Last week I had another birthday! I ended up spending part of the day with friends and their horses, which was very nice. I took a two hour lesson, with my friend Floriane, with a wonderful trainer named John St. Ryan. His methods are simple and clear and it was wonderful to watch my horse respond so quickly. The idea is to do very little - small movements, little noise - and train the horse to listen to subtle cues. Have you ever seen people make a horse do all sorts of different moves and yet you cannot pick out the riders' movements? That's where this type of riding can lead.
I also had a group of friends over this weekend which was quite lovely. Another aspect of living in this area is the community that develops. The group was made up of a variety of people - a winemaker, an ag teacher, a contractor, a timber faller, two writers, a few other real estate agents and some of my horsey friends. We shared good food and lovely local wines and lots of conversation.
This weekend is Halloween! Elk is again doing the family event at the Greenwood Community Center - an early bird dinner of hamburgers and local veggies, trick-or-treating, a parade of costumes and candy sharing. It should be a fun time. In Mendocino Frankie's is hosting the 2nd Annual Halloween Street Party. If you didn't get a chance to go to the Circus you'll get another chance to see some of the same performers. I personally like the Inspyred Fyre and Light performers - something about the spinning fire entrances me. I'm going to be there - hope you can make it as well.
Things looked up for me personally with real estate this week - I've written an offer for some first time buyers on a nice home! We're all very excited and I hope this dream of home ownership for them comes true. There appears to be some evidence that we'll see some bank owned properties in the Mendocino Village; if you would like to see these when they come on the market let me know and I'll email you the listing.
Until next week, get out there with the ghouls and goblins and have a good time!