Jason was able to work from home this day. His boss gave him permission so he could avoid the impending Memorial Day congestion on the roads to and from Boston. It was very nice, but a busy day for all. My daughter and I went with our new Homeschool friends to watch a movie, Epic. It was a "good" movie overall. Fern Gully meets Avatar in my opinion. As expected I was disappointed to find some new age themes there. Not sure I would watch it again, but it was a good "one time watch."
When we got home I petitioned my hubby to go out to eat for Shabbat dinner because the house did not feel like "Shabbat." So we went to a Mexican restaurant near Worcester (pronounced "Woost-ah" <I've been practicing> kind of like "Rooster", but with an "ah" at the end.). It was pretty good, the restaurant had 4 stars. We were the last to leave the restaurant and gained an audience with the restaurant owner. I asked him where he was from, he said, "where do you think I'm from." I didn't want to guess and offend him (trick question) so I declined to answer and said, "I don't know." He said, "well I'm not Puerto Rican." He said, "I'm from Guadalajara." I was like, "wow, that's where my mom is from." He didn't believe me at first, but I gave some other details that confirmed the fact for him. We purchased some Tortillas from him and asked where he gets his Mexican food from. He told us and we went on our way back home. As soon as we arrived home, we received a message from one of the realtors saying they had scheduled an inspection of the lower beams of the house that had been recently treated for Powder Post Beetles. Just as their name suggests, they turn Posts into Powder, so naturally the VA wanted reassurance that the integrity of the beams were not going to be of concern.
Saturday, May 25th:
We were explained in the message we had received the night before that the inspector would come at 9AM and it would take only a few minutes to make the evaluation. So they arrived promptly at 9AM. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the "inspector" was a familiar face. He is a God fearing man. That is always important to us. He assured us that there was no reason for anyone to be concerned and we trusted his opinion.
After the realtor got her written approval from the inspector she left and our friend, Mr. Dave, the inspector came up to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and a chat. After a nice visit we parted ways and he let us know that he would be back on Sunday for a trail ride with OUR horses!
As soon as Mr. Dave left I jumped online and got the address and meeting times of the Messianic congregation closest to us and we readied ourselves and headed out to Cherry Valley. The times listed a Scripture Study at 2:30PM that lasted to 3:30PM. We were disappointed to arrive and find the parking lot empty. :( They should have been having Oneg when we arrived, or just finishing. We were hoping for a snack and visit, then a study. Instead, we went to town and ordered a pizza. It was yummy! We headed back home, it was chilly. We started a fire and the warmth filled the house. We had the upstairs rooms closed to keep the cats out of the bedrooms, so the bedrooms unfortunately were still frigid. Bummer!
Sunday, May 26th:
This morning we had plans to go to a Renaissance Festival on the coast of Connecticut, it was a one and a half hour drive. We were meeting our friends there, our friends from Texas! We were excited to see them. As we were "buttoning up" the house, putting the dogs up and the cats too, we found one cat was missing. It was Namira, our Snow Bengal cat. We did a sweep through the house and could not find her ANYWHERE. We checked all the usual places, then we checked the unusual places. Still no Namira. So we were all standing in the basement contemplating what to do about this naughty kitty whose theme song is "Mission Impossible" when we noticed our Blue Point Balinese cat, Sir Rolf (aka Puppy-kitty) air scenting into the ceiling in the basement. So we got quiet and listened carefully. The kitties ALL wear bells, for this very reason. We heard a faint bell in the direction Sir Rolf was air scenting. My husband climbed up and peered above the beam where we heard the bell and voila, there was this naughty little kitty! Except she would not come to my husband, so I tried to get her... nope, not me either. So we had my daughter call her, and Namira reluctantly came to her. Naughty girl!! We put her up and jumped in the car to head to the Renaissance Festival. We stopped for a quick bite to eat, and then off we went.
The Renaissance Festival was fun, but not nearly as elaborate as the recent one we visited near Austin, TX. This was a temporary Festival whereas the one in Texas is a more permanent facility. Our friends met us there and we walked about and visited the shops, watched some shows, then we went and had a great fish dinner at Lenny & Joe's Fish Tail. We had fish sandwiches. They were very good! What fun. We parted ways with our friends and on the way back home we sort of took little jaunts driving by historical landmarks on the way, one was a "Historic Ferry" and another was "Dinosaur State Park." A stop at Dunkin Donuts and soon we were home. Again it was cold, this time we did not have as much wood, and what we did have was WET. It was a cooollld night! :(
Monday, May 27th, Memorial Day Happenings:
For some reason I had some difficulty sleeping. I was awakened very early in the morning thinking of friends "gone past" that for one reason or another we no longer talk or visit. I came to the realization that perhaps the reason that we were no longer talking was because it was ordained by God that we should not continue in our friendships for one reason or another. Later I realized too that I had some major anxiety about our upcoming 1st trail ride for my horse and my daughter's horse. I was worried for both of us. More so for my daughter than for me, although I had good enough reason to be concerned for myself as well.
I made a delicious breakfast for the family and right on schedule our friends arrived, Mr. Dave and his sweet wife Louise. We saddled up Justice and Sky and headed to the arena for some pre-trail work. Everyone did really well. We decided that my daughter should walk her horse and I rode Justice with Dave and Louise riding their horses. We rode out to the Golf Course which was not far away at all. I thought it was further but it wasn't. In the Forrest by our house we had to cross a bridge, one we had successfully crossed before on "the ground" not under saddle. This time, with me under saddle, it was different and Justice refused it, Jason was on foot and he took Justice's halter and walked him across the bridge. The rest of the ride through our trails on our property went well. Then we reached the open dirt road. We could hear dirt bikes in the distance so I asked for a game plan should we encounter some dirt bike riders near us. We decided that I should dismount in the even we had dirt bike riders show up. Thankfully we did not need to use that plan. So we went down the path to the golf course. There was a very nice arched footbridge. Mr. Dave led the way on his horse Mary. Justice followed, but then said "wait, we're doing WHAT??" Again he refused this giant bridge. I rephrased my request, but by now the other horse was making crazy sounding hoofbeats (to Justice) on the top of the arch and Justice lost it and turned out from under me and much like a cartoon I was in the air for a second as I kicked off the stirrup and landed abruptly on my HIP! OUCH! It knocked the wind out of me. I sat still for a second. Everyone was asking if I was ok, but I could not respond, I could hardly breathe! I barely got out the words, "wait, I got the wind knocked out of me!" I got up, dusted off, and realized I was thankfully OK! Hooray. Well got that "dump" out of the way, haha! My first dump EVER, hooray! I do hope it's my last! So Mr. Dave and Jason went and caught Justice, who was now grazing on a hill as far away from the bridge as possible, but he had it in his sights, lol. Stinker! So we got him back and I managed to remount him and off we went again. We decided to skip the "scary bridge" for now. We'll work on it on the ground and then later under saddle. No need to rush things. Remember... my first fall, but this was Justice's first trail ride EVER!
We returned home, I felt quite accomplished, this was the awesome result of all my hard work of retraining Justice. :) We went to the arena and dismounted, took the horses back down to the barn and untacked and brushed them out. I could tell they felt accomplished too! :) Mr. Dave and Mrs. Louis loaded up their horses and we shared drinks and chatted a bit, then they drove off. Just as they left, our wonderful neighbor Mr. Dick dropped by with his riding lawn mower. He had graciously offered to mow our lawn for us since we do not currently have our riding mower. We had to give it away when we left Texas, there was absolutely not an INCH of room left for it!! I mucked out the horse paddock, and Jason moved our horse trailer to a different location so Mr. Dick could mow in front of the barn. As I was finishing up with the horse paddock my tummy was grumbly and I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner, although I already had something in mind. Chicken! I hung my muck rake up behind the barn and when I walked back up towards the house two women were standing there speaking to my husband. They were our neighbors, the owner of the Greek Restaurant and her daughter-in-law. They were dropping by to invite us to their BBQ. We agreed to come, we had to freshen up. My hip was awful sore, but nursing it would have to wait. We all dressed and readied ourselves. Then we went over. They are a Greek family, and I found their lively family to be quite reminiscent of our Hispanic side of our family. It was very fun! We had a great time! I'm glad they invited us!
After the party we returned home, I ran myself a bath and soaked in Lavendar Magnesium Bath Salts, plus my BeautiControl Mineral Bath. Mmmmmm! It was divine! After my bath, my husband packed a bag of ice for me and now I am sitting, icing my hip. Oi! That was SMARTS! That's it for now. Have a blessed week! Tune in next time for a future installment of Starstruck in Southbridge. :) Shalom!
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