Something odd happened last night.

First, I didn't fall asleep until after 3. Normally if I come in late I'm still asleep by one. But I was reading a very good book (Sunshine by Robin McKinley) so that kept me going much later than normal. But I did eventually get sleepy, so I turned out the light and nodded off.

At 3:45, I awoke suddenly, screaming. I could see something in the air between me and the ceiling fan. Not directly over me. It was sort of hovering by the side of the bed, about six feet up. I continued screaming for a few seconds, then started fumbling for the light switch. I was scared and groggy, so it took me a while. I couldn't see whatever it was anymore, but I still turned on the light. The dog was standing by the bed, looking at me. She appeared to be in good humor, and apparently unconcerned by the screaming.

Now wide awake, I decided to go to the bathroom. As I walked toward the closed bedroom door, it made a thumping noise as if the cat had been leaning against it and had stopped. I opened the door. No cat. He didn't even come investigate why I was up, which is odd for him.

I came back to bed and lay down. I wasn't sleepy. At all. Sometimes if I have a nightmare I wake up but I'm sleepy, so I go to sleep with the light on. This morning I had no desire to fall asleep. I didn't fall asleep again until 6:30, when the sky had gotten pretty light. Even then I kept jerking awake to check for black things floating over me. I didn't feel scared anymore, just.. apprehensive. Cautious.

I woke up again at 9:30. I'd have thought I would sleep in later. I feel pretty good for somebody who only got four hours of sleep.

In retrospect, the black floaty thing felt curious, not malevolent. I think my reaction was due to suddenly having something in my room that wasn't there before, that was uninvited. I didn't actually feel threatened. I've heard noises in the house before and had that cold and shaky feeling you get when you're really scared. This time it was more the jolt of surprise - and initial fear,of course. Something black over you when nothing should be there is quite a shocker.

I wonder how hard it will be to sleep tonight?

It's been a busy month. My young horse is in training with Amy. I'm in training with Amy. I'm riding her horse Belle, and I'm riding my other horse too. The last week for one reason or another we've been doing walking lessons. I've been finding them very satisfying, which I didn't used to when I was taking lessons before. I guess my internal speedometer has slowed down. I'm now just as happy to get a good swinging walk from a horse as I used to be to get a good forward trot.

Sunday we did walk pirouettes, which was exhausting but fun. Yesterday we did walking turn on the haunches, not quite as exhausting and very fun. Amy finally diagnosed my leg yield problem, which is that I let my outside aids lapse. I need to keep my leg on the horse on *both* sides and to keep some tension on the outside rein so the horse doesn't kind of squirt out the side. (How's that for a visual?)

I rode in spurs for the first time ever yesterday, and it made a big difference. Much much easier to get ornery horse moving.

In non-horse-related events, I've been spending all my time with Buddy. He started classes last week, which means I've actually spent a couple of evenings alone, for the first time since about April. Most days he stops by for at least a little while. It's conceivable that this could cause me to feel crowded, having lived alone the last couple of years. But it hasn't. We feel right together. It's hard for me to believe we've only been together a few weeks.

I've met his mom and one sib. He's meeting my folks next week. My pets love him. His dog appears to be okay with me, which is saying a lot for a Chow. When was the last time one of my boyfriends actually got along with all of mine, and I got along with all of his?

I put more images in the gallery.

There's some kind of tummy bug going around. I thought I had a bad blood sugar crash last night, but now I think it was just the first stage of the bug. For some reason that makes me feel better. I thought I had badly misjudged my nutrition, which makes me feel like an idiot. Actually being sick means it's not my fault.

Buddy's coming over to keep me company, and I'm going to make Mel Soup. It never fails to make me feel a little better, and it's very good on a tender tummy.

Mel Soup:

1 can chicken broth
a bunch of fresh spinach
an ounce of capellini (or angel hair noodles)
an egg or two

Boil the capellini in the broth. At the same time, put half an inch of water in a small pot, bring it to a boil, and stuff all the spinach in it. In a minute or so the spinach will turn bright green, which means it's done. Add the spinach and the spinach water to the soup.

Once the capellini is completely limp, turn the soup down so it's just barely bubbling. Lightly beat the egg, then drizzle it into the soup so it threads. Move the soup gently while you do it to draw out the strands.

Serves two. Goes great with toasted pita bread and Vernor's ginger ale,
both of which I'm having tonight. Bon appetit.

Today was supposed to be my first riding lesson with Amy, but it got rained out. Or lightninged out, because I'll ride in rain. I feel like a wuss because it was getting darker and darker, and we started down a steep muddy hill, and I said "I don't have a good feeling about this, Amy." I turned Belle back toward the farm. Amy called that she'd follow me. As we re-entered the clearing, her husband hollered that it was getting bad. So then I felt slightly less bad.

Now it's lightning all over, so I guess I made the right decision. Still a bummer though.