We enjoyed our 13 year old granson’s company all last week – a very busy week. There was canoeing, dinner parties, cake baking, mowing lawns, feeding chickens and all manner of End of the Road activities.  One day we returned to Birch Glen Stables which is practically around the corner for his second riding lesson. The first was last year, but he had not forgotten how to groom and put on the saddle.

This year the lesson was held in the outdoor ring where, after a quick review,  he soon progressed from walking, to trotting and even did a ‘lope’ for a minute or two.

He was so comfortable and assured that he even took Misty out of the ring and out of sight (briefly) of the instructor.

After lunch and a an hour long reading and digesting session we were off to The Art Garden where Ty could make a sculpture to enter in the Heath Fair.

I cannot be in The Art Garden without doing some art myself. The other artists occasionally came over to watch and encourage me. There is a wonderful atmosphere in the open studio presided over by Jane Wegscheider.  You may recall that the common weed, dandelion, is my ‘logo.’

But the day was not over and my neighbor’s goats were waiting for their supper.

The kids get their mothers’ milk, but it has to come from a bottle.

Ty thought Cinnamon looked sleepy after eating and thought he would rock her to sleep.

We didn’t rock Ty to sleep,  but after he fininished reading Crispin, Cross of Lead by Avi, his assigned summer reading which he found riveting (he is trying to broaden his vocabulary by not using awesome all the time) he listened to the Major (grandpa) read another chapter of Monkey King, and took the book with him to read in bed. Another day done.