I write this entry on July 30th, Sunday evening, of what has been a lovely week. I canned both weekends, and put up corn relish, dilled green tomatoes, dilly beans, peach chutney, 3-bean salad, cherries, and pickled okra. And I've been dehydrating tomatoes, peaches, and cherries, and preparing other foods for freezing. And my garden is doing well, tomatoes coming in strong. My compost bin arrived and I tackled putting it together and beginning the hot composting.And, most wonderful, Violet and I had a week of great rides. We were a true team. We had fun at all 3 of our lessons. On Saturday, yesterday, I got up early, went to the Farmers Market, purchased food and got a beautiful bouquet of flowers, then Violet and I had a the best lesson to top the week. I arrived and I could just tell that she was relaxed, happy, and interested! She was light, she powered over the ground poles, she curved into her circles, she took on a new whinny widgets challenge. She was the best! All I could do was smile and laugh at how much fun it was to ride my big quiet red girl!!! Then I came home to a day's worth of canning warm summer food for winter. I will think of this great week, and my fun, sweet ride, when I eat canned cherries and peach chutney in the depths of winter! Thank you, Vi-girl!