Life in Aylmer Quebec

That is the song that just popped into my head, as I was sitting on my couch, trying to organize my thoughts for this post. No idea why, but it did. I know there was something in there earlier (my head, that is) but it’s gone now and Stevie Wonder sang instead. Go figure. Maybe that’s how I feel about this blog. Every once in a while, I have to pop in and say boo, but can’t/won’t/don’t do it as often as I used to. Other things seem to take up so much of my time and energy these days. Or maybe I’m just running out of steam, and I’m slowly grinding to a halt. Not sure.

So for tonight, I’m going to steal from Letterman, and just do a top ten.

1. After about 2o minutes, finally got through the ridiculous City of Gatineau’s phone sign up system, and managed to get both my girls signed up for swimming lessons this spring.

2. Desperately need help decluttering, organinzing, packing shit for storage, and just general house stuff so we can put the damn house on the market. (Any volunteers?)

3. Meg loves her flute and her lessons. Score!! (pun intended)

4. My house with the barn is back on the market, and I really want it. (see # 2)

5. I think I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Or complete paralysis of the ass syndrome. I spend a ridiculous amount of time not doing things I should be doing at home.

6. My Chronic Fatigue seems to go away when I am at the barn. Perhaps it is an air quality issue inside my home? Yeah, that’s it. I’m going with that one. Explains the still unpainted bathroom, and half painted hallway.

7. I am madly in love. Wait for it. This is the best part. I am madly in love with my husband. Not just love or whatever. But madly. We’ve had our issues and shit over the years, even times when we’ve come close to splitting up. But this great guy (most of the time) throughout everything, has always, always had my back. I’d be so lost without him.

8. I did not win the lottery this Saturday. Damn it!!!

9. Did I mention that my pony dumped me on Friday? Yep. I christened the remaining snow after a glorious bucking/rearing episode in the field behind the barn. But I am no longer a virgin. I have fallen. No longer terrified of getting bucked off, now I can get on to the serious business of training this damn horse. (course I still love him too!)

10. In a month, I will be turning 40. How the hell did that happen? Last time I checked, I still felt about 24.  Or so. Maybe 29 at the most. Time is starting to go even faster, now that I’m starting to run out of it. Please slow down and let me linger a little longer.

It’s March. Already. I have been completely remiss. I’m not sure where the rest of January went, and February seems to have slunk off into a black hole or something. So many things have happened, I’m not even sure I can remember them all. Good things, bad things, funny things, and sad things. Or basically, life has continued on its merry little way with total disregard for everyone and everything in its path. C’est la vie.

My sister had a beautiful baby boy on December 10th.  Did I ever mention that? She sends me pictures and we talk on Skype occasionally so I get a chance to see him live.  So yes, I know for a fact that he is beautiful. In fact, I may have to ask her to stop sending pictures, because the damn cuteness and squishability of this kid makes my ovaries hurt.  People keep asking me if it makes me want another baby, and of course I always say no.  And of course I am lying. Logically, babies are done for me. I’ve moved on to the next stage. But emotionally, damn, I want to hold a baby of my own and sniff the top of her head.

My Meggie turned eight in January. Flute lessons are on the horizon for her. Or to be more specific, on Thursday. A neighbor across the street is a flautist and also teaches, so that works out wonderfully. For some reason, this is Meg’s instrument of choice. Who am I to force her to play something she doesn’t want to? (a hypocrite, that’s who. I force Emma to play the guitar against her will every day, and she is coming along beautifully!!) But I digress.

Emma is getting taller every time I turn around.  And growing up too fast. She loves Calvin and Hobbes. I love that she does. It means she inherited a bit of her sense of humor from both her parents, and that she has a damn good one, albeit a bit warped.  She is a lovely girl in every way. A pretty good guitarist too.

Barn life has been up and down. Bailey is wonderful, as always.  We’ve been out hacking a lot, we’ve even graduated to the road. He’s been taking it all like a trooper.  We’ve riding down to the Standardbred race barn, where he got to freak out a bit over other horses, but overall, he was good. In the arena, our canter is improving, and he is slowly learning to go straight, instead of his tendency to lean (extremely) to the right.  It’s a bit fustrating, but we’re getting there.  He is right sided. So be it.

We (the royal we) had to put down a wonderful old school horse, Joshua. He had chronic lameness issues, developed an abscess that never really healed, and Karen decided that he had tried long enough. He was a wonderful old soul, a dirty old man, a dressage master, a funny prankster and I miss him.

We lost another horse rather tragically. Kizmet had been out in the paddock, apparently playing with his buddies, when one of the girls went to bring horses in for lunch. Somehow, whether by a kick or some fluke misstep, he had broken his front right leg. He was euthed. His owner had just previously suffered a broken pelvis from falling off of him, and due to her injuries and slow healing, was told she should never ride again. Kizmet only came to the barn in the fall. She had finally been living her childhood dream of riding and owning a horse when this all happened.  Alanis, I think this might be the ironic that you were looking for.

So that is the short update for tonight. It’s late and I must away to bed. I’ll try to be better in the future about posting more often, but no promises.