Coming Full Circle

College Cove, looking souh toward Trinidad Head.

This is my last post for the Boise Venture of Mine, seeing as how the Boise portion of my venture has come to an end. Here I am, in Humboldt, where my heart has longed to be since I left. But I find that part of me is now left in Boise, and I guess that's how it is... When we go places, and let those places seep into our bones, we take them with us. Humboldt won out because it has seeped in so deeply, it's like the marrow of my bones. But now Boise is filtering around my veins, and reminds me of possibilities and chances. All of life is a venture, and I plan on living it to the fullest, wherever home may be.

Sam on log, Emily putting on shoes, looking south toward Trinidad Head.

Emily and Sam on the point at College Cove Bluffs, near the Blow Hole.

Berhwood and Giovanna are happy horses. Idaho wasn't bad for them, but Humboldt is best. People who haven't seen them for a year and a half drop their jaws. The words Gorgeous, Handsome, and Statuesque have been used to describe Ber, and Beautiful, Lovely, and Sleek to describe Gio. (We won't talk about the words Hag and Obnoxious).

My brother, who saw them regularly in Idaho, noticed how much sleeker, fitter, and buoyant they are in their new pasture by the sea. I've trimmed their feet for the first time since their move. We've been working/riding regularly. Ber has had no lameness issues, and is actually quite energetic. Seems to have come into his own here. Gio is nervous and spooks at everything, But she's gradually settling, and my confidence in working with her is growing. Here are some pictures of them, one month after moving....

Giovanna and Emily on the driveway to the pasture, looking across the canyon to Berhwood. See horse trailer--Ber is the brown dot to the right of it!

Pretty Gio...Ber and Emily are riding on the "road" that goes around the pasture.

Gio and Emily walking up the driveway...

Ber and Em riding, Gio ignoring. Trinidad Head and Moonstone Beach in the far distance, north.

Exploring the driveway.

My home is gradually coming together, though I have honestly not had much time to devote to putting my things in order. Hit the ground running when I arrived, and haven't stopped since. So rather than share pictures of my house in post-move-disarray, I'll share some pictures of the beaches, where I have been hiking regularly. These pictures are from the past couple days, because Stuart's been visiting, and taking pictures!

Giovanna and her biggest fan.

Emily and Sam on College Cove Bluffs, with Trinidad Beach/Head behind.

Coming down to the Blow Hole. Looked like Egypt!

Sam: "What's beyond that lip of rock there?" Stuart: "Not a good idea, I've tried that..." Emily: "It's the end of the rock."

After deciding to attempt the descent, Sam: "Is there a foothold?" Emily: "Try right here." Sam: "Okay, move Emily!"

Emily moves. Sam Leaps. Stuart clicks his camera!

The dissertation is moving forward at a snail's pace, mostly because my horses have needed my time, and the people I care about and their horses have needed my time. Been trimming horses, doctoring horses (not mine, for once!), working on overgrown gardens, shopping for used furniture for my house, hanging with my friends, and generally getting a ton of exercise. My friend Jennifer has been visiting her family, so it has been lovely to spend time with her and her kids, and my brother Stuart has been visiting, and working on his house. These are all things that took a back seat to the last 18 months, and if I learned anything (outside of what I was learning at BSU!), it's that people really matter.

Returning the log to the sea.

Things are gradually getting to a routine, and I expect to be plugging away on my dissertation pretty well by the end of July. I do not have a job, and won't until January, so I can focus on my dissertation until it is finished. I'll be back in Boise in September to take care of dissertation stuff, and will plan on a couple days to check in with my Idaho friends! I will do my best to keep in touch, but once I get immersed in my writing/transcribing/thinking, I need to keep going. But I'll come up for air a few times between now and December, for sure.

Until then,
Emily

We Made It!!

We are home. Move went great. Settling in slowly. So utterly unreal, being here.
The horses love their new digs, I love my new home.
I give myself until the end of June to get settled, and then I start back on the dissertation path. Need a desk, a dresser, and a couch of some sort.

Sorry so short, I don't have internet yet, either, so I'm stealing a few minutes at a coffee shop! Just wanted people who check here to know that all is well. Very well. :)

Hitting the Road (for Real this time)

Looks like we really are leaving tomorrow morning. Though the way things have been going, I won't be holding my breath!!! I did want to take a moment to say thank you to the people who've kept me going up here, while waiting to haul out.

Kathy and Joe, thanks for going to dinner with me at El Gallo, and for loaning me the cot! Would not have made it through these four nights on the hard floor. Getting too old to do that well. :) And thank you for your friendship and the many phone calls. I will miss you much when I return to California.

TJ and Kathy and Dora, thanks for going to dinner with me at the Texas house place with peanut shells on the floor. What a treat. Also, thank you TJ for showing me where all the fluids in my truck were, and doing a full systems check on my truck so I knew I was truly traveling safe. Finally, thanks for the movie treat. I never would have rented Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and I would have been missing a funny, positive movie. I hope you find the picture book so you can see where the movie started. I really enjoyed hanging out with you all! You have a special place in my heart, and I will miss you greatly when I return to California!

Finally, Scott and Jenny and Savannah, thanks for letting me hang out a couple times at your house. Being around your family helped me feel not so alone and wandering during my brief "limbo" up here waiting to leave with my horses. I keep laughing, thinking about everyone drawing the flip-flops. Good dinner, too! I look forward to seeing you again in September, because I will miss you until then!

It ended up being okay, this in-between time of four days. I took care of a lot of loose ends, and in some ways, eased into this transition back to Humboldt a little bit more. I feel fortunate to have met so many wonderful people here, and to be leaving with new friends for a lifetime.

See You Later!!!

Screech to a Halt

Shipping out has been delayed at least four days. Berhwood injured himself (Day before heading out, go figure). He's in a lot of pain, and takes tiny mincing steps with his hind feet. So, the plan is to give him four days to recoup. If he hasn't mended by then, we'll delay it another four days, and so on. With the long haul (650 miles) over windy, mountainous roads, he needs to not be in pain.

Best guess is he cast himself and wrenched his back and pelvis. Bute has not knocked down the pain much, but soaking with cold water helps. Will call the vet on Monday if he hasn't improved over Sunday. I guess I'll get a few rides in on Giovanna before we leave, and I'll get a head start on transcribing the interviews for the dissertation. What else am I going to do? My house is completely empty, no food, no fridge, no bed... Oh, I know, it's called Camping!!

I figure, there's a reason this happened, and I may not know what it is for a while. At least this way if my landlord has any serious issues that need to be addressed before I get my deposit, I have time to take care of them!

Bottom line, I want him to be okay.

Home Sweet Home

Limpets on Rock, Trinidad, Ca.

Just got back from a very busy week in California. Just have a short week left here in Idaho. I'm not going to get much sleep, but that's okay. The end goal is extremely motivating! The picture above was taken by my brother on a hike he took, last week.

Thanks to a full day of work from a six-pack of friends/family, Ber and Gio have a Beautiful pasture within hearing distance of the buoys off Trinidad Head, and a view of Trinidad when the fog lifts. The ponies ship down next week, and I can't wait to see what they think of the belly-high grass! I put in a smaller paddock so I can regulate their grass intake for a while.

Good thing, because when I saw them this evening, my jaw dropped. The guy who was taking care of them decided they needed alfalfa to supplement their grass hay, and that they needed to be fed twice a day. I left pretty fit horses a week ago, but now they have this thick layer of padding everywhere! As my friend said, they will drop some weight on the haul down. Pretty funny, though. He thinks my grass hay is junk, evidently! lol.

Thanks to my brother's help, almost all of my belongings are now in California, unloaded and in my new home. OH!!! My new home is lovely. I so, so lucked out. Going to take me a while to get things set up, but I couldn't ask for a nicer place. Skylights throughout leave the most luminous light, and I can see stars at night!

I have a delightful neighbor dog who comes to visit. Her owners are pretty neat people, too. They are my landlords.

It was extremely hard to drive back up to Idaho for this week, because I felt so "at home" back home. And here it is, three days before the horse hauler arrives. I have a riding lesson tomorrow, I donated my almost new fridge to the Boy's and Girl's Club, and donated my dryer to the Rescue Mission. After nearly 2 months trying to sell them on Craig's List, I had to just get them gone. Who knew fridges were so hard to sell? I have the last three interviews for my dissertation tomorrow, too!

I wake up here, and look for the light from the skylights. And that was after six nights sleeping in my new home. That's how deep my roots sank there. Home.

So, I leave you with a few pictures of Ber and Gio's new home. I'm standing outside of their pasture, looking towards their pasture. Can't wait for Marsha (Marsha's Equine Transport) to arrive to take them home, too!

The trees are the border. Looking to the left...

Looking straight ahead...

Looking to the right. You can see the ocean and Trinidad through that gap.

We're Moving!!!

Ber heard he was moving back to Rain and Fog!

In the final stages of this move back to Humboldt. So looking forward to having a "home" again. As my brother, Stuart, said, the Lake Hazel house was like living in a hotel of sorts for 18 months. Within a week of arriving in Boise, I knew I wasn't going to relocate permanently to Idaho, so I kept my roots shallow. Not to say I didn't make friends I will treasure and stay in touch with. Rather, I kept my home-making roots shallow--no garden, no real cooking, no projects, etc. No routine.

Honestly, there wasn't time, looking back. The reason I am able to move back home after only a year and a half is because I kept my head down and kept on task. If I'd had my friends and family up in Idaho, I would have taken a much more leisurely path (I think...) through this doctorate! Being alone gave me the motivation to get done, as well as the ability to focus so I could get done. :) Kind of a double edged sword.

As of June 7th, I will officially be a resident of California again. I think I may just hide for a week, and not do anything I'm supposed to. Except unpack, move in, spend time with horses and friends, and adjust. This has been a long haul. I sure appreciate my friends and family for hanging in there with me! I am so fortunate... And so grateful for the opportunity to devote this time to my education. As my friend Mark once said, "Emily, you know there is such a thing as too much education." Or something to that effect. I do believe I've come to the end of my formal education!

At any rate, Stuart was up this week helping me load up all my belongings, which I'd packed before heading to D.C.. So I was ready to go. Though it rained most of the time, we were able to get out and ride yesterday. Here are the horse pictures from Stuart's visit... Enjoy. Next blog ought to be pictures of Ber and Gio happy in their sea-side pasture!

Coming up the pasture.

Giovanna Stepping Out, I'm trying to set up a turn....

Later in the ride, setting up another turn. We do turn to the left, too, really! Gio is totally focused on wild quail or a horse-eating tire feeder or something, so I was working on keeping her busy. Obviously I have more work to do!

Ber on the move. I am loving how he is starting to move out with energy and impulsion. He's starting to be a fun ride.

My Farside Ponies. Gio is such an elegant package, I think.

Will definitely miss this pastoral setting. Been a very good place for the ponies to grow and learn. Very good indeed.

Reminiscent of Pigs Wallowing...

Six Weeks Out

Lake Hazel house, one year ago...

The end of this Boise Venture of mine is coming to a close. Like most change, there's the good and the not so good... I've added so many friends and colleagues to my life, and though I will keep connected with many of them, I know many will drift away, as that's what happens in life. It's been good to meet new people, and see other slices of life.

I've watched Ber and Gio mature into horses, and I've become a stronger rider and regained the confidence I'd lost somewhere along the way. I've worked with several horse people, who have left their hoof prints on my horse work, and I've learned a new method of horse hoof care which will positively impact all the horses I trim. I will miss this pasture and arena, but I won't miss the scorching sun, bone chilling wind, and biting insects.

Horses at Far Pasture, last May.

I had my dear companions, Arcy and Georgia, along for this adventure, and we shared a brief "second puppy-hood" as they explored this new state. Their presence kept the loneliness at bay and kept a life-line stretched back home to what was, before Boise. Losing the girls continues to haunt me, but a little less every day. Slowly, all the good days and good memories of their many years are beginning to outweigh their final months and the emptiness they left behind.

Puppy Yin-Yang, back home.

The remainder of this northern jaunt is highly positive, and I leave with greater clarity on who I am, what I want to accomplish in this world, and why focusing on the positive in life, no matter what's coming at you, can really help.

I learned that I can start over, can build a new network of friends and acquaintances, and can muddle through things on my own without making a complete disaster of it.

Duckling in Reflecting Pool at Washington Monument.

I learned that I have something of value to offer the world outside of my little pond back home, and that doors will open up no matter where I land. Yet I realized that the little pond back home was home, not because I'd always been there, but because I wanted to be there.

My Home Town...

I learned that the greatest treasure of life is the people we know and share our lives with, and it really doesn't matter where you live...it's the people you are with that makes where you live so special. And any place can become special if you open your heart and mind to the people who are there.

I learned that my place is clearly working with kids and helping them connect to their learning and their talents. That is where my joy lies, that is where work ceases being work. No matter what anyone says I ought to do with my time and skill, I intend to work with kids. It's where I belong.

Great Blue Heron, wading in Potomac River, FDR Memorial.

So, I leave this place with more knowledge, and the inkling of an idea of where I'll go and what I'll do next. Hoping that the extra letters after my name will give me the leeway to make that inkling come to life. We'll see where the road rises up to meet me.

Stainless steel tree, Sculpture Garden, Capitol Mall.

Meanwhile, I am in the middle of collecting the data for my dissertation, which is enjoyable and interesting. I feel pretty privileged to be talking to these parents.

My goal is to have my dissertation complete by December, so I can enter the world of "normal" work come January 2011, two years to the day since I left for Boise. Not sure how the time flew by so fast, because every day seemed so long. But it has.

Here's to dreaming big and asking the universe for what you want. It may not always arrive the way you envision it, and there may be more in the package than you bargained for, but at least it's a great ride.

Hawk flying overhead, Mt. Vernon.

A Grace Day

Ber in the middle of a turn on the forehand.

Today was a very good day. Grace Owsley, the riding instructor I worked with last year, visited from Twin Falls, and we were lucky enough to get to work with her today! Here are photos, taken by one of Ber's favorite people, who also visited today (see picture below). Thank you so much for fitting us in, Grace. Can't wait for the next time!

Ber with the photographer, Dora! He thinks she's really nice. He's right.

I already knew that Ber was doing and feeling better, but having Grace here really kicked things into gear. We had (gasp) forward in the trot. Actually using those hind legs. And he was really thinking, and enjoying the work. I believe we pushed past some of the sullen resistance, and he realized he could do these things, it wouldn't hurt, and he'd get a lot of positive kudos for it. We ended with leg-yields. Yay.

Switching whip hands. Ber is carrying himself lightly. Such a big boy.

Ber walking in front of Grace. Love how round and soft he is.

Ber looks so happy here. He knows his job.

Giovanna had a great Grace day, too. Gio's on ride six, perhaps, but only the third time under saddle since November. Spaghetti horse is what she is. And a flexible little noodle, at that! We were working on straight and forward, and moving off of leg. Gio has soft, supple and giving down, I think. Again, Grace pushed the envelope, and we ended with trot work. First trot ever. Holy Cow, talk about an engine! She launches into a trot, all from behind, just beautifully. Forward impulsion to die for. The picture does not capture how cool it was, but it is placed here for posterity--like a picture of a kid using a bike without training wheels for the first time. My job with her is to stay out of the way and let her go forward. Easier said than done, but I'll keep working on it. Pictures below.

Talking to Grace, but look at how light and lovely Gio is...

Giving my Good Girl a well deserved pat!

WOW. We trotted. It isn't lovely, but soon it will be. No, my arm isn't flailing, that's the edge of the roof of the house. lol.

Soft and forward, straight not spaghetti!

Em and Gio, actually in sync in the turn! (We were spiraling in to a smaller circle, I think)

Oh, and Happy Birthday Berhwood. The big SEVEN.

Another Hurdle

This is my Research Committee. They are Relieved the defense is over, I think.

After the Pilot Study defense 3 weeks ago (With Dad and Stuart).

Well, I passed another hurdle, this time the defense for my dissertation proposal. I've attached it in Google Docs for anyone who was interested in seeing what I proposed to do. Dissertation Proposal Document When I uploaded it, Google Docs messed the paragraph indentations up, and changed it to single space, but otherwise it's good. The first page (Introduction) will give you a good idea of what I'm looking at.

Thankfully, my committee said I was good to go. Boy, did they grill me. Basically, this whole presentation I'd created go thrown out the window, and I ad-libbed in response to their questions for most of it. For over an hour I was on the hot seat. Threw me off, but they said it gave them a more real understanding of my understandings and proved to them I knew what I was doing. They asked great questions, and I have some things to work on. When it was over, amazingly, they did not ask me to leave so they could debate whether I passed. They just signed me off and said good luck. I hope that means I did a good job, and not that they were just tired of the whole thing!

One of the team was concerned about the amount of time I had committed to this, and wondered if I'd be able to do it. I keep telling them, I don't have a life right now. This IS my life, so I have a lot of time to devote to it. LOL. They were skeptical about my original plan of finishing the coursework in 18 months, though. Who knew I could actually do it?

Thanks for your support and encouragement. Could NOT have done it without all of you!
:) Em

Beautiful Flowers. Thanks Jen & Company!

Home Stretch

Last May, Happy Girls!

Headed into the home stretch here in Idaho. Enjoying looking back on this venture, and the life-time of memories squeezed into a year plus a few months (that's 5 months, Stuart. lol). I decided to do some posts commemorating this time. A "Best Of" Boise. I'll start with the girls. How often do senior dogs go on such a journey? I'm grateful for Arcy and Georgia's company, and this blog post is for them. Laughing, happy, leaping, grinning, sniffing, adventuresome pups. Here is a series of shots from a day last May, when the grass was dog-high. Enjoy.

Doggie Schooners, Full Steam Ahead!

Georgia really IS the leader of this crew!

I love the angle of this shot. A Dog's-eye view of sorts.