Random 5 Friday

As promised, Fridays will be my "answer questions" day and if I don't have five questions, I'll add some random facts to make up my 5. I'm linking to Rural Journal.  Hop over to read more random posts.

1. I was asked if it is too cold for the vegetables I planted in my new raised planter bed. Honestly, I don't know. This is our first winter living in the Sierra foothills so I will learn. The thyme, chives and rhubarb will weather the winter fine. It may be too late for the sugar snap peas but I'm hoping to squeak a handful before the frost kills them. I figure 50/50 on them. The lettuce won't last long once we get regular hard frosts but I'm hoping it will grow until December.

2. Feral friend Janice asked if I am classically trained and suggested that I ride like Vlad Littauer. Who?? I had to Google the guy. He was a Russian teacher and trainer, primarily of jumpers, and he was a big advocate of "forward" and riding in a hunter seat. I don't ride in a hunter seat much -- I never was a real jumper. The question about me being classically trained gave me pause. As a kid, I rode bareback on borrowed horses or western at the rental stable. I never had a lesson other than those given at the rental stable. When I was 40, I discovered dressage and started taking lessons. So, my lessons have all been classical but my formative riding years were all about yee-haw, jumping logs bareback (and falling off) and trail riding. It does tickle me no end to think about the label "classical" applying to me.

3. My very favorite author, Alice Munro, won the Nobel prize for literature. She's a Canadian writer of short stories. Amazing short stories. She writes about living in a small town; about the people and the choices they make; how small choices can change and shape a life. If you haven't read her stories, give her a try. She is one of the few authors that I read and re-read over and over again.

4. While unpacking a box, I found a Christmas letter I wrote in 2001. We had just purchased the land for Aspen Meadows, our house in the suburbs was for sale, Brett was pouring over house plans, and I was stressing about living in a travel trailer for three months with two small children and a big dog. Its a good thing I didn't know that it would be close to a year living in that travel trailer while Aspen Meadows was built.

5. I am never moving again. Never. I unpacked the last box tonight. I'm done.


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