fabric

when the perils of planning a wedding get you down, it's best to draw your attention to something else.

one time...

i was in cuba with my friend little shanno.

it was a beautiful cuban afternoon. the sky was deep blue as we rode in the back of a deep blue jeep with the top down. we wore adorable hats and colourful bikinis. the day began with a hike into the depths of the earth, into ancient cuban caves. it was humid in the earth's crust, and our tour guide was a ladies man.

we drove on with madeline (that was her pseudonym, as shanno and i could never recall her actual name), took a brief swim in the cool waters of yet another cave, before retiring to a ranch for lunch. the old coffee plantation was a beautful place. it was rich in history and yesteryear. beyond the gate stood a huge glorious tree that groups of people would join hands around while chanting. lunch was fantastic. we ate seconds. and visited the washroom where we had to pay for toilet paper. when the moment was right we headed off for some horse-back riding. it had been about 12 years since i last rode a horse. although i'm not a horse person i remembered from last time being delighted that unlike cars horses don't need to be steered. one can just sit and enjoy the ride. before the first time i rode a horse (at age 16) i'd been afraid of it biting me, but i realized how ludicrous that was and told shannon about my naive younger self. the rest of our group was still eating, so shanno and i alone mounted the horses and headed off with two spanish speaking ranchers. the path was wide and the horse moved slowly. i rode slightly a head of shannon on my white horse, hers was brown. as we trotted around i smiled; pleased both with the horse ride and with myself for getting shannon to ride a horse. shannon has hated horses her whole life, and inspite of her vegetarian convictions has claimed she'd eat one. i giggled as she rode, and would regularly call back to her "you're doing it shannon! you're doing it!" just past the mid-point of our ride, her horse started to gain on me. it seemed my white horse noticed this and did not like it. as she came closer he turned his head and took a big bite out of her knee. screams of anguish came from behind from as shannon yelled "lesley, your frickin horse just bit me!!". that's when the laughing started. we both began laughing hysterically. i laughed so hard that no sound was coming out and tears were streaming down my face. i was worried that the ranchers would think i was crying because it could easily be mistaken for weeping. but as shannon and i laughed the ranchers showed no concern or even any interest in what had just happened. we completed the ride, were helped down off the horses, then took our laughing selves a few feet away where we fell to the ground in hysterics. we were quickly surrounded by our mid-aged group of tourists, who did not see the humour in the situation. blood was streaming down little shanno's leg. the group of 50-somethings brought us to the jeeps where they could get their first-aid kits and insisted she get the polysorin in" real good". a few people mentioned tetanus, others mentioned the hospital. we kept giggling, while the most bossy lady insisted we were just in shock. we weren't in shock, we just thought it was funny. thankfully our guide javier also thought it was funny, and showed no concern about getting her to a doctor. there was a big jaw mark on her leg, and two cuts on either side of her knee where the teeth had broken the skin. it healed without any complications, but the scabs did turn black and left behind purple spots to always remind her of that beautiful day in the carribean.

it's time you start...
packing up.