A Toast to Amy

During Amy J's annual fall visit, she and I share in an evening ritual of clinking our glasses of wine at 5 p.m. (wine provided by Amy, glasses provided by moi.) I used one of these beauties this year and Amy shared my love of their delicate crystal loveliness. A set of 8 were given to us by the Roths as a wedding gift and I've always loved them. Amy asked that I email her a photo of one so she could keep an eye out for others like it in her neck of the west coast woods. But, I opted to share the photo here instead, as this little 4 oz glass represents so very much for me: 11+ years of marriage, my dear family Diane and Randy Roth, a toast to Amy Jackson, and many-a-tasty beverage, be it wine, whiskey, egg nog, orange juice, or limoncello. Cheers!

Bathroom!

I'm not sure exactly why, but there are a couple of people who really *really* want to see photos of my bathroom, even though it's not quite finished and is still looking rather boring to my eye. To protect their privacy, I won't use their real names. Knock yourselves out, Trista and Mamy!

Killian

This gorgeous hunk of horse is Killian, my latest project. He's a 3/4 Gypsy horse, and has been lovely to get going: light and forward, with a smooth, ground-covering stride.

Anatomy of a Christmas Tree Culling

One of the best things about living rural is that getting a Christmas tree involves hopping in the cranky old farm truck, driving a few miles to someone's family farm, cutting your tree in their back yard, and leaving 10 bucks under their door mat. We've had some snow this year, which always makes the experience more scenic, though the single digits on Saturday morning made for a great motivator - no dilly-dallying! Owain was very excited.