Skidding into Northland

Wow. I'm here! What a whirlwind the last couple of weeks have been, continuing on through today. I arrived yesterday evening, and my hosts, Donn and Maryrose, had dinner waiting for me. We chatted and caught up and then I moved all my stuff into the apartment and unpacked, which only really took a couple of hours. Now I feel pretty settled in, with the exception of a somewhat random supply of foodstuffs. There was some stuff left here by the previous tenant, and Maryrose had partially stocked the fridge, so that's good. I had fried eggs and local organic yogurt for breakfast :)  Had sardines and quinoa for lunch, and took some ground pork out of the freezer for dinner.  I'm basically starting from scratch, so I'm going to start out gluten-free and sugar-free and see how I do. It will be good to clean out - my diet has been abysmal the past few weeks.

I spent the morning getting oriented with Donn to the farm and then the horses. I had a great time - he is a good teacher and you can tell he is passionate about what he does. We did some ground work with Polly, which I really appreciated as an exercise, and it was a good way to start to get back into my horse groove. Then we drove her up and down the driveway on foot. I think I'm going to like it! Very similar to riding, but you have to use your eyes and external senses a little more to stay aware since you can't feel the horse underneath you. The lines felt natural in my hands and I didn't have to fumble to find the right amount of pressure. It's the kind of work that has the potential to be meditative - you have to stay aware and alert and focused at all times, but you also need to be calm and mellow.

This afternoon I'll be doing some work with Maryrose and the sheep, I think. I'm really excited about the sheep too! We went and saw the ewes and lambs this morning, and they are about the cutest things I've ever seen. I can't wait to just go sit and watch them in my free time. I mean, my eyes can't get enough. The new flock of yearlings is right out in front of my house, so I'm getting to see them a lot too. What else...the horses stayed in last night underneath me, and I liked hearing their sounds. A little robin lives close by and keeps coming by to sit on my porch and check me out. I heard a towhee in the field this morning. It's beautiful here, I mean really beautiful. I can already see that I will be hard to leave, and I only just got here.

More soon! Love, Aura