December dawns bright

It's been cold, dry and sunny for the last several days here.  In fact, it hasn't rained much since last Friday, I think it was.  Otherwise, it's been dry and crisp, and the days that weren't sunny were foggy and grey, but dry! I'll be happy with any day that doesn't involve water coming down from the sky.  Yep, this is my kinda weather!  Love cold and crisp, but your coat on and do anything weather!  Sure helps my attitude and outlook on life in general.  I'm a sun loving kinda gal!!

So, the long Thanksgiving weekend was spent quietly around our house.  Wednesday shortly before quitting time, I started to have a sore throat, which was quickly followed by a stuffy head...sigh, first cold I've had in a couple of years, maybe more.  Anyway, Thanksgiving morning dawned sunshiney and I felt like crap.  But, there were pies to bake and a turkey to be cooked.  My hubby helped out a lot, he even made the pumpkin pies all on his own.  And, they were good too!!  Gotta love a man who can bake a pie.  So, together we cooked our holiday feast and by mid-afternoon we enjoyed dinner together by the fire.  It was cozy, quiet and very, very good.  The remainder of our long, holiday weekend was spent at home laying low.  We slept in, lounged around the house and took life easy.  Since I wasn't feeling exactly "swell", the only thing I did accomplish was a few hand-dipped beeswax candles.  Oh, the smell of warm beeswax is simply divine!!  I've never made hand-dipped tapers before, but they turned out splendidly, albeit a little shorter than I would have liked.  The problem with their length was in finding the perfect melting and dipping pot that was long enough, but not too big around as to require more beeswax than I ultimately had on hand.  Oh well, they're still quite lovely and will smell heavenly when burned.

My wonderfully handy husband took care of all the horsey chores over the weekend so I could rest.  What a sweetie!  He also got my new kitchen sink installed!  We did make a quick trip to Lowe's to pick out a new faucet.  The sink is a huge improvement over our old one, which was sadly in need of being disposed of when we moved into our house some 17 years ago...no sense into rushing into things, right?  Anyway, this sink is off-white porcelin over cast iron.  It's a very heavy sink.  It has one very deep basin on the left side and a smaller (but still deeper than the old sink) basin on the right side.  The faucet is off-set and sits right of center.  The new faucet is brushed nickel and is a very tall swan-neck style with a sprayer.  I love having a sprayer again!!  I'm a simple woman with simple needs, okay?  It doesn't take a lot to make me happy.  And my new sink, which looks perfect and very much the "farmhouse" sink, fits in perfectly with our kitchen style.  I love it!!  So, that was pretty much our Thanksgiving weekend in a nutshell.  Nothing exciting, really; but it was spent at home staying warm and being grateful for our many, many blessings.

Last night my boss, his wife, their son, my hubby and I attended the "Cavalia" show in Portland.  It was beautifully done, had amazingly well-trained and quiet horses, incredibly "fit" dancers and acrobats, and we had a wonderful time.  The show was quite enjoyable.  I have to admit that it wasn't exactly what I had expected, but it was very entertaining and was well done.  I had envisioned more of an opera of sorts performed with horses, you know, telling a story I guess.  Don't ask why I thought this, that's just what my mind had conjured up.  Regardless, it was a nice evening and we loved the show.  After all, there were horses, music, dancers, acrobats and all kinds of lights and imagery...what's not to like?  I have no pictures to share because cameras with flash were not allowed, and my camera does not do well in low light conditions.  Michelle took a few quick pics of the tent with us outside, so maybe I can get some from her.

I'm happy to report that after almost 2 weeks off from his schooling, Eagle had his first session this afternoon.  My friend Kris, spent an hour or so with him this afternoon.  She stopped by the clinic with a full report for me...I knew it had gone well because her smile was one of those beautiful ear-to-ear smiles that said all I needed to hear.  She said he had done remarkably well, and had picked up right where we'd left off.  She did ride him a little today as well, she even did some trotting, which Eagle was happy to do.  I just couldn't be more pleased with his progress.  Eagle is a very, very willing and sensible horse who really seems to enjoy his time spent with people.  Our next session will be after work tomorrow.  I will be there and can participate in this one.  I'm so glad Kris is working with Eagle and helping me out with his schooling, because with the shortened daylight hours and the variable weather conditions, it has seriously curtailed my available time to be able to work with my horse.  This is a win-win situation for all three of us.  I'm really getting anxious to get onboard my boy and see how he feels...can't wait!!

Well, gotta run!!  I'm headed for home to do horsey chores and wrangle up some dinner, and spend the evening with my hubby whose had the last couple of days off from work.  Lucky dog!!

Christmas baking begins in earnest this weekend and shopping for that perfect tree!!  It's time to deck the halls and join the chorus!!