to read other blogs where they write that "autumn is finely here!" when winter is just beginning on my golden prairie. Disbelief is mixed in there too, now that all the beautiful leaves have been blown away. Part of me balks like a mule at thought of winter, yet there's always that eternal optimism that fills me at the start of each season, that this time will be different. This time it will be great! We have had a long autumn considering last year when we had about one week before the snow hit, and I'm thankful for the last few days that have been filled with absolutely lovely weather.
 The flakes that fall now are ragged and skinny; the first of the Valkyrie, so to speak. {Okay, perhaps that's not the best definition, but I love that legend and that name!} Pitiful to compare with the one- to two inch fluffs that will drift haughtily from the sky like ermine clad lords later this year. They can't even survive long enough to dust the ground.
 In other words, nothing worth photographing.

My Grandpa and Double Stuff are both doing much better, and I must thank you all for the kind words and prayers. Dudders seems to have made a full recovery though he coliced for another day after I posted last.
 My aunt flew up a few days ago and has been staying with us to be near Grandpa. My other aunt and cousin will be coming to see him this weekend as well. And I think that is what is making him stronger.
 They say laughter is the best medicine but I think it's family.

My music concerts were accomplished, more I can't say - I can remember! It all went by in such a blur.
 My NaNoing is very slow, I'm trying to write at every possible opportunity but I can't promise I'll hit the 50k by the end of this month. I've also been away from the interwebs quite a bit so I haven't updated anything or commented anywhere. I guess it's an unconscious decision to read more books{Allison Croggen's The Naming for the third time. Oh I love her writing!}  and less blogs - no offense or anything :)

But now dear peeps, I must go to the dentist to get my teeth drilled on :(
-Gwyn

Find a happy place, find a happy place!!

*deeeeep breath*

Well. It's day two of NaNo how is everyone else coping? I myself am off to a rather rocky start. Friday my grandpa had to be taken to the ER, and it turns out he had pneumonia really bad. The doctors were amazed he was doing as well as he was with the amount of fluid in his lungs. He's still at the hospital receiving antibiotics and meds for nerve damage{something he's had for a long time}, so thank heaven he's doing better now. Even a cold at his age is worrying and could go either way, let alone pneumonia.

My writing nook by my bed.

That was all very concerning but what hit my planning/writing hard was on Sunday I woke up feeling positively awful. I didn't even go to church{I hate missing church}. I missed all the Halloween parties too. I guess it's a good thing then that I don't care much for All Hallows Eve.

L-H My pumpkin, My older brother's, and my younger brother's

A horseshoe. For me, a little predictable but me none the less :)

Not because of all the voodoo about how it's supposedly the devil's birthday or whatever {sorry if I'm being insensitive}, but more because I really don't see the point of the whole deal. I mean, what are we celebrating anyway? Cheap latex? Free candy? The basic urge to scare the dickens out of a fellow human being? It's worth a thought. :)

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes...
 Monday I was still feeling peakéd but was able to scrape out about a thousand words by midnight. Today I typed it out and wrote some more, and, as you can see above, reached 2,470. I'm still behind a bit, but I'm not going to worry about it too much because I have two music recitals this week (!!). Violin next Sunday and piano on Friday. I'm slightly apprehensive about both of them.

 The violin recital I'm playing in two separate groups. In the elite group we play Orinoco Flow by Enya, great song but a very difficult arrangement. It must have been a nightmare to compose!
 In piano I'm playing Brahms Lullaby duet with my teacher. I am ashamed to say I haven't practiced -- I hope my teacher isn't reading this *smiles winningly*

Okay this post is just sad so I'm going to stop trying to write with what's left of my fried brain and add some pictures.

-Gwyn

The day I felt fancy

The following is the account of my grand day yesterday at the 10th and last annual Presidential Sculpture Unveiling.  {As you may already know my brother and I as well as my friend Luseach* were to play lobby music.}

My day began early in the morning. I stumbled half asleep down the hall to my parents bedroom where Mum curled my hair; the first step to my rather dramatic transformation from the groggy, tousle-haired morning me, to the poshed** up musician that followed two hours later when we arrived at the theatre.
 The car ride there was long, so I made the most of it by sleeping most of the way.
*I translated her name for privacy purposes
**British informal word: stylish, upper classy, etc.

The theatre was done-up with all sorts of patriotic things for the day, bulletins and presidential brochures were handed out at the door.
Feeling a bit over done, we unpacked our instruments only to find that the theatre had no place set up for us. It was three minutes till we had to start. We scrambled to the manager's office and he sent one of the staff to get us chairs. We waited but she soon returned chair-less. They apparently had been moved to heaven knows where.
 At five past nine we had finely tracked down someone who knew where the chairs were and set up, beginning the song almost before we had adjusted the music stands.
 Not to brag or anything, but I think we were fantastic! {says modest me ;)} At least for pulling it together in two days, not bad at all.

The ceremony was grand in itself, and slightly emotional for the president of... well, the presidents project, it being the last real unveiling and all. Yes, it was nice to listen to the speakers and sculptors{my Da included} talk about the newest stationary members. But afterwards I shall remember always. Afterwards was the VIP Presidents-associated people only dinner at a five star hotel, complete, may I add, with foreign waiters.
 For someone used to going to steakhouses the elegant chandeliers, white linen tablecloths, and waiters with accents{I could listen to them talk all day}, it knocked me sideways! Don't think I don't like the rustic ranch restaurants we usually visit, heaven's above no! I love the atmosphere there! But this, this was something completely different. And the food was so beautiful and carefully made..! Of course I snuck pictures, even though the dark-haired lady gave me several disapproving looks. She probably thought I'd never been to such a place. Which of course is true.

Dinner was three courses(!) First, a light appetizer of french bread and garlic butter, and lemon water{above}. I admit that because I had had no breakfast I consumed five pieces of bread and three glasses of water. I would have eaten more bread but Mum said I had to share with my brothers.

 I was hungry!

Second was the main. Gourmet tender steak {which I didn't care for. Meat should taste like meat, not plants} and a whole lot o' salad. How ever much I may hate eating greens, in the spirit of experiencing new things I bathed the leaves in Italian dressing and gave it the heave-ho. On reflection, I should have realized that they would have made the dressing fancy in some way and that I should have tasted a tad before sticking a forkful of saturated foliage in my mouth. But I didn't and therefore the taste I faced was not the tangy make-your-mouth-tingle taste I love that comes from plastic bottles, but the strong bitter flavor of white wine. It was so strong that I could actually feel my sinuses clearing. What an awful surprise. Especially to someone who has just plucked up courage to eat salad after years of refusing its dreadful leafy bits.

 After that unfortunate event and the main course was over coffee was served. *angel chorus* What delicio café it was too! Yumyumyumyumyum! I cannot drink plain house coffee, I just can't. But if it comes from a coffee shop or some place like this *sighs*. There are just certain things in this world that are set high above their kinds. Food: Çhocolat  Animal: Horse  Drink: Coffee  :)

I like my café best with about a third cream and two table spoons sugar or even black with honey.

I love this photo, by the way. Doesn't it just look so warm and cozy? Perfect for the chilly autumn days ahead.

 *Takes deep breath* And then there was dessert. *needs another deep breath* 

Okay, I am not a food person{though I do have a sweet tooth}. At all. If I could survive I would probably go days without eating because I simply don't care for food. But this..! Dessert was just so beautiful! This was my Mum's Cremé Brulé. She let me taste it. It's like the best vanilla pudding on the planet with a crunchy, sugary, caramel-y top. 

I got about two and a half cups of the richest apple cobbler ever. The cinnamon alone was to die for! And as an artistic touch they spiraled caramel over it. I'm making myself hungry now.

My younger brother had apple cobbler too, and my older one had chocolat cake, which he described as like a muffin -- but not!

 Oookay... Moving on!

 Having artistry in the blood, us children of course took the opportunity to 'play with our food'. This is Older Brother's plate. Sadly, I had no chocolate sauce to draw with.

All too soon the glamorous party dinner came to an end, alas. But I shall always have fond memories of my first really fancy dinner. The whole thing was a little surreal; I kept thinking that in a few hours I'd be back in my blue jeans seeing to Roanie, cleaning her feet and applying smelly ointment to the sores on her belly and back where the flies ferociously gather, knowing their pathetic days are numbered.
 It was like for two hours I was two very different people. Kind of a fun sensation. :)

 Now it is Sunday night and yesterday already feels so long ago. But if there's one thing I learned yesterday{besides taste gourmet things with caution} it's that you don't always have to be outdoors to experience an adventure.

-Gwyn

I can explain!

I'm terribly sorry I didn't post Horse Logic Saturday! ...or Sunday.... But! I can explain all!
 You see, Saturday I was swamped with personal affairs like house chores, boring stuff like that etc., and I simply had to go to my little brother's soccer game. The weather was perfect that day - a balmy 75* and sunny all day. You know it's been rainy and cold here for the past two weeks(!) and that's something I am not used to {nor does it make me cheerful to be trapped indoors with homework - blah.} Anywho, my brother's team smoked the other one by a whopping 9 to 1. Afterwards there were victory icy-slurpy-high-sugar-yummy things all round. I can't recall clearly what happened once we got home. But that too is explainable because yesterday, after church, completely out of the blue, Da hooked up the trailer and said we were going to go trail riding!
 I know you must be thinking that with all the pastureland I'm blessed to be able to ride in whenever I want,  it's rather odd that I should be so excited to go trail riding. Well let me tell you this, we never take the horses on trails. We just don't have the time. And, when you ride nearly everyday all summer, even with all this land, you've pretty much adventured the whole place out. Things get a bit samey.
 Back to the main point.
So we loaded up Wilber for Da, Roanie for me, and Tricksey for little brother. Mum's knees hurt her real bad when she rides so she decided to just walk.

All loaded up
{L-R Wilber, Roanie... and Tricksey, though she's too short to see}

After a long and precarious drive up{...and up and up...} into the National Forest Reserve {aka, the Hills} we came to the spot. The trail head of Big Hill.
 What a sorry name for such a pretty place. The only excuse for such a name is that it was named by the Naive Americans and the translation is simply "big hill". If that is not the case, then whoever did name it is a buffoon. I stray yet again....
We took the longest loop around the hill, about 4 miles. Four miles of blissful riding in the depths of nature. The trees are dressed best autumn frocks, but only for for a few days. The breeze was already plucking at the leaves and whispering change.  As we passed through the silent wood, the leaves fell gently like golden confetti. The variety of hues the different trees take on after a summer of greens is extraordinary. Red oaks and maples, yellow aspens, orange birches..... God's own fireworks show.

I wasn't able to take pictures because I was riding the whole time, but I was able to snatch a few.

{This shot took me forever to get. Roanie wanted to go home, not hold still}

Roanie was awesome for me!! She only spooked twice the whole time. And that, my friends, is what you call a miracle.

Now I have to go now, though...  Da wants on. Okay, okay! I'ma gettin', I'ma gettin!
 I will try and post HL tonight!

-Gwyn

Of many things...

May I first just say how much I loved all those comments on my last post? It was so lovely to learn about your four-legged friends! It's very evident even in the words you used how much you love them :)
  Ah, if only the rest of humanity would look on animals as compassionately as you girls.
 Molly also says "Roo-roo" for the complements.

I know I've talked about canning and jelly making a million times this year already, and probably thought you'd heard the last of it {so did I!}, buuut... A few days ago Mum was given thirty pounds of home-grown grapes. Yep, you heard me right, thirty pounds of these little guys.

I don't know what were going to do with all of them, so for right now they're all in giant plastic bags in the freezer chest.

They don't taste like store-bought grapes either - they taste almost exactly like those little candy suckers you get at the bank! I don't know if you find that weird, but I do.

Speaking of weird... 

 I thought it was so funny the way this photo turned out. I didn't place them at all, and it was only when I edited it that I saw what appears to be a riot. {... I could say something about the Grapes of Wrath, but I won't...} 

 I suppose it's inevitable that we'll can a few, and maybe make juice and some jelly from the rest, but in the mean time....

Pumpkins anyone?

We harvested seven large jack-o-lanterns, two tiny premature ones, five turk's head squash, four baseball bat sized summer squash{not to mention all the smaller ones}, and millions of cherry tomatoes and decor gourds. What a great year for gourds and squash!

Little brother and I also went adventuring the other day and this time I brought along the camera. Unfortunately I haven't the time to post those just yet, so I must say Adieu to you, and you, and you, for now anyway. But do you have a garden?

-Gwyn

As a side note, could you please pray for my family. We're having a rather rough and tumble time at the moment. So if you  could it would be greatly appreciated.

{I couldn't resist sharing just one picture from our adventure :)}