All natural

Today, we city dwellers shed our urban robes and turned into nature worshippers. Six of us packed into a 5 seater Volkswagen Jetta (instead of the Volvo S40, says Andy who incidentally occupied the comfortable driver seat) and headed out of Toronto into the forested region of Milton, Ontario. There was a massive jam and we arrived half an hour late for horse riding after a couple of wrong turns in the woods (it would have been worse without Simon's super cool GPS). I woke up in the car to see a completely different landscape - rolling farms and woodlands, greener trees and grass (an illusion I admit). Felt like the family in Little Miss Sunshine who went on a road trip in a battered vehicle.

My horse Mindac (sex still unknown at least to me) was rather huge (though not as gigantic as Andy's placid giant) and energetic (it keeps wanting to overtake the lead horse). It behaved decently well after several pats and reassurance but honestly, I felt nervous throughout the whole ride cos animals are unpredictable afterall. Like Cui's horse who dashed ahead to kick a fellow horse! Utterly hilarious. Of course she and not the horse, got scolded.

We were led through an uneven and rocky and jungle trail. I wonder how Mindac feels having to carry loads on its back everyday. Felt rather sorry for it and stroked its back more often (I assume that all domestic animals like to be stroked). The sun was merciless that day and the shady forest offered a much wanted respite. The next step was trotting. You dig in your heels, click your tongue and the well-trained horses will trot. Trotting felt more like galloping to a novice like me and I probably looked very unglam bouncing up and down the horse with obviously no control over the horse's or my own movements. Our guide seemed to move rhythmically with the horse's heaving body so he didn't look like he was bouncing. Had locked knees after our 1 hour lesson but it was an unforgettable experience nonetheless.

Lunch was a hasty affair of bread with Nutella.

We drove to Andrew's Scenic Acres to pick strawberries. It all sounded very romantic to me. Lush strawberry fields, basket in hand, lips stained red with berry juice... The scenery did not disappoint. We piled onto an old-fashioned wagon and journey through fields of flowers, cherries, apples, grapes and of course strawberries. Picking berries is hard work especially when the big red ones have been picked. Cui's parents picked the most while we wandered around idly and took photos. I overcame my inhibition and ate some strawberries (after all my effort!) and actually enjoyed the sour ones. Of course we picked too many so most of them became strawberry smoothies at night (more palatable).

strawberry farm!

strawberry girls!

strawberry leaps!

the last leap!