all the loose ends...

I’m just going to skip over the part where I apologize for not writing in over two months; we’re past that, right?

I went to bed last night with a plan for today—ride Caesar, go for a run, work on my three current (as of this week!) jewelry projects, then read and lounge before going out for a late dinner with Mike at our favorite restaurant. However, as often is the case, my plans went awry. This time because of a decidedly entertaining novel, Skippy Dies; oh it’s so fun—adolescence, education, string theory, zombies, Ritalin… (thanks for the tip, Abby!).

After spending almost 3 hours reading, I realized that I would either not be able to ride or not be able to run and make jewelry. I opted to run and work on my pieces seeing as how I have neglected both this week. [But why do I feel so much guilt when I don’t ride? Now that Caesar’s back in the land of the sound (thank you, thank you, God), I feel ridiculous for skipping any planned rides.] But I gave myself a break and went with plan B.

Mike had run just an hour or so before I left, and he came back chirping about how lovely the weather was. But somehow those sunny skies became gray and the wind picked up when I decided to run. Hmmph. Anyway, I ran through the very lovely neighborhood north of where we live. About halfway into my run, I experienced Déjà vu. I passed a woman out walking her dog and talking on her cell phone. I overheard her saying something like “we got to the gallery early but the artist did not show up until…”. It struck me as rather funny as just a few weeks ago while running in almost exactly the same spot I overheard a different woman saying to her walking companion “my daughter will have an opening at the (garbled word) gallery next week”. Apparently there’s a lot of art happening within a 3-mile radius of our apartment.

Now perhaps the woman I saw today is from an entirely different neighborhood. But her Barbour jacket and fancy non-athletic sneakers make me think otherwise. Plus there was something about her general demeanor, as if she felt one with the neighborhood, comfortable in this space. Whereas I surely looked like the outsider I am—pocked running pants, tattered gray t-shirt with ichthamol and thrush buster stains. And don’t forget my ‘uh, running is HARD! So hard I have to make this ugly face” face…

I had to wonder— is that all it would take to have a little more art in my life? If Mike and I could be suddenly transported into a stately manse in Guilford would I speak of gallery openings and museum parties while walking a fancy foreign pooch?

But now my run is over. It has been accomplished. And I feel like a new person. I always do after a good run or a good ride. Life really is simple that way. The guilt of slumming it up this morning and reading for a few hours instead of riding has passed (well, for the most part). And now that I am back to my senses I realize what it will take for me to have a little more art in my life—I must stop typing and trek down to the basement and continue working on my jewelry.

As disjointed as this post may be, it’s got something to say about my plans (hopes! May my hopes become plans that become actuality!) for the New Year: more riding, more running, more reading and more art (well art jewelry :) Here’s wishing a lovely New Year to you and yours!

Well, that was painless...

Ahem, ahem, ahem, I seem to have some cobwebs and dust to clean up. My blog's been hiding in the attic for 5 months. Yep, 5 whole months of 30-31 days each. That's a lot of days. Pretty much half a year. Looks like I'll be dusting it off for a bit before I really get back. You see, I just somehow lost May and then, catching up on May in June as well as covering June seemed daunting. Then July came with many adventures. But you get the point. I procrastinated, then got scared, then felt guilty, then felt liberated, then felt guilty again (before reminding myself I had been LIBERATED from my blog...wait, why do I do this?). And there you have it. Five months of nil. Nothing. And you know me, I like to chat and share. So, I am going to try to bring this jessie back. I have tons of updates, many of which are now irrelevant. After a few months of ups and downs and lots of worries, it seems that Caesar is in very good place to move forward with riding. Let's hope so. More on that front and many more to come. Also, after 2.5 years of bumming off Mike's laptop, I got my very own new computer. Tiny and cute and hopefully it will encourage me to write more soon. I hope soon does not mean March 2012 :)

a poem

I'm coming off two long weeks of intense studio time. Many might think that my time spent pouring over my jewelry projects is an an aesthetic pursuit at best . And I might have agreed with those folks a year ago. My dear friend Anna, a hobby artist by night, says that pursuing art makes us human, and I finally understand what's she's meant all these years. I have become immersed in this new task, and I have found a new side of my self in the work. I think my hands were always waiting for these new found metal smithing skills and my mind was brimming with design ideas without me knowing. Though the long nights and loss of sleep were hard, I am so proud of the work I completed. My studio pal, Beth, always says when someone completes a piece "how satisfying!" with this sort of honey in her voice, and she means it--crafting metal vessels you can hold in your hand, wear around your neck, display on a shelf is so, so very satisfying. It's bringing me back to roots I've wanted to get back to for so long. I am after all the daughter of a custom woodworker, and I wiled away many hours in the dusty garage watching my father turn cherry wood into tables, walnut into cabinets.

In any case, as I am emerging from the cocoon of (what seemed like) constant hand crafting I am feeling a rather rare bout of sentimentality. And when this happens, I tend to go to my poetry anthologies and have a few good teary eyed reads (ahem, tease me not, I embrace these times). I found this poem and had to share:

Riding Out At Evening

At dusk, every thing blurs and softens..
from here out over the long valley,
the fields and hills roll up
the first slight sheets of evening,
as, over the next hour,
heavier, darker ones will follow.

Quieted roads, predictable deer
browsing in a neighbor’s field, another’s
herd of heifers, the kitchen lights
starting in many windows. On horseback
I take it in, neither visitor
nor intruder, but kin passing , closer
and closer to night, its cold streams
rising in the sugarbush and hollow.

Half-aloud, I say to the horse,
or myself, or whoever, let fire not come
to this house, nor that barn,
nor lightning strike that cattle.
Let dogs not gain the gravid doe, let the lights
of the rooms convey what they seem to.

And who is to say it is useless
or foolish to ride out in the falling light
alone, wishing, or praying,
for particular good to particular beings
on one small road in a huge world?
The horse bears me along, like grace,

making me better than what I am,
and what I think or say or see
is whole in these moments, is neither
small nor broken. For up, out of
the inscrutable earth, have come my body
and the separate body of the mare:
flawed and aching and wronged. Who then
is better made to say be well, be glad,

or who to long that we, as one,
might course over the entire valley.
over all valleys, as a bird in a great embrace
of flight, who presses against her breast,
in grief and tenderness,
the whole weeping body of the world?

-Linda McCarriston


There's much heft to this poem to be worked through, but for now I will just say that I love the line "The horse bears me along, like grace,/making me better than what I am", and I feel it's so true for me. More on that another day. Good night ;)

The post in which I try to catch up on the past four weeks...

Where to begin? While I can not fully agree with Mr. Eliot that April is the cruelest month, I can say it's been quite a bear--fierce with some cuddly overtones. Project Embroidery!!! as I will hereby call it consumed the final few weeks of March and the first 8 days of April. My lovely friend, Pam, who is an exceptional fiber artist and generous teacher (remember those quilting lessons back in the summer? Well, I do, and that was all Pam.) agreed to collaborate with me on a weekly embroidery project way back in February. The original goal was to teach kids simple embroidery skills and to make an item (or items) that could be auctioned off at our school's annual silent auction in April. By April 7, we had made 6 large wall hangings encompassing the work of 110 kids and about 10 adults. There were several very long days and nights toward the end, but it was worth it! The experience was awesome for both us and the kids, and the pieces are/were/always will be AMAZING! And they were the biggest hit at the gala raking in almost $900 total. Here are some photos of the project and the wall piece I nabbed.











Just to illustrate how enthralled I became with the embroidery project, here's me jump judging at Morven Park...yep, while stitching on the binding of one of the pieces :)



I can't thank Pam enough for leading this project with me, and I am so excited to continue working together (hint- embroidery might be making an appearance in my final jewelry project).

As for jewelry (duh-dum), my class will be ending in less than two weeks, and I have no idea how I am going to finish everything. My second project, a pollinator locket for lack of a better name, was seconds away from being completed when the tubing for the swivel hinge snapped as I was setting the rivet. I know that sounds like gibberish to you, but it basically means I have to remake part of the piece with the looming threat that it could fall apart in a worse way. Oh goody. EEK! And it was so close to being finished! I only have photos of the component parts as they were a few weeks ago, but here you go:




I'll begin my final piece, a reliquary, this weekend; here's to better jewelry luck this time!

I put my class work on hold for a few days to make the following pieces for the aforementioned auction held by my school; they were very well received and I was sad to part with them. That's success in my book :)





Pollinators take the stage again, this time as rivets.



My second attempt at a cut-out piece: GSB are the initials of our school, and the leaf is our mascot of sorts :)


Terrible photo but all I have! These earrings are domed circles made of a marriage of metals.

On the horse front, Caesar has been going very well (very soundly!) for almost three weeks now. We have had several good flat sessions and a much better than expected jump lesson in the past two weeks, and I am feeling pretty hopeful about where we are. Unlike the past few times when he was lame, I feel like we came back strong and refreshed, and I did not loose a ton of knowledge or feel for the ride. Yea! Today we had a lovely little bareback hack followed by some nice flatwork in the ring (despite the sleet. Sleet in late April! Maybe it is the cruelest...).

I also had the chance to ride Megan's horse, Wyatt; while we often ride together we rarely ride each other's horses, and it had been over a year since I had sat on Wyatt. I have watched his progress quite closely so it was awesome to sit on him and see how far he has come. For reference, Wyatt is Perch/TB cross just coming 6. He was bred to be a field hunter, and he definitely shines on the xc course, but he has the build of a large fancy warmblood and the movement to match. Megan has worked tremendously hard to bring the big guy around, and it shows! Today, he reminded me of a Baroque horse in the making. His walk is so big that he literally swings your hips inches forward with every step. It was a treat to ride him, but it was work. I commend anyone who rides large sport horses especially young, green and large sport horses; it takes a lot of strength and correct timing of the aides to say the least! Hopefully Megan and I will be out schooling xc soon, and I will get some photos!

Here's hoping the rain ends soon, and we can get out on the trails. Caesar seems so pleased to be back in work, and I know we would both enjoy some trotting on the trails. In other news, Mike and I are enjoying our spring break with a little traveling (Ithaca and the Fingerlakes) and lots of reading. It looks like the reading will continue to be the pastime of choice as the rain continues, but that's not such a bad thing! Enjoy your weekend wherever you are!

Alright already

I have developed a seriously bad habit of making lists of things to blog about every two weeks or so then letting the lists get so long that I find myself too exhausted or too intimidated to write an all encomposing blog post when the time arises (which is usually around 11:30 at night on a weekday when I should be in bed:). Added to that is my desire to included photos of my current jewelry projects, and seeing as how I rarely upload photos from my camera to our laptop, this task is not so easy to achieve. So it's time for the roadblocks to be torn down. I have time for a very brief update, and that's whay I'll write!

I am ecstatic to report that Caesar is sound AND doing marvelously well. We have been back in the saddle for 10 days and each of our rides has been very good, much better than I could have expected. We took the first few rides very easy and light with only a bit of trot and lots of walking, but still he felt very stretchy and super happy to be going again. He has already put on a some weight since being back under saddle confirming that when he is out of work, he drops the pounds (wish that were the case for me!) As Margot put it, he is a bit of a worrier when he is unsound, and indeed, he does seem to be in very good spirits these days! Our trot work is going very well, and Margot has been really helping me adjust my position and be more effective, especially in the weak leg (ahem, especially, especially that left leg) department. I love seeing the progress I can make when I correct my body. Canter transitions are still an issue, but we had some very good ones Monday. Yesterday was a challenge because we had to ride in the indoor (which I am somewhat afraid of, apparently) and with an audience. ouch. But such is the life of sporting with horses. I've been doing lots of thinking as well as some journaling about sports psychology, specifically my tendancy to be chicken s*** about doing things that make me anxious (like transitioning to the canter; the canter I love, it's getting from trot to canter that I fail at). More on that later.

The embroidery project my friend Pam and I had been working on with the kids finished up last week with a bang. We completed six small quilts that became wall hangings that were auctioned off at our school's annual silent auction. The pieces brought in almost $900 and were a huge hit! Success! I even nabbed (okay, fought for) one that I just adore. I will post pictures...eventually!

That's all for now! See, I can write a short(er) post afterall!

Poetry in injury

The title is a not so indirect reference to the fact that little Caesar is still lame. Three weeks as of Thursday. It's hard work having a lame, shoeless horse--soaking, medicating (he has a bruise on his sole), wrapping, and, well, pampering are a far cry away from actually riding said horse; it's my favorite thing to do--ride Caesar, and without it, I feel a little aimless. And, apparently, a little stressed; I do a good job during the day of not ruminating over the issue, but at night, it gets the best of me. Almost every day over the past three weeks, I have woken up with significant jaw pain clearly from clenching my teeth (an old, awful habit). Yikes. Yes, I have a mouth guard. Yes, I know I should use it. Okay, okay.

But I'm aware enough to know that my horse soundness woes are nothing compared to the tragedies unfolding across the globe, and I don't want to sound ungrateful. I want, rather, to see the poetry in injury. A parent of one of my student's asked me the other day "Are you getting to ride more now that the weather is better?" "Well, I would, but my horse has a bruised sole." She chuckled and apologized and said "that's so poetic." Indeed a horse with a bruised soul would be quite poetic, but perhaps a bruised sole has some poetry as well. While I haven't been able to ride, I have been able to spend lots of time just hanging out with Caesar. And for as cranky and ear-pinning crabby as he can be, he actually relishes in the attention. He quickly became a pro with the whole medicating/soaking/wrapping routine and seemed to rather like the extra attention. He's come to enjoy being groomed and scratched and massaged without having to do any work (understandably so!). Maybe his soul was a bit bruised and what he really wanted was some more time with me just hanging out. Maybe, just maybe (it could happen!) :) I taught him a little trick whereby he gives me a hug by stretching his neck around my mid section. It's pretty darn cute. When I turned him out on Monday, he hugged me expecting a treat. When I offered nothing, he hugged me for a second time, and when I again offered nothing (I was treatless!) he resorted to bowing and tapping his hoof as if to say, "How about this? How do you like this?" Ha! I am a big fan of this horse's personality.

The good news is that he appears to be on the mend. He got his shoe back on on Monday and with it a heavy duty leather pad to protect his sole. He was much sounder after that but still a little off. He was a bit better today so I thought going for a little walk would not hurt. We only walked for about 20 minutes, but it was so great! And while Caesar's first few strides were a little iffy, he seemed almost 100% sound at the walk! I'll take that for now and hope tomorrow he is even better!

I completed my first project for class last week, and I was pleased with the results. The beaks were well received in the critique and I got some good feedback on some finishing touches that will really tidy up the pieces. Here they are:









In the above photos, the beaks look a bit out of context; eventually I will display them in such a way that will help complete the design (possibly mounting them on "legs" or framing them in a box...); here's a quick mock-up Mike did. Pretty funny!






Do you think I should name them?

My current project is a locket of sorts that will hold a diorama; I was very pleased with the design concept I developed, and I can only hope I can at least partially realize it! Stay tuned to find out more!

I also made a little get well gift for my dear friend, Abby, who is recuperating from a pretty severe fall off of her horse; in true Abby form she is doing so with style and grace so I thought a little piece of jewelry might help. I'll post it next week after she sees it, but I am hoping to make several other pieces like it. Simple and sweet and something many I hope folks, especially horse lovers, will like.

I am turning 29 this weekend; how did that happen? 29? Really? I discovered an odd food stain on my shirt today and asked myself " How do I have a food stain that does not match any of the food I ate today?" Ewww. Yet, somehow I think I always knew I would be grappling with questions like this even as I approached my 30th year. Some things never change! Mike and I will be going to Middleburg and Leesburg Saturday (my favorites!) and jump judging at the first steeplechase race of the season on Sunday with a family dinner in between. I am sure I've garner a few more food stains :)

Enjoy yourself wherever you are and thanks for reading!

I misplaced February

Over a month has passed seemingly unbeknownst to the blogger in me. I got busy with class and reading a slew of books and never had anything too intriguing to share. Hmmph. Such is life. Especially life in February, which for the past seven years that I’ve lived in Maryland has been one of my least favorite months. Sure, we are always guaranteed at least a snow day or two (or 8!) but the schedule gets complicated, the weather is bitter, and I’m generally just tired of winter by this point. This year is no different. We got some early hints of spring this year which was fantastic. Then the snow returned last week for one last blanket of white. But I believe it’s all over now. Temps are creeping toward 60 and there’s lots of rain in the forecast, a sure sign of spring I’d say.

Over the past five weeks, Caesar and I have had some really nice jumping sessions as well as some good rides on the flat. However, he’s lame at the moment; hopefully it’s just an abscess or bruise. Only time will tell. I sure hate when he’s off, but I am doing a good job of occupying my mind so as not to worry about him. I have my fingers crossed that he’ll be significantly better tomorrow morning.

My spiculum project for jewelry class is well under way. I submitted 7 samples of both spiculums and anticlastic forming last week; here’s a shot of three of them.



These are the prototypes for my beaks, which will be my final project (due in nine days!). Each beak will be made of a patterned sheet. Here’s the first (and hopefully most difficult) sheet.


I used a technique called marriage of metals whereby you “marry” metals by soldering them together. I have done a bit of this before, but this time around, I had many more challenges. The difficulties I encountered were largely due to the size of the piece and the fact that after I soldered a seam, I would have to paint it with a chemical to prevent that seam from flowing when I soldered a different seem. YIKES! The end result is quite nice; after 10 hours, it should be!

I also am teaching myself to do some simple (emphasis on simple) felting that will become part of the final project. Stay tuned!

Mike and I attended the American Craft Council winter show yesterday at the convention center. I have heard of the ACCs for a few years, but this was my first experience. It was, in a word, overwhelming; hundreds of vendors with wildly unique and often loud art for sale. I was astounded by the amount of bling—gold, diamonds, sapphires and other precious stones abounded. This made for some lovely window shopping, but the prices were jaw dropping at times. I was so impressed by the work of most of the artists, but I can’t fathom working with such expensive and delicate (other than the diamonds) materials. I wasn’t sure if I would walk out with any wares, but in typical craft show fashion, I splurged ;) I bought a ring made a Philadelphia artist Janine DeCresenzo. Her mechanical designs were beautiful and refreshingly creative. She sets stones and artifacts in small bezels to which she solders on small screws. The bezels can then be screwed into ring bands or pendants—neat! Here are some photos of the ring.




That’s all for now. Have a great first week of March (did I say that I love March!).

And it begins...

So this winter, weather in the mid-Atlantic (or at least our little corner) has been quite unpredictable. At least on the part of the local meteorologists. The forecast would call for 3-4 inches of snow, and we would get nothing, no rain, no hail, no flakes. This scenario has happened at least four times with the highest accumulation being little more than a sneeze. But this week, things changed. Yesterday morning, a wintry mix turned into a few inches followed by 6 more inches of snow last night. After last year's blizzard (times two!), it's hard to remember what a typical amount of snowfall in Baltimore looks like. I guess this is it--main roads are fine but sides roads are slushy at best. Sidewalks are a little treacherous, but passable, and more than a few people are walking around in completely inappropriate snow gear (were those grocery bags on his feet?). We were gifted with a day off of school, and I was decently productive. I got some work accomplished and made it out to the barn for a lovely hack in the snow. While the snow in the city quickly changes from picturesque to gross, the surrounding areas stay white and pristine for far longer. The farm where I board is beautiful in any weather, but the snow just makes it supreme.

Here are some photos that we took:






For class this week, I had to make a few models of some of my ideas; since our project is a series of conical, tube like structures, clay worked best. I have a few ideas competing at the moment (fox hunting images! wedding dresses! root veggies!), but I think I have my heart set on a series of bird beaks. Once I've worked through some more sketches, I'll post those, but for now here are some pics of the models:



And just for fun:


I had the opportunity to audit a clinic with Jimmy Wofford yesterday (yep, I braved the weather just to audit!), and it was fabulous! It's impossible to not learn something when listening and watching the great JW. It was extra special coming on the heels of Jimmy's announcement to seek the US Team Chef position. It was fun to watch Cherie and Abby as they participated (very impressively), and I even picked up a few tips that I applied yesterday in my ride. Check for a great training day despite the weather!

Here's a photo of Jimmy teaching (with a rapt audience:)


And suddenly another weekend is upon us. How did that happen? Hoping to get in some gymnastics this weekend as well as some good reading time! Have a great weekend!

Hound Deer...then and now

Two posts in two days--wow! I'm on a roll! Really I just wanted to share a quick video and a much awaited photo (awaited by me that is:)!

I rode Caesar for a quick 35 minutes bareback at the walk and trot tonight. Mike accompanied me and got a short video clip on his ipod. I usually freeze when I know I am on film so the sneak-attack approach worked. The video doesn't catch us at our best, but it's decent. (sorry for the strange format; can't figure out how to remove the window)


I clearly need to sit back and deeper as well as move my hips more freely. Also, Caesar's trot is a little short and stuck so asking for a more forward trot will help (and a following hip will help me do that). It's good to get some video and analyze it. Must do that more often!

As for the much awaited photo... I contacted the photographer at Charles Town last week and requested 3 of Caesar's win pics. This is something I have been meaning to do for a while, so I was quite excited to receive them in the mail. Caesar had a whopping 56 starts, 9 wins, and a dozen second and third place finishes. He was a working class race horse if there ever was one, so it's only fitting that I get some photographic evidence of his wins. I was surprised to see he was so stout. Despite being narrow, he's got a sporty build. Apparently he's been that way for a while!


I just started reading The Lord of Misrule which won last year's National Book Award. It's a novel about a bottom-level racetrack in West Virginia. So far it's quite good though I know I will be grimacing soon at some of the scenes.

I wish everyone a great weekend!

The first post

of the New Year is a bit tardy. But would you expect anything less? I like to live life belatedly afterall :)

The new year has been moving right along--school is good if a bit absent lately (holiday plus snow day equals forgetting my day job!). I've switched back to my old farrier for Caesar's feet, and he seems to be going pretty well. I am hopeful that this will be a more sound year than last. We did a gymnastics clinic in early January, but since then we've been lying low, working mostly on flat work. I feel a bit stuck, but 2 good lessons in the past week are adding some insight. This is as we know the season of feeling stuck. I think Caesar just wants to take a good walk outside. I know I do! We finally got around to clipping him (thanks to Shannon for the use of her clippers!), and it looks decent for the first try! I admit to being the handler; Mike was far more trustworthy with the clippers!

MICA class started last night. It's officially titled Perfecting Basic Skills, but the syllabus looks to be more about perfecting some skills and learning some new ones (hello, etching and bezel stone setting, I have been waiting for you!). I am excited for our first project--forming spiculums and anticlastic shapes. What's that you say? Yea, I just learned what they are too :) Think sheet metal curved inward, outward, in all directions within the same piece. Should be cool! I am thinking I might do a series of bird beaks or play with a foxhunting theme. hmmm...

That's all the writing for now, but I'll include some fun pics:



A shot of the jumps the boarders created for our trainer. They look great and ride well!



A close up of the artistry :)


Caesar's new clip and new bareback pad (both compliments of my awesome husband!)


I am certain Caesar has always wanted to be a dressage queen so I caved and bought him boots!

#51 (or, Lots of Cool Photos!)

Apparently this is my 51st blog post so I thought I would go all Dave Matthews and title it as such. Just can't resist the subtitle though; had to pull you in somehow! I have several bits and pieces to write about, but most can be expressed best through pictures, so here goes!

I finally finally finally finished my final jewelry project--a hollow form barn. The piece ended up taking somewhere between 35 and 40 hours, but it was worth it. I love the piece! Absolutely love it! And I don't usually feel that way about my pieces. There were several big hurdles toward the end (ahem, my adorable little rooster weather vane broke off in the eleventh hour!), but I pulled it all together by the time the studio closed Sunday evening. Here are some photos:







The back has a selection from a poem I love by Marge Piercy (To Be of Use); it says "The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident." Very fitting for both the piece and how I feel about my life and work :)

I was able to squeeze in two Christmas gifts-earrings for my sister (sorry, forgot to photograph them before sending off the package) and a mustache necklace for my sister-in-law. I did a brush finish on the front and printed the back with a floral pattern. I then used liver of sulfur to give it an oxidized finish. It's a fun piece that I hope she'll enjoy:


My dear friend, Linn, commissioned me to create four pieces for Christmas gifts. She is meeting three of her best buds for a concert on New Year's Eve and wanted a music-inspired piece to commemorate the event (they are avid concert goers). I came up with a small guitar cut-out that I made in the "window style" I perfected this summer. Each one is a bit different, and I patterned the metal. The backs are all stamped with the date of New Year's. Here they are:


She was pleased with them (yea!), and she got me the most amazing gift-- a portrait of Caesar and Topo! I teared up when I opened it! This is definitely one of the most special gifts I have ever received! Linn is very supportive of my "new ventures" in life (i.e. working less and riding and making jewelry more), and it means a lot to me that she respects and even admires my choices so the painting was all the more meaningful. The artist is a friend of hers and has painted horses for years; she asked her to put Topo into the painting, and I think it's just awesome! Thanks, Linn!



In farm news, the boarders at my barn got together to build jumps as a gift to our barn owner/trainer. It's been a pretty tough year for her with both of her horses having significant (career ending) injuries; she's been horse shopping for months, and just this week found "the one", a Holsteiner/TB eventer that she brought home today. We presented her with the jumps this evening, and she was so happy! I am glad she has a horse with which to jump them! Good things! April, Shannon, Megan and I set up a course with them and did some jumping. I was bareback so I didn't do as much, but we did jump our first skinny panel! Caesar stopped twice (mostly my fault), but I stayed pretty solid in my seat despite being bareback which I was pleased with. We went on to jump it pretty well; lots to work on but a good start!

Here's a photo of the jumps in progress (Shannon and Mike are quite the artists!): Photos of all of them to come soon.



Tomorrow will be dedicated to wrapping presents and cleaning house (hopefully with a hack on Caesar thrown in). I can't believe it's already Christmas (you too?), but it always comes so soon. We'll be spending the day with Mike's family and surely enjoying some really great food. Next week, we are off to Shenandoah, VA, with our good friends, Attia and Phil; just two nights, but two nights that are much needed and deserved :)

Happy Holidays to you and yours!


Mike and a newly outfitted (and slightly indignant) Topo say "Merry Christmas"

What's a Christmas-gram?

In the words of Buddy the elf: "I WANT ONE!" I do realize that this is the second time I have mentioned a Will Ferrell movie in my little blog, and while I would not consider myself a huge fan, I do like many of his movies. And Elf, well, I enjoy Elf very much! This is likely due to the fact that in my first two years of teaching, my two mentors/best buds, Kate and Beth, made it a ritual to watch and quote the film several times during the holiday season. It helped me appreciate the movie all the more.

Tonight Mike and I are addressing holiday cards and wrapping gifts so some time with Buddy the elf seemed perfectly appropriate. I'm sort of ambivalent about the holidays. I love celebrating for the usual reasons--cookies, gift-giving (and, ahem, receiving), Christmas music, sparkling lights... But it also causes me a bit of anxiety. I tend to start thinking/worrying about what gifts to give around mid-November, but wait until, oh, Decemeber 10, to actually begin any shopping. Then I spend the week leading up to Christmas procrastinating the gift wrapping (I loathe wrapping). Enter Mike, who is quite a good gift wrapper :) This year is no different, but I might be a day ahead which isn't so bad!

Today was my last day in the jewelry studio, and it was quite productive. My final project is FINALLY done. I had a few melt-downs this week and ended up having to put an additional 8 or so hours into the piece in order to complete it. Alas, it is really awesome, if I do say so myself :) I finished four pieces that a friend commissioned and was able to sneak in two gifts for family members (though I had hoped to do a few more, I am glad I got these in). Photos are in order, but the photo-storing computer is on the fritz at the moment, so that will have to wait till another day.

Riding has been pretty low key lately due to the freakishly frigid temperatures. I am one who will ride outside in almost any conditions but there have been several days lately where the ground was too frozen and the wind was too wicked to do any sort of hacking. Alas, bareback in the indoor is as good as it gets, but we are still having fun! The boarders at my barn got together to make several jumps as a gift to our barn owner/trainer. They look fabulous (I can't take credit for much!), and those deserve photos too!

Happy holidays to anyone who might be reading, and I promise photos soon!

Bareback bliss

December has descended and with it came a severe drop in temperature. Around mid-day Wednesday, the temp in the the Baltimore area dropped from 62 to, oh, about 40 (which means the temperature at the farm, also known as the Carrollmuda Triangle dropped to 35). YIKES! The ponies fared well, but it's definitely time for those heavy weight blankets to be pulled out. Caesar is still sporting his au naturel blanket as I haven't made a move to purchase clippers or hire someone to do it. That probably served him well this week, but he needs to get some of that fur removed! For a Thoroughbred who spent several years racing and then several more as a stall boarded horse, he has fully acclimated to winter outside 24/7 (or at least his coat has)! Seriously, he is so fuzzy that when I look down at his neck while riding, he seems like a different horse (a not so narrow horse, ahem :)

This week was very busy and loooong, and it was made longer by the fact that I only rode on Wednesday and Friday. I hate it when that happens. Alas, those rides were quite good. I had initially planned for last week to be week 2 of a relaxed two-week schedule (read: bareback and hacking only), but then I had the opportunity to work with my friend Cherie (awesomeness once again!) and to do a clinic with Sally Cousins (fun and confidence building!). So on Saturday and Sunday, I just did some walking and bareback dressage. Caesar was a champ. My rides this week were not only few and far between but they were brief: 35 minutes on Wednesday and 30 minutes tonight. But...they...were...awesome :) And I have a few theories for why.
-Riding bareback really helps me achieve a better position and better control/use of my seat and leg aides
-I spent about 10 minutes just letting Caesar walk at a slow pace on a long rein, asking only that he stay straight and focused. With the weather so cold, any horse can benefit from slow walking to warm up.
-Then I gathered up the reins a bit to achieve some light contact and asked for a forward, in front of my leg walk (which we have been working on a lot in the past two weeks).
-After 5 minutes of this, I asked for some suppleness and even more connection and, bam, I got it. He was moving around all nice and forward and round like a dressage pony. A bit more walking like this and then onto the trot. While there were still ugly moments (um, my down transition from the canter bareback is still a bit bumpy which leads to loss of connection to say the least), the ride(s) was fantastic!
-I focused on relaxing my overactive right leg and engaging my lazy left leg more (thanks for the tip, Cherie) which seemed to help achieve more symmetry in both the walk and trot. I also focused on using my core to elongate my legs and stretch through my heels (a visual image that worked well). Each time I did this, I really felt Caesar's back stretch up.

While I don't prefer to ride for such a short time and I really don't prefer to ride in the indoor (though I am SO grateful to have access to one), these two rides this week were phenomenal! A year ago at this time, my riding was an absolute disaster. I am not exaggerating. I could barely get Caesar to walk around the indoor straight and forward. And the trot was a continual banking in or falling out. It was terrible. From November to January I lived in rider anguish thinking there was no hope. ICK! So of course when fall hit, I got a bit nervous. Even though I have made so much progress this year, I still feared (and, honestly, still do) that we would be sucked into the vacuum of bad riding this winter. The streak of bad riding probably had little to do with it being winter, but being stuck in the indoor from November to March surely did not help. Flash forward to tonight when I would have been happy with straight and forward (leaps beyond last year), and what do I get? Caesar was forward, straight, balanced, rhythmic and supple for most of the ride. And that felt like a million bucks :)

So, check plus for good rides this week! I have a jump lesson on Sunday so I'll actually pull out a saddle for tomorrow's ride. But the days of bareback riding will continue. In fact, I've put this Thinline bareback pad on my Christmas list:



I've been borrowing a friend's bareback pad for over a year, and I feel both Caesar and I deserve an upgrade :)

In jewelry news, my final project, a hollow form barn, is in the works. Hope to get some pictures up soon. I am hoping to get some Christmas gifts fashioned soon as well as a few commissioned pieces completed for my dear friend, Linn. It will be a busy few weeks in the studio!

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

November notes

November is very nearly over, how did that happen? No, really, where did it go? I swear it was just November 1. We’ve been fortunate to have some really nice weather over the past few weeks in central Maryland. That means more time riding and less time working inside (I’ve been neglecting the jewelry work a bit). At this point in the year, I seriously covet my outdoor riding time. With sunset around 4:45, opportunities to ride on the trails, galloping paths, fields, and outdoor ring are quickly waning. So you can bet I’ve been maximizing that outdoor time. Caesar and I have put in a few bareback trail rides (fun and confidence building!) and a good bit of conditioning work.

We went to our first clinic last Sunday with event rider/trainer Mogie Bearden Muller. I was a wee bit worried that I might not be ready for a clinic, but since it was billed for riders at 2’3” and up, I thought “Why not?” The day was quite a success for Caesar and me. We worked on some single fences as well as a bank down into water. Mogie worked with me on my position, especially that wandering, wimpy left leg and on maintaining Caesar’s pace into fences. When he gets quick 5 strides before an xc fence, I tend to either pull an extreme half halt (read: fierce halt) or just let him go. She helped me first establish a better consistency of canter in the approach (use those half halts then!) and think about using other means to help him maintain his pace into the line—shoulders back, using more leg and knees, hands up, etc.

We had our last event of the season on Sunday, the short course at Loch Moy (where we had a much improved ride compared to our outing in September). Megan and Wyatt also had a great day, and we celebrated with a bottle of wine (a great idea at the time, though we were a bit tipsy when unloading the horses back home)!




I have not been much of an avid jeweler this past week (show prep and work overflow, oh my!), but I was able to put in a few good hours today. That’s a good thing, considering my break put me a good bit behind! My wire project is due on Tuesday (eek!), and while I’ll have to put in the equivalent of an all-nighter this weekend, I’m more excited about the piece than I was before ( I had lost some interest which is inevitable when forging and soldering, blech). The piece will be a barn of sorts with little farm animals. Here’s a sneak peak of some of the components:





And finally, here are a few photos of my mid-term piece that I finished at the end of October; it’s medal of honor dedicated to my grandmother, the consummate gardener:





I used a colored pencils (with a base of gesso) to "paint" the copper veggies!


The quote says "Green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart"; I used embroidery thread to stitch around the perimeter of the flower.

Two posts a month isn't so bad...

But it's not good either. And I am just barely getting the second in before the deadline! Life has been busy the past few weeks, very busy, but a good busy, the kind that makes you eager for the next week (even if you are a little tired from the previous).

In early October, my students created mini greenhouses for micro greens, and last week, we harvested them. It's a really easy task--plant seeds in recycled plastic containers (with holes, like those for berries) and after two weeks, the sprouts are ready to be harvested. Trendy sprouts (a staple for fancy farm to table restaurants this year) are oft referred to as micro greens, but they are one in the same. We planted radish, carrot, lettuce, sugar snap peas, turnips, and beets, and we used ours as a garnish for a tomato mozzarella salad. It was a great experience for the kids, and they enjoyed the flavor of the raw greens; there's something to be said about growing your own food! It makes it all the more delectable.



The micro green harvest coincided with a visit from a writer and researcher from Johns Hopkins Public Health School Magazine. They wanted to feature our cooking program in a slide show to promote a piece on the obesity landscape. I'm eager to see the final product--photographing and interviewing first and second grade "chefs" proved comical and chaotic at times. But then, that's all teaching :) My dear friend and first roomie in Baltimore, Attia (who is a PhD student in nutrition at JHSPH) came to take part as well; it was wonderful to have her company and support, especially since we started this teaching journey together as hopeful TFA corps members back in 2004. I don't think either of us knew exactly where we would be career-wise six years later, but I am so glad we are still in Baltimore together :)

Last Sunday, Megan and I took the ponies to Loch Moy to school their amazing competition course. It really is a treat both to compete and school at the facility, and the weather was perfect! Both Wyatt and Caesar were very well behaved and obedient on course. Caesar was controllable and correct to the fences, and I think a lot of that had to do with my improved position; when I am correct, he's so much easier to ride. The week prior I had spent some dedicated time working on my two point at the trot on the galloping path as well as working on pace. Clearly, it paid off! That means I must continue that work and get my legs stronger!

Here are a few photos (I'll post a short video clip soon, no luck with that application today???)








That's all for now, but I have jewelry updates and photos to share soon--there's not enough time in the day!