Christmas in FL

12/18/13
Cool crisp sunny breezy day, absolutely gorgeous day for a ride with Marion and Mary Kay. I was on Dreamy! Everything looked so beautiful. And she was especially Dreamy today. Mary Kay was asking about her training. It really is amazing what she will do with just a whisper of a signal, a shift of my weight, a word. I find myself picking up the reins occasionally and then wonder why I did… so I put them back down. What a great way to start the day.

After a quick shower (I had to shave my legs to put on a bikini) I went to the club house and soaked in the hot tub jacuzzi pool for about an hour, ahhhh…had dinner and went to church where I proceeded to nod out thru out the service (except for the music, they are getting really good!). Steve was not there but his son was. He and his young wife do a teen service once a week so he has some experience, but it was not the heart throbbing kind of talk that could keep me awake after melting in the hot tub. He told a story from the book of Rebecca, or was it Rachel. I got very confused, it was long and complicated. People dying, traveling great distances…And for the life of me I don’t remember what the point was. I was surprised to learn there were bible parts written by a woman, I need to look into that. So I got something out of it.

I posted pix from today’s ride on FaceBook and got about 75 likes. I don’t really know but one of these people-friends. Lately I find myself checking these silly things, like the stats on my blog. Like its a popularity contest? (I have almost 9,000 views on the site. I don’t know that many people for sure but then again I have no idea how this stacks up to other blogs either. But who really cares any way?) I was never sure of my ability to write when I started this, heck, I had to take the “remedial” English class my freshman year in college (at an Art School at that!). So when I get remarks from people that they enjoy reading my stuff I am kind of surprised…and proud. So maybe I can write a book that people will want to read, hmmm. Well maybe.

12/25/13
1 week has passed.
I have a nagging sense that I am not doing anything productive all the time. What did I actually do this week any way? I am back to riding most days, sometimes alone and sometimes with Marion. I feel much better when I ride. My back is better and my outlook on life improves. I had a magical ride on Dreamy on Christmas eve. Truly magical…then we went to the best service I have ever been to at Christian Family Church. There was a beautiful live nativity outside. The music was fantastic! And Pastor Steve had a thrilling message about Christ coming to save us all and bring us all Joy. My dad was with me and he said he enjoyed the service afterwards. I have wondered what kind of religion you call this. I was thinking Christian. But maybe its born again Christian? I always thought born agains were weird or off the wall fanatics but I think that is what I am now. I like what Pastor Steve has to say and it makes me feel good. It makes me feel alive again, gives me hope, peace and sometimes even joy.

We are watching Forest Gump, what a wonderful movie…

My left ear has been roaring for the past week. I have a screwed up ear. I had Miniere’s disease. If you don’t know what that is, your ear fills up with fluid sometimes and you don’t know which way is up when it is going on. It took years to properly diagnose and more years before I found a doctor, Dr Grosch, who thought he could do anything to correct it. At the time it was an experimental procedure but it is now commonly done. It stopped the attacks but I lost all sense of balance on that side. It took a year before I could function well again, my right ear developed nerve pathways to compensate and my brain began using my eyes more for balance. I did tons of exercises for balance, I still do. But it is pretty good now. Anyway the left ear still has tinnitus, damage that was done from all the Miniere’s attacks. I have gotten used to it, its usually just an annoying buzzing noise that makes it hard to hear people talking when there are other loud noises, like a tv or being in a busy restaurant. But the noise now is a loud throbbing rushing noise that is driving me crazy. This is how it was before an attack. Lots of inner ear pressure. Supposedly the ear is still malfunctioning as a Miniere’s attack, its just that the sensory thingeys don’t send the messed up message to my brain any more because they were killed off by Dr. Grosch. Eventually, the pressure will be relieved and it will go back to my version of normal, but its taking a long time this time. I think it was all caused by a big bag of Doritos I had last week. The fluid retention is salt related. One of my early “cures” was to eliminate salt, which is impossible for me. It made me so depressed I didn’t want to eat anything. I am supposed to keep my salt intake way down but I forget a lot, I crave it. Maybe I have an ear infection. I’ll go see a doctor I guess. I don’t want to get on a plane next week like this.

I made a bunch of beaded earrings for gifts for my friends back in CA if I see any of them when I am there. I am going there for a few days around New Years Eve, primarily to see my kids. Two are home now and my oldest, who is in college in Madrid right now, should be there by them. It is Christmas day. I haven’t spoken to any of them. Its kind of sad. I used to make such a big deal about Christmas with the tree and lights and presents and dinner and champagne and I haven’t even heard their voices today…I now really know in my heart that this is not what Christmas is all about, so I am not too sad about my kids. I hope they know too but probably not, except for Emily who of course knows. She is transferring to Texas Christian University for the spring. When she was applying to colleges she said she wanted to go to a small Christian school by the ocean. No ocean in Texas so I guess she has rethought her criteria.

I did try and call them but got their voice mails. I texted them and they replied. Emily had some cute Christmas icons in her text. That is how kids communicate these days I guess.
They are playing Forest Gump again so I am watching it again…Forest is in Viet Nam now. God, the music is great too. I love this movie.

Last Thursday, Candy the natural horse trimmer came and removed my horses shoes and trimmed them real nice. There were several bruises still evident after the trim. God they must of been so sore back in Arkansas, poor babies. I feel so guilty about this. I didn’t use the boots every time I rode and the rocks were horrible. There was not enough time for them to transition to the rocks and I rode too long. Candy talked a lot the whole time she was working. And she had to work real hard to get those shoes off, Wayne put those shoes on REAL good! She is one of those militant barefoot people, proper trimming, nutrition, exercise, free roaming…all the ideals I have subscribed to as well. I hope I don’t sound as fanatical tho. I try to tone it down a notch or two. But I do believe it. She fitted the boots I have and said they all fit perfectly which amazed me since I couldn’t keep them on in the mud we encountered in some states. So I have a full set of 4 good boots already and ordered another set so I can boot both to pony and have spares. She is also a distributer of Cavallo boots. She told me about a trick to keep the boots on using mens crew socks. I haven’t tried it yet but I will. There is no mud here anyway, its just sand. Its a real nice place for horse’s hoofs. I have thought about living here. My dad has said so many times how great it would be if I lived here. Not so sure about the summers…

One day I rode Wildflower with Marion. I don’t know if it was Marion’s horse or the Christmas bells I strung around WF’s neck or having bare feet with boots on or the snaffle bit, all of which were different, but she barely spooked at all, just tiny jumpy ones. She gave me her back at the trot and it was lovely for a change. Probably some combination of all the changes but I know the Indians used bells and they say it calms the horse down. Maybe the loud jingling scares away the boogie men, real and imagined, and she knows that so she feels less threatened. I’ll monitor these things in the coming week…I could use some bells myself, lol!