old reads, new reads, a few rides, and a new favorite thing

First, the riding. Keil Bay and I both started taking microlactin last week and I am definitely seeing a difference in both of us. We're mostly doing what I call "big walking" - which is really just a nice flowing engaged walk, with some energy and schwung. It's when we do this walking that Keil offers soft snorting and I feel his entire body loosen up. We're doing a little trotting and will add in more of that as we go.

I've had two good rides on Cody and several ground sessions. He actively wants to trot but I'm holding him back for now as I keep an eye on his abscess scar. It's growing down the hoof wall nicely but is clearly a vulnerable spot until it grows out. He's having a cranio session this afternoon so I hope we'll see some good ripples from that in his riding. I've come to really like the bitless sidepull I have for Keil Bay and have used it exclusively this fall, but it's too large for Cody. A horse sized one for Cody is on our Christmas list! I think he'll enjoy going without a bit, but we'll see. For now he's chewing the bit, creating a nice little rim of foam, and seems to be happy to be working again.

The backyard is now cat-proof so all four kit-meows can go out through the cat/Corgi door and enjoy the back yard! We have some tweaking and tidying up to do of the wire overhang but I'm surprised by how invisible it is when I glance out the windows. So far so good. I'll do an entire post on that once we get it completely finished. Then it will be time to figure out the front porch. 

Books - old and new. One of my favorite books when I was young was Harriet The Spy. I read that book until it fell apart (and still have it, more a pile of pages than a book at this point). I loved Harriet's interior life, the notebook in which she wrote things down, her gift for stealth, and her love of Ole Golly. One detail in the book became a sort of fascination: the egg cream. Growing up in the south I had no idea what it was. It sounded like something good, but egg? and cream? I finally had one in NYC as a young adult. It was nothing to do with eggs and I enjoyed the taste. I don't think I gave egg creams much thought after that first and only one.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. What came over me? I don't know. Suddenly the idea of an egg cream struck me one evening. But it's the season of eggnog, and we had a half-gallon from a local dairy farm and I decided to make an eggnog egg cream. I've had several by now and have perfected my method. Put a splash of pure (real) vanilla extract in a tall glass. We don't happen to have our homemade version (vanilla bean pods crushed in a jar of dark rum) but I think that would make this even better. 

Fill the glass halfway with eggnog. The local farm's eggnog is thick and rich and very creamy, so this recipe assumes that consistency. This would probably be amazing with homemade eggnog! 

Then take a mini-whisk or fork and stir the glass as fast as you can without tipping it over. Add freshly-opened (or made if you make your own) seltzer to top off the glass. You'll get some foamy froth if you stir fast enough and the seltzer is fresh enough.

Oh my goodness - it is my new favorite thing to drink. I'm having it as dessert in the evenings. And thinking of Harriet and Ole Golly and almost wishing for a tomato sandwich. :)

New reads: I finished Andrea Barrett's Ship Fever and enjoyed it. Quiet, elegant, with science woven into the stories. It's a book I will read again.

I started Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven two days ago and I am tempted to sit and read it straight through. This is one I've hoarded since it came out and I am loving it so far. I haven't read her earlier novels so am looking forward to going through them at some point. I'm only one-tenth of the way in right now but consider this my early thumbs-up!