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From Drop Box

oops! So, in mid-September, I got a job.  Which, it turns out, severely cuts into blogging time.  Well, it severely cuts into free time, and blogging was the thing that went (as compared to reading, which was the thing that I now find time for on the bus and at lunch and far too late in the evening…).

So, I have, though, been lucky enough to have reviewed a number of young adults for Bookgeeks, and I had a wonderful few days vacation over the holidays.

The riding is also going well.  I’m at Finlow Hill–which is a smaller stable, but it’s working for me right now. I’ve also managed to join the local BHS committee–here’s hoping that it helps me get plugged into the local eventing community a bit more.

The end of December/beginning of January has been a good time for books. I re-read a ton of books I love (both of Kristin Cashore’s books, a few Agatha Christies, a few Mary Stewart’s books), and I read a number of new ones that I enjoyed (Jim Butcher’s newest Codex Alera book and The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas to name two). Other than that, life has settled, mostly. We are getting all ready for our trip to Nicaragua in April for a friend’s wedding and hoping that life just goes smoothly for awhile.

Well, I’m finally back from a sort-of vacation back to Southern California.  (One of the highlights of which was eating as much Mexican food as I could in ten days.  Hint, that’s a LOT of Mexican food, but not ENOUGH Mexican food: subtle difference there…) I went to announce at the horseshow at Copper Meadows, an eventing venue in Ramona, California. It was a fantastic time–I announced all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (basically, I was blathering on about horses, sponsors, photographers, and following rules for twelve hours a day–and yet, totally fun.)  I then tried to hang out with everyone possible in the ten days remaining.  And ride. a lot.  I got the riding in (thanks Sarah and Nancy!), but I had a hard time finding enough time to hang out with everyone.  Partially, it was because a friend of mine has just had a baby, and it was just so easy to spend a few days just being mellow with the new mom and baby–and partially it was because, between the riding and the working and the running around, I kept falling asleep by 9pm.

I made an unusual choice (for me) on this trip: I only brought three books.  Well, three books in my bag.  On my iPhone, I had about fifteen books in e-book form and ten audio books.  Except for one minor breakdown (I saw Christopher Moore’s newest Fool, and I had to buy it to get me through the 5 hour wait for the second leg of my trip). It worked quite well–my carry-on was much lighter, and Iwas able to live out of one small bag for the twelve days.

Of course, I knew I would be able to borrow books (from friends and family) and, it turned out, I was so busy I basically stuck my headphones in my ears with an audiobook on at 9pm and was asleep by 9:15, so it wasn’t a regular vacation.  I think, if any down-time had actually been possible, I would have *needed* my normal ten or twelve books, but this time it worked. (Now, if anyone could help me out with the really, really bad farmer’s tan I managed to acquire while there, that would be great.)

Remember this? Even though I moved here in November, it was the winter that really struck me.  A little over a month ago, the snow was crunching under my feet, and I was wearing four layers while attempting to go for a run. These last two weeks, though, there were leaves on the trees and bulbs blooming everywhere. I added ten minutes to my walk into town because I kept being distracted by the bright purple and yellows of the flowers or a tree that started leafing out in bright green. Or the sun, which has been making an astonishing number of appearances in March. I’ve been making smoothies and opening every window in the flat with something that is not far short of glee. Continue reading