It was an eventful 24 hours, starting at the crack of dawn yesterday. I went with my mother and sister to the Beaver Creek Ranch for horseback riding lessons. This is Gus, the horse I rode in on.


We had to get the horses from their “pasture” (??) and bring them to a barn for grooming and saddling (yeah I might be making up a lot of words here so bear with me). My mother passed me a bucket of oats while she tied a rope around Gus. This very, very large horse becamesuddenly obsessed with me. It was scary because at that moment, with this huge brown horse head nudging my face, I realized the greatness of these creatures and how they could, if necessary, smother me into the ground. I passed the bucket of oats back to mom and, as you can see below, the horse gave up on me.


The lessons were great! Brenda taught us how to control your direction, how to get the horse to start, stop, back up, trot, and gallop (though I think it may have actually been called a “lop” which is slower than a gallop…point being that it’s when the horse has all 4 feet leaving the ground in one stride). The horses were pretty lazy (which is good for a beginner) and I only managed to have Gus gallop for five seconds or so. It’s ok, the trotting was enough to bruise my sit-bones and today I’m kind of walking funny. I think we will try to go again before I head back to Vancouver. I am excited : ) Tensor bandage panties on my Christmas list!
Last night Kim had her Tenth Annual Still Girls Only Potluck at Home Christmas Party. So much food, wine, laughter, and of course the obligatory Carly Simon singalong. God these girls are hilarious. They make my year.


Sex in the City charades until the early morning hours was quite amusing. I’ve decided that I must make a video collection of people acting out the word sex in charades. The various renditions are quite amusing and insightful.


Such an awesome time and I still can’t believe that I was able to get up this morning and go tobogganing. We drove out to Douglas Park hill with two toboggans, a crazy-carpet, and an old snowboard. It was a beautiful day, almost worrisome as the snow was melting away by the minute.


But it was all good. Icy grass moves you fast. Toboggans are so speedy!




I am so pooped now. We just finished Christmas Eve supper and will open presents soon (yes we are night-openers…impatient). I want to write more, but I’m sore, tired, and wondering why I am on my laptop when they are bringing out cookies upstairs. My pants still fit so obviously I have some work to do.