(Enter Laura) Yesterday, the UW equestrian team had a show just 45 minutes from Madison. So Mark and I went out to watch some jumpers and lend our support. It was rather impressive to watch the same horses I ride jumping up to 2 feet into the air- don't worry, I have no urge to do that. The only times that I remember falling :) off were in attempts to jump (and once bareback) and on these tall horses, that is no fun. Mark also encourages me to stick to ground work :) It was nice to see another barn and I got some good pictures of the horses I ride at Hoofers. The dark one is Sunny (a delicate stepping sweety), the paint is Shadow (quite a work to get him up to speed), and the flee-bitten gray is Queenie (she is the friendliest little mare). The only one I have ridden that is not pictured is Copper, a fisty chestnut the color of a new penny!

(Return Mark) I then went off to play board games, with the Madison Board Gamers. I arrived just after Caribbean, which looked like an interesting blind-bidding game, with very precarious pieces which were constantly tipping over. My first game was Submarine, a rather abstract game with very neat little bathyscopes. You're trying to find 12 treasures, but you can only explore nearby levels and pick up treasures of certain colors. Mike, Todd, Sky and I worked our way up and down the board, and I came close but was unable to overcome Mike's savvy in finding just the right treasure. I'm not sure about the stability of the game, it seems one person could horde a type of treasure and limit the other players too easily, but I'd be up for playing it again. Next up was For Sale, a reissue by Uberplay which was simple and perfect for what it was. You first bid to buy properties, then sell those properties to hopefully make more money. A nice two-stage game that would work well for our gaming group, and it's now on my wish-list.

As for today, we spent the morning cooking up some tasty meals, finished up our taxes, visited the garden in preparation for Garden Work Day, and played a tense game of Attika to while away the afternoon.