Summer Retreat?

Well this past weekend I was house and dog sitting.  I was told the dog was quite skittish and since they were having their roof redone, I was expected to stay there the majority of the time to make sure she was ok.  No problem, I thought.  I'll just make this into my own mini-retreat.  So I packed up a few books I've been meaning to read along with my Bible and headed over there Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, between my lack of sleep the night before and the loud roofers, I didn't accomplish much.  I ended up taking a nap, catching up on missed episodes of Grey's, and watching TV.  By the time I felt awake enough to start doing some work, it was raining outside, which was terribly disappointing because there was this beautiful, English-style garden I really wanted to read in.  Oh, well, I figured I'd leave the retreat for Sunday.

Now, sleeping in strange houses all by myself really freaks me out.  I mean, sleeping in my own apartment by myself is scary enough.  Somehow, in my sleep-deprived mind, I got to thinking.  I believe we all have our time when we're called back home to be with God.  Whether we die by a disease, accident, or old age, I believe it is our time to go.  But what about if you're murdered?  Are you really being called home?  Or are you forced to leave before your time?  Now, I believe God is able to use all events to fulfill his greater plan, so this confused me a bit.  After talking to Jake, we decided you can be forced to leave before it is your time, but God can still use the horrible event to fulfill his greater purpose.  Great.  But not exactly comforting as I'm sleeping alone in this strange place.

Well, fortunately I did survive the night.  After a great sermon Sunday morning about the similiarities/differences between Christianity and Hindium, I felt ready to try to tackle this retreat thing.  So I set up a chair in the gardens, got all my books together, grabbed a notebook and pen, and got started.  I did have a fairly productive half an hour or so until the beauty around me distracted me.  I just had to grab my camera and take some pictures of the beautiful flowers.  Ok, now time to focus.  Oh wait, there's a flower I didn't notice the first time around.  A few pictures later and the dog decided she wanted to go inside.  Ok, get her inside and make sure she has plenty of water.  Sit back down.  Roofer guys decide to move from the front of the house where they have been working to the back, near where I'm sitting.  Perfect.  As if I wasn't already having a hard enough time concentrating.  However, after another hour or so, I'm done with a chapter in each of the 2 workbooks I've been working through.  Phew.  Time for a break. 

This retreat stuff is harder than it sounds.  I'm a pretty introverted person, and normally don't mind spending some time alone each day.  In fact, I'm a much more pleasant person to be around when I've had my "quiet time" for the day.  However, even I was starting to feel isolated and in need of some human interaction.  Luckily, Jake came to the rescue and after a game of Ultimate frisbee, I was feeling much better.  I met some new people, got a great workout, and had a fun time. 

Today, I was extremely productive.  Woke up by 6:30 to feed the dog, and after a quick shower, I packed up all of my stuff, made homemade french toast (YUM!), worked a little bit on Bible study stuff, cleaned up the house, dealt with some vet school stuff, and checked my email, all before the owners got back at noon.  Then off to the barn to ride Bingo.

It was a very windy day, so windy in fact that the small dressage arena outside has blown over.  So we headed to the arena next to it and did some quick trotting and cantering around.  Bingo was very excited because not only was it super windy, her friends were all whinnying to her.  But she was a good girl and didn't whinny back.  We did have some issues with popping her right shoulder, but overall it went well. She was getting more and more excited in this wide open space, though, especially with her friends trying to say "hi" every few minutes, so we headed over to the dressage arena.  She wasn't spooky at all, even with the blown over arena.  She didn't want to bend to the right, so we had a bit of a discussion about that, and afterwards I got a couple of strides of awesome, awesome canter work.  The best I've felt on her so far.  So I decided to be done with that.  As I'm walking her around, cooling her out, it suddenly starts POURING.  Seriously, it was a down pour.  And it came out of nowhere.  But she didn't even flinch.  Good girl!  Since it was raining, she got hosed off in the indoor wash rack.  She did great, with minimal dancing around.  However, as I was sweat-scraping her (getting off all the excess water, for those of you who are non-horsey), she backed away and into a broom.  She freaked out, broke one of her cross ties, and then stood there shaking.  I felt so bad for her.  So I took her out, and back to the normal cross ties to settle down while I put her stuff away.  Then I got lots of treats and had her go back into the wash rack and she got lots of treats while she just stood there.  Hopefully she won't be scared to go back in next time.

Oh, and here's some photos from my (Almost) Summer Retreat this weekend.

The flowers on this plant were in the shape of hearts! How cool!!!