A Ride and a Recipe.....

Gilly and I went for a ride yesterday, this isn't one of the pictures but it's from the other day. I didn't take the camera and there was no one home out here to take any pictures. But I wanted to show my neighbor, Kim's flowers by her garage and also the lion head fountain.

Gilly and I didn't do much any different than normal, except......I didn't work him in the round pen. We did some walking over poles and side passes over things laying on the ground. He did perfect! Now when I got on his back he suddenly forgot how to do it and was telling me "no". We worked on it anyway and finally he cooperated. Sometimes when I ask him to flex from side to side and at the poll he gets pissy about it. I wonder if he is telling me that he already knows this and why am I making him do it again? I still think that he needs to be in the thinking mode before we ride but it's up to me to read him and see what we need to do first. I think he is much happier when we play games on the ground that is fun for him instead of the moving his feet in the round pen.

We did have a good ride, a couple of times he said he wasn't going to go where I ask him to but I said oh, yes we are and he gave in and went along quietly. He can be very strong willed at times and I just have to be a little stronger. He is funny at times, last year if he didn't want to do what I was asking he would back up, now when I ask him to back he won't and then we have to go in some circles, then he says, sigh, OK, I will!

It was a good ride and a gorgeous day, wish I could have ridden all day but I had other things I needed to do.

Like make this Artichoke dip.....YUM!!! It's real easy too. Here are the ingredients.

2 cans of Artichoke hearts, drained

 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese, give or take, to suit your taste
8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

5-6 cloves of fresh garlic, squeezed again your taste, we love lots of garlic

1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice

I mash the Artichokes with a fork, blend rest together really well, put into baking dish (souffle dish works well)and bake in preheated oven to 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

(yes, I know my thumb nail looks bad but honest it is from picking suckers off tomatoes and being in the garden, uck!) I love this dip, have had the recipe for years, I use Wheat Thins for the crackers but use what ever you like. Very easy and quick and is really good.

While out in the garden I also found three good sized cucumbers, what a surprise! I pulled some large green onions and cut some fresh dill in the herb garden. I then sliced and layered onions, cucumbers and some dill in a dish; added Olive oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, mixed well and poured over the cucumbers and onions. Let set for 3 hours and oh, boy did that ever taste good!!! I had never put in fresh dill before, gave it a really good taste!

If you try the Artichoke dip let me know if you like it!
Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July, we are just taking it easy today here at home. May have to go to Lowe's though and get some things to do some more work on the bathroom!