October 22, 2023
I woke up at 4:30a.m. I meditated for an hour and wrote my blog for an hour. I suddenly realized what time it was. We had to leave for riding lessons in a half hour and Angel was still sleeping. I woke her up and told her we had to be quick. Christopher already had her breakfast ready. She ate and got dressed while I made my tea and got myself dressed. We headed out right on time. On the way to riding lessons, I stopped and checked on some dogs and goats that I feed and water once a week. The big goat decided to head butt me from behind. It didn’t hurt but surprised me. I gave him a scolding and kept my eye on him after that. I could tell he thought he was pretty funny.
We arrived at riding lessons right on time. Every week I see a big improvement in Angels riding skills. I got to thinking, I could do riding lessons with Angel at the same time, then we could learn together. I asked the instructor about it and she said they could absolutely do that. I also asked Angel is she would like me to learn along with her. She said “yes” excitedly. So it’s settled. Next week I start.
After riding lessons I went and picked up my grandson Finn and drove straight home. The homeschool co-op was meeting at my place for a nature walk field trip and I arrived home 10 minutes before people started showing up. I drove the side by side to the gate to meet them and had them follow me in. That was great fun and a lot of people came. We had 14 kids and 6 moms. The kids played in the yard and I gave the moms a tour of our house, the banana hut, the outdoor bathtub, the goats, chickens and the gardens. Then we gathered up the kids and all walked down the trail to the gulley. On the way to the gulley, I talked about some of the plants on the side of the trail. The kids ate American beauty berries along the way. I pointed out edible plants such as yaupon leaf for tea and elm leaf for tea, sawbrier leaves and shoots can be eaten in a salad. In the gulley, the kids had a great time climbing up and down the side, they all turned instantly into monkeys and it was fun watching them. All the moms wanted to walk further, so I took them up the other side of the gulley and on up oxcart trail (part of an original wagon trail) to what we call dog hill. It’s a flat sandy area with sandstone rocks. There were a lot of different animal tracks that were fun for the kids to identify. The kids played and made sand angels in the sand. Those kids were covered in sand and having the time of their lives.
When we all got back to the house, I cut up a watermelon and got out a package of strawberries for the kids to eat. There were kids everywhere, running in and out and I loved every minute of it. Around 12:30p.m. everyone left. I cleaned up and headed out to take Chase to the vet to get his shots. He did awesome at the vets. He’s such a mellow dog. The vet examined his teeth and said he is between 8 and 10 months old. He also said he is almost full grown. All of that was great news.
When I arrived home from the vets. I laid down and took a 2 hour nap. I woke up just in time for supper and I felt fully rested. I ate a salad for supper, while we were eating, Finn said he wanted to stay the night. I messaged his parents and they said that was fine. The kids were excited about it. After supper, I took a long hot bath in the outdoor bathtub. Then I went to play practice, which was a lot of fun. I almost have all my lines memorized for my first scene.
When I got home from play practice, Angel and Finn wanted to sleep on the trundle bed in the banana hut. We got it all set up and they crawled into bed with Chase in the middle. I wrote my blog while the kids listened to “The First Four Years” by Laura Ingalls Wilder on audio until they fell asleep. I turned off the light and went to sleep around 10:30p.m.
I am grateful to have experienced another wonderful day.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria