My four-day, no-work-of-any-kind weekend has been a relief! I had an adventure today--I went horseback riding for a one-hour woodsy trail ride at the Circle B Ranch, about 13 miles from home. It's the best riding establishment in the Adirondacks, according to my horsey friends. My mount was a sturdy black horse named Riley. He was unflappable, even when a tall tree of small dimensions decided to keel over right behind us, making the sound of a loud BOOM! It startled the hell out of me and the horse behind us, but Riley stopped for a second, then marched resolutely on. I was assigned Riley because I haven't been riding since I was about 20--that's more than three decades ago! I think the owners knew what they were doing when they assigned Riley to me. Thank you!


I'm two-thirds of the way through 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson, a British writer, and I heartily recommend it. I realize now that I don't have the time at the moment to describe its plot or finer points, but the novel has been judged as one of the best debut novels of 2011. I would agree with that assessment.

For an interview with Hodgkinson, I endorse this interview on the Penguin website--it's quite in depth.