The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship

I spent about 10 years of my life as a fairly serious equestrienne. Medical school and residency have put the temporary kibosh on that, but when in the Upper Valley, I do try to go and check in on retired mount Panache. I often dream of returning to the saddle, and hope that it's something that Brynna and I may be able to enjoy together.

Brynna has recently become fascinated with Panache, wanting to see pictures of him and remembering our visits. So while we were up blueberry picking this weekend (separate post to come), we decided to go and visit the barn. I asked her if she wanted to ride him, and she seemed game.

She started out from a safe spot outside the fence...


Where she and Dada consulted on the proper approach...


To such a large creature:


Then, once she saw that Mama was having such a good time, Dada helped her mount up...


And off we went...


I think she's a fan!

Recent Weekend Fun, #1

We've had several fun weekend events recently, we just haven't had time to post about them!

First was a little more than 2 weeks ago. I was working the Friday overnight then Sunday day shift, which means that I got done at work on Saturday morning. Signout to the day team is supposed to be at 7 AM, but we were running running running all night with admissions and calls on existing patients, and then a sick patient actually died right before signout. Then I needed to stay late and finish lots of paperwork. In the meantime, Alex got Brynna up, covered the inside of her elbows with numbing cream, and brought her to the hospital lab to have her blood drawn to check hemoglobin and lead. He actually managed to accomplish this long before I finished at around 8:30. Much screaming, but success (the results are back, and are fine).

That was the bummer part of the weekend. But then, despite getting zero sleep, things got fun! We had had a longstanding plan to go up to Hanover and meet up with our dear friend Lauren, who had not yet met Brynna and was back at Dartmouth for a wedding. So we zoomed up I-89 and met her at the wonderful Dirt Cowboy Cafe, then took ourselves over to the Top of the Hop so Brynna could roam around. Here are the girls having a grand old time:


After Lauren went off to the wedding, we went out to Wild Hill Farm where we got married to visit John and Peggy and pick some organic blueberries. The visit was delightful and the picking exceptionally fine. Best blueberries EVER! Brynna went in her backpack with me, and I sidled up to the bushes so that she could pick and eat while I picked to keep.

We were, however, sad to find that the Party Tree where we hung lanterns for the wedding had started to rot and had been cut down.


And then we went to see Panache. Brynna slept through it, but I got to groom him and hand-graze him for a little while. He's a happy camper with his lady-love Aly, though he's lost some muscle in his old age. I sure do miss galloping cross country with him, and I bet he does too.


Finally, we stopped at the Hanover Coop, the best supermarket ever. We got our favorite Red Hen bread and I went a little cheese-crazy, picking up some Cabot Clothbound, some sheepsmilk Shepherd's Cheese, some feta, and some caerphilly. All local, all delicious.

I spent all the next week catching up on sleep, but it was totally worth it!

Dartmouth Day 2

I must say, as pathetic as I felt getting the pregnant lady room (1st floor, right by the class tent, a single with its own bathroom), it's actually fantastic. No 3 AM trips down the hallway...no stairs to pant up...though the haze of marijuana smoke outside in the hallway earlier was perhaps not ideal for either my lungs or the crumpet's. It doesn't seem to have percolated through the door, though, so that's good. Ah, the joys of being back at college!

The girls and I all met up for breakfast this morning, splitting our allegiance between the Dirt Cowboy Cafe (iced chai! blueberry muffin!) and the Bagel Basement. Then we had a walk around Occom Pond.

My parents took us out for lunch at the Canoe Club, very elegant! Here's a nice shot of our group (me, Katie, Lauren, Sara, Kristin, Dad, Mom, Rachel):



I totally did not see this coming, but it actually turned into a mini-shower for the crumpet! I got photos and descriptions of several goodies that are on their way to Rochester (how did they know that my duffle bag can't take much more?). Sara is knitting us a baby blanket, and was very disappointed that baby-soft wool does not seem to come in Dartmouth green. It's a lovely blue-green instead, though, which I'm sure the crumpet will love. Here she is working on it:



Lauren also made us the most wonderful baby scrapbook by having a copy of Goodnight Moon re-bound with extra blank pages inside to write on and attach photos to. So creative!

I also picked up a little pair of baby socks at the Co-op today. I couldn't resist, as they say "Dartmouth" and have a little moose pattern all over them.

Later in the afternoon, after Dirt Cowboy chai #2 of the day, I headed out to visit Panache, who is really having a lovely retirement in Norwich. I groomed him for a little while and got a chance to catch up with Lisa and Don as well. Less fuzz fell off than last time since his summer coat is basically in by now, but he was very itchy from bug bites and so appreciated the attention with the curry comb very much.



This evening there was a dinner down near the river, and the after-party is now going on full blast outside my window. I'm hoping that I'll still be able to get to sleep pretty soon...it's going to be a long week of traveling and taking exams, and I don't want to go into it too tired!