In any case, yesterday was my mother's birthday and I apparently missed a wonderful day. Next time I'll have the funds to fly home for it. Though I could not fly to Australia, I celebrated my mother's birthday in style.
The morning saw me, J.M-B., K.M-B., and A.G. head off to equestrian archery lessons. It was a fantastic lesson. The first round of arrows I shot were extremely well placed. J.M-B. hit the target dead on three times. The string was very loose when my turn came and so the first round went well... but it all went down hill from there. J.M-B. finally managed a blister on her thumb, and was proud. She became slightly miffed, however, when I managed to acquire a very nasty bruise on my forearm from the bowstring. Apparently, my one-up-manship is annoying.
J.M-B. did extremely well on her runs, hitting the target on all three of her passes. I did less well, hitting on the first pass, and missing the next two. I was given a pity run, and I hit then.
Deciding that we weren't ready to give up on horse-riding yet, we headed off to Pinto Valley Ranch for a trail ride. It was muddy, but glorious. The sun came out as we waded through puddles up passed the horse's hocks, and trampled through mud just as deep. We managed a lovely trot on the drier ground. Drier ground was patchy, so our trots didn't last very long.
The day was spectacular fun and I took some wonderful pictures of the day. Videos of our passes in the lesson were excellent. Only you're never going to see them because somewhere between the middle of the trail ride and its end, the camera went missing. It must have fallen out of my pocket and it's safe to say that it's now buried in mud or lost at the bottom of a puddle somewhere on the trails of Pinto Valley Ranch.
It was J.M-B.'s camera.
I feel like the worse person ever. I was so upset, I spent much of the drive home, and the preparation of today's lunch last night trying hard not to cry. The person who should have been crying was J.M-B., but she was positively angelic about it. She's a little sad about the photos that have been lost, but didn't seem all that bothered by the camera.
I'm thoroughly despondent over both.
There's not much that can be done, however. Still, I feel so bad.
Such is life, I suppose. I did promise on Saturday to catch up on the Forgotten English today. So here it is:
Exlex
An outlaw; Latin ex, out, away and lex, law.
- Robert Hunter's Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1894
Dern
Of actions proceeding the secret, or in the dark; kept concealed; hence of evil or deceirful nature. Of persons, secret in purpose or action; reserved; hence, underhand, sly, crafy. Of a person, treated as a confidant; entrusted with hidden matters. Of places, serving well to conceal, as lying out of the way.
- Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1897
