Nothing special happening

As I told you in this post, I was a bit busy these last weeks so that explain the lack of posting. Sorry about that.

Last week, I took my first lesson with my horse. I've always been a "western" girl but now I wanted to try something new so a friend of mine is giving me some classic lessons. My horse has been on a perpetual break for the last 4-5 years, living his lazy horse life in the field and going out from time to time for a short trail. But now it's serious business my friends! We've worked every 2 days this week and I'm sure he hasn't trotted that much in the last year that he did this week. But that's OK because he really needs to lose a couple hundred of pounds. Sounds a lot? Not for a horse. He should lose at least 150 pounds to reach his healthy weight. This is part of why I'm taking lessons. He's got a leg injury 6 years ago and from time to time he will start to limp for no apparent reason. So losing weight will help him. The other reason I'm taking these lessons is because as much as I love going on the trail with him, I would love to have something else to do with him. And maybe working will also help him to focus on something else than little stressful things like butterflies and moving leaves when we ride outside. He's so nervous that sometimes it's dangerous for both of us. Working will help him to focus but it will also reinforce the confidence he has in me. Well at least I hope so!

Last night while we were walking the dogs, Rufio started to play and run after something that I supposed was a grass-snake or a toad. But when I went to look at who he was bothering, I found a nest with 4 little baby birds in it. The nest was built on the floor which in my opinion was not a good idea, miss mommy bird. They looked OK even if they weren't moving but I saw them inhaling so we just let them there without touching them while the mommy bird was shouting at us and we make sure that the dogs don't go back to them. But I was still worried that Rufio has hit them with his big paw and hurt them so this morning I went back to make sure they were OK and all I found was an empty nest and a cat pee smell...I really wish that nothing bad happened to them. They were full of feathers so maybe they just went away. I'll go back tonight to see if they're back and I will cross my fingers until then. We're not lucky with the birds lately. It's sad because I love them actually.

Have a great weekend!

At Montebello: day 2

Well, as I was expecting it, the breakfast was not impressive either. I had to make my own waffles, which was "fun" but other than that there was only one type of cereal or toasts and some bananas that were not mature yet...Also, when I came back to my room at the end of the day, my key card didn't work so I had to go back to the front desk to get a new one. Those cards are programmed to stop working after the number of days you paid for. Which means they didn't programmed it well. Still not impressed. So all in all, I don't recommend this place.

On my way to the Château Montebello where the congress was held, I took the "horse" trail. There were many possible trails in the park but I took the one I thought was best for a horse ride, of course. It was actually a pretty nice trail that I would love to ride with my own horse. I found a bunch of huge feathers, but the trees were so tall that I didn't see if there was a nest up there. I supposed there was because there was lots of bird poop and feathers everywhere. And then I came across this:

That's the kind of nice brook I would like to have around my barn but this morning I was not on a horse and I was almost late so no time for me to go back and find another way. I just took off my shoes and socks and crossed it. It was not deep at all, my feet were barely covered by the water, and it felt good to have the cold water running on my feet. If I had more time, I would've stayed there longer and enjoy the place more. But I didn't.

After the first conference, I paid a visit to the sellers that were there and came across this macaroon tower. How can you resist that? And I was the first one so it's still full, so beautiful! And it was pretty delicious too...

Oh! And just for fun, there's a statue of liberty on the main street. Don't ask, I don't have a clue!

And this one is for my boyfriend: see hun, they also have those tree eater woodpeckers down there. We're not the only ones!

This one is more of a french joke but I'll explain it to my english readers. The sign says "Herbe à la puce" but we usually say "Herbe à puce". What's the difference you might ask? The first ones would litterally mean that  the plant belongs to the flea while the second one is more like it's a plant that attract fleas. It made me laugh to think that the plant was belonging to one flea only, it's HER plant, DON'T TOUCH IT OK! 

This tree is HUGE. I'm not used to see some trees that big around my place. It was almost two times the size of the biggest one we have in our backyard which is pretty impressive.

Horse trail FTW!

There's a dog at the Château, he's like the mascot of the place. And his name is Monte (how original...). The back of his head makes me think of Chewbacca for some reason. He was pretty cuddly and smell like wet dog so I was not too disoriented.

There's an incredibly big fireplace in the middle of the hall of the Château. The doors are a bit taller than me (I'm 5'2)!

While going back to my Inn, I found the Manoir Papineau (Louis-Joseph Papineau is an important figure of the Quebec history) which I had no idea that was there. The couple following pictures were taken around the house.

This tree probably have been struck by a lightning so they've put a pole to keep it from falling. It's a pretty big tree, probably very old.

I totally forgot to take a picture of the english text, but basically it says that the Manoir was built in 1848 and was Papineau'S favorite because of his eclectic architecture. And that he left his public life in 1854 to live there with his family.

So that's about it for today. It's already pretty late so I'm going to shower and jump in my bed. Tomorrow's my last day here and I need to pack before going to the congress.

How was your day?

A great weekend...

As I already told you, I was alone this weekend, but I didn't work on my garden as I was supposed though...It was a wonderful weekend anyway. The temperature was perfect so I spend almost all of my time outside.

Saturday, after I finished my working at the barn, I did a little nap with my fat baby.

After that we went for a little ride that finally lasted about an hour and a half. Dyvel was pretty calm and everything went well.

I was so tired after this long day outside that I went to bed early. Sunday morning, the dogs woke me up at 8h30. I did myself some nom nom crepes with strawberries, raspberries and maple syrup. And of course, a good coffee. It was delicious and such a good way to start the day. 

After that and a little time browsing my favorite blogs, I went for a long walk with my dogs in the forest. Two horses went past us so I decided to cut directly in the woods instead of following them on the road because Rufio is not nice to horses and I had no leash with me.

A couple of minutes later, while we were in the middle of nowhere, I stood upon such a beauty. There, sitting all alone, was a flowering tree. It's the only one I ever saw in those woods since we bought the house four years ago. I was really happy that I found him.

We then got on my favorite trail. I love it because it's all covered in moss and pine needles. When it's really hot in the summer, it's still very comfortable on this trail.

Later, I saw a trail that I've never seen before so I went to see it and discovered a small pond along with lots of deer tracks. Of course, the dogs went straight into the water...

After that we got back on the right trail, I stopped to watch something or take a picture, I don't remember, but I looked up for the dogs, Rufio had disappeared. He's doing that quite often so I just called him and waited...and called him more, and more, and he was not coming back. I started to look around and called him for a good ten minutes, still nothing. Do I need to tell you how nervous I was? We were far from home, more than he never went and I was afraid that I lost him for real this time. A few minutes later, just as I was about to cry (really!) he finally came back. I've never been so happy to see him ever! Needless to say that I kept an eye on him for the rest of the walk.

I then got to the barn and did a two hour trail with my horse. He was more nervous than yesterday but he still went where I wanted him to. Which is a good thing because it's not always that easy with him. All in all, I was pretty impressed with him this weekend. 

And now my boyfriend just got home so I will end this here. I hope you had a great weekend too. Have you done something special?

Friday favorites

Sorry I haven't been around lately, I was not feeling so good. I'm still a bit hill but I can make a friday favorites anyway, it will cheer me up!

One thing that cheers me up the most is nature. When I feel bad, I go for a walk in the woods and I connect with its spirits. Call me crazy but there's an energy there which is very powerful. Hugging a big tree always make me feel better.

Strange forest by Neoflo

from here

by Lawren Moore

by Kevin Russ

by Kevin Russ

by Kevin Russ

I love Kevin Russ's pictures, can you tell? Hahaha! You can always buy prints of his pictures on society6.com . This guy is traveling in North America, taking pictures only with his iphone and living with the selling of the prints. You can learn more about him here. I would LOVE to do what he's doing!

Have a nice day!