Habit Forming Revisited

My "Woodvylle" hennin for the Fair Lady Aside.

This hennin was hand crafted by Kat of Kat's Hats in the UK. It is a lovely flowerpot hennin made of antique gold colored silk with goldwork and pearls. The edge is lined with black velvet and a lovely silk veil drapes over the wire supports.

The photo doesn't really do it justice, but it just another step closer to the proprely attired lady.

Six more weeks...

I would have been happier if they'd left "Phil" in his tree stump. Six more weeks of winter? (expletive deleted via self censorship). I have a wall of snow and ice walling the front of my house, courtesy of the town highway department, that can be seen from space. Six more weeks is NOT what I wanted to hear.

Ah well...here's to another six weeks.

A season?

The medieval humors would have me listed as "melancholy". While not really sad or depressed, I'm feeling a little solemn and reflective. 45 minute drives will do that to you, especially when you turn the radio off and your brain goes into thought overdrive.

I'm not sure how many readers are familiar with the "A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime", below is a run down...

"When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered. And now it is time to move on.

Then people come into your life for a SEASON because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons: things you must build upon in order to have a solid spiritual foundation. Your challenge is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.

Recently I've been giving it a lot of thought. I've known many people who have been transitory in my life, but recently, a friend who I had thought would be there for a lifetime has me rethinking that and I wonder if it is becoming more of a "seasonal" thing.

During a recent visit, it seemed that topics of conversation or at least ideas, seemed to be dismissed with only cursory thought. It's something that I noted a few years ago, but thought that it might be just one of those sojourns we all tend to go on when evaluating the sum of our lives thus far. One of the things, and it's probably silly, was that we were discussing a movie that was on TV, and I'd made some comment that I'd thought was innocuous, and they'd just muttered under their breath, loud enough for me to hear, "It's just a stupid movie".

I can't say why, but it really bothered me. It was like my opinion had no validity. I've noticed this more and more since they'd tested and were accepted into the top 98 percentile society. If you don't know what that means, look up the word "table" in Latin.

Things like this have been occurring for a while and it just makes me think that we've drifted apart over the years and that our ideological/religious, socio-political, and personal paths are only going to drive us further apart until one day, we'll just stop talking.

I thought about discussing it, but am not sure how I'd approach something like it. I just don't know. It just something that was really eating at me yesterday and I just needed to voice it to the ether.

End of rambling...

Marie de Bourgogne: La Chevauchée fatale

I had read many years ago that Marie de Bourgogne, daughter of Charles the Bold, had been involved in a tragic riding accident, and until yesterday, I really had no idea of the magnitude of her injuries. I didn't even know that an examination had been made of her skeleton. As I sat and translated the few brief passages, an involuntary chill swept through me and I was moved, almost to tears by a woman I had no connection with, who had died over 500 years ago; a young woman who's life was tragically cut short in her twenties.

It was March, 1482. Marie and her husband, Maximillian of Austria, were the guests of the duke of Clèves. Their host had arranged for a bird hunt. So, the royal party set off toward the woods and marshes. Maximillian and the other men set off ahead to flush game. Marie, with hawk on hand, had soon taken a heron. She had sighted another when tragedy struck.

The accounts vary as to what caused Marie's horse to shy and buck violently - a ditch or a tree across the path - what is known is that Marie fell to the ground and she was trampled. Marie was taken to a nearby house. She was tended to by physicians, but the injuries that she had sustained would painfully and eventually end her life.

The forensic evidence supports the accounts of her injuries. She had suffered not only injuries to her hands and arms, but to her ribcage as well: four broken ribs.


It serves as a reminder that no matter how innocuous the trail, how much we trust our horse, and how well we ride, in a glimmer of an eye, we can be taken by surprise.

A woman we knew where we stabled our horses before had made an almost prophetic observation. One of our horses has often been called "bomb proof". She said, "He's so calm and good natured that the one time he actually does spook, you're really going to get hurt". Six years later, that comment manifested into stark reality. Fortunately for my husband, he lived through it with "minor" injuries.

Ride safely.

Back on the Grid

Monday afternoon, the power was back, along with landline and cable, and the all important INTERNET. YAY!!!

After two days of unseasonably warm temps that melted off the ice, we now have 2 -3 inches of snow with more expected. Looks like a White Christmas in New England.

Ice Storms...UGH

Ice Storms...what a joy. [insert heavy sarcasm]

The meteorologists had been missing calls for a while now. So, imagine our shock when they actually got one right.

Since 10pm Thursday, December 11, our neighborhood has been without power. We were watching "The Dark Knight" at had just arrived at the climax of the movie when...[distant boom] a transformer blew and the power went out then browned in and out as the power fluctuated for a few moments...[distant boom] the second transformer blew and the lights were out for the duration.

8am the power was still out. Donning jackets and shoes, we leashed the hounds and walked outside to find a crystalline forest, a downed pine tree and a birch tree across the road. Both had just missed taking out a utility pole and the associated power lines. Around the cul-de-sac, a small birch tree had its branches frozen to the power lines, but no break. As we rounded the corner, our neighbors we not so lucky. Their power line from the pole to their house took a direct hit by a high, hardwood branch that had snapped off.

We finished our walk. Figuring that we'd be without power for at least the day, maybe two, we pulled out the portable generator and got it fired up. Then we headed out for gas and some breakfast. It was at this moment that we realized how badly the town had been hit.

Our road was blocked by two fallen trees. Fortunately we had a connecting road. As we drove down the road, there were trees with their crowns touching the pavement and frozen there. Power, cable, and phone lines were snapped or strewn all about. We wove our way down to the main road and headed to the local Sam's Club.

No stop lights were functioning. This made making turns across four lanes of traffic an extreme sport. Sam's and Walmart were down for the count, as well as Dunkin Donuts, MacDonalds, and the local super markets. Everything was dark which meant the town was in bad shape.

We headed across the bridge to the neighboring city. We fueled up and went on a hunt for breakfast. There we found the rest of our town, in the drive thrus. We all had the same idea at the same time. We pulled into Mac Donald's and already the drive through had 25 cars in it and the parking lot was filled to capacity. 5 minutes after we got there, two uniformed employees came out and started turning walk-in traffic away. "no food". "we're closed". Rolling down my window I asked them if they were really closed or we're they at their maximum seating capacity. "No food". They had the last car in line pegged as the last vehicle that they could serve. I found myself wondering "How did they know this?" "What if the last guy was picking up meals for six of his friends that were working construction somewhere?" At that point, we figured we'd leave and try to find another one.

Finally we did. While the line was long, we got what we wanted. Then we headed back with our fast food bounty to liberate the dogs and hunker down for a longer wait.

It is amazing how reliant we've become on creature comforts and instant information.

All I can say is thank God for cellphones as we'd have been SOL without our cells as our landline was toasted. We have no internet access. This blog is courtesy of my employer's access.

So, today is Monday. Welcome to day four without power. I did see one of the big utility trucks in our circle last night. I'm hoping he was there doing some assessments to see if they could get us back on the grid in short order.

Habit Forming Continued

It's been four months since my last post. I'm nearing some final touches on my riding "habit". I've commissioned a new hennin with a butterfly veil. This should complete the clothing nicely. Antique gold silk with a creme colored veil with pearls and goldwork.

Once the final touches are finished, I will post a picture of the completed look.

Then it's on to the saddle.