Giddy Up

Lusaka, Gymkana - in the 90s

So again, moving back to Manila was very different. The only horses I saw were the kalesas or the skinny ones in Tagaytay. Though the horses in Subic were fit for real riding but it was too far. For some reason, I came across this horse stable in Quezon City on the internet. Been wanting to check the place but never really went until last month and I've been there every Saturdays riding around the arena for the past 4 weeks.

Today I took the day off because my son is sick. After putting him to sleep/nap late afternoon, I tried my luck in getting a schedule with the trainer, though very short notice. A multi-tasker that I am, I was able to sneak out for an hour and a half, while the yaya watched him. I had my first formal lesson with Violet de Leon. I can't believe I'm back in the saddle, pursuing what I thought would never be possible again after moving back here - where the only place I knew they had horses was Makati Manila Polo Club. I didn't know anyone who rode. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to have discovered Pook Ligaya stables. 

However, it kinda made me feel weird being the only adult there taking one-on-one lessons while the next class was a group of kids. But you know, it doesn't really matter how old I am compared to the kids. I am pursuing what I've always wanted to do. It feels great despite my age. If I had a bucket list, this would definitely be in it. Again, it's never too late :o)

Oh, and guess what? Mark Gil was also there!

Villa Clavel

I just spent the weekend at this beautiful vacation house. I don't know how else to describe the place. It was a vacation house with cottages for guests. Huge area with a beautiful house in the middle of public resorts. And no, the owners don't rent it out. From what we were told, the owner only uses the house once a year. Are you kidding me? I can just imagine how much they spend maintaining the place when no one really uses it. Upon checking the the guest books, the last time anyone wrote on it was 2006. In the other cottage, it was dated 2009.

Anyway, I just loved the house and the small details. I don't dream of owning a huge place but I love getting ideas - such as plants, colors of seat covers, corners of the room, etc.

Teaching Math

Being a super mom is a tough job! After coming home from a challenging day at work and getting a note from the teacher gives me no rest. I'm staring at a worksheet with a lot of additions. Some were actually hard. Do they teach 5 year olds 9+8 already? Or 10+7? I thought only simple math which equals to a single digit but NO! Answers more than 10 is hard especially with kids depending on their fingers...unless they start counting their toes, too.

So to help my son, I had him imagine that each number had an imaginary dot.

1 would have 1 dot in the middle

2 would have 2 dots, 1 at each point
3 would have 3 dots, 1 at each point

...etc.

Instead of counting his fingers and toes, all he had to do was count the imaginary dots on each number. It's working so far. You may want to try the same thing.

My reason for blogging

From the time I could write, I've always kept a diary or a journal and would write random thoughts, feelings, ideas, events...whatever happened that day - be it significant or not. You can just imagine how many diaries/journals I had to bring back with me when I moved back to Manila! I continued with this till I was in my 2nd or 3rd year of university. After that, I have not bought myself a journal or picked up a pen or paper/notebook to write. Perhaps time. Perhaps age. It's a shame, though.

Anyway, I signed up and created this blog site last year. But only now did I decide to actually type something. I wasn't sure how I was going to start this. I wasn't sure what I was going to "blog" about. I wasn't sure if I still remembered the password of this account! Did I want this blog to be private and function as my online journal? Did I actually want people to read my thoughts? What if I did and no one did nor what if I had no followers? Can you just imagine the stress I put myself in thinking of nonsense?! Anyway, here we go!

So readers/visitors - Thank you for dropping by and reading my anything, under the sun thoughts :o)