Freezing!

Well, I've become quite a regular blogger (once a month at least ....... 'wry smile')! The thing is, I think I prefer being a reader than a writer.  I can think up lovely blogs in my head whilst washing up or driving to work (is that dangerous driving?), but I just freeze up when I sit down at the keyboard ..... probably a common problem.   I was going to write something really interesting ~ but have forgotten what it was!  I just love reading the blogs of others ~ so many interesting thoughts out there (and stunning photos on many blogs).

And we're all fed up to the back teeth with the weather.  We've been let off lightly, round here.  No days when we've had to trudge to work through the snow as our gritters have been doing a fantastic job keeping the roads clear (and we haven't had very much white stuff anyway).  It's just that the days are now getting a bit longer & I'm feeling the urge to cast off cardis and thick tights & put something more summery on.  Not quite a floaty dress, but something that's not quite so drab as  my winter wardrobe. (I can feel some shopping coming on!).  ...... and only 8 weeks to Skiathos .... seems hard to imagine taking nearly everything off to lie on a sun lounger.   It will be a bit scary to expose my white & winter-soft body to the general public (aka the Lovely Husband and Best Friends) ... eek!  Will invest in some sarong-y things to hide the worst of it, or at least until I've turned a bit pink-ish and downed a few glasses of Mythos!

Sundowner

The sun is shining through the window right now and actually warming me up - wow, I can turn down the radiator!  I'm a cold sort of person ~ 'nesh' they say in these parts. My OH is a warm dude & we're constantly having the battle-of -the-thermostat in our house.  It's a wonder it doesn't break with all the tweaking it gets on a nightly basis (lucky thing).  Actually, having spoken to friends, I do think this isn't only confined to our house, but is a male/female divide, due to them being less sensitive than us!

I do have some interesting thoughts ~ perhaps I'll get round to those next time!

Sunny Days and Skiathos

Well, it's nearly the end of February ~ thank goodness.  It's been a wearying, tiresome month, with drab weather and too much work (... and not enough fun).  Probably a good month to toddle off on a sunshine holiday for a bit of a battery re-charge. (Note to self: remember this for next year.) 

Four months to go until we head off for sunny Skiathos ~ can't wait!  Have added a photo of my favourite-place-of-all to cheer me up.  This is Abelakia Beach & it's perfection ~ though it's now been rather despoiled by the addition of lots of top-end sunbeds all jammed together & a beach bar serving pricy food/drink with non-stop sounds and beautiful skinny people.  (I sound like a grumpy old bugger, but it used to be so peaceful with just the sound of the breaking waves .......  progress!)

The Lovely Husband & I discovered Skiathos about 9 years ago and have tried to get out there most years since then, tho we didn't go last year, for some reason. (Perhaps because we had three other holidays to distract us!)  May will be my 60th birthday month (woop-woop!) so we're going for two weeks with the Special Friends and it will be wonderful.  I really shouldn't wax lyrical so much about Skiathos, cos if everyone elso goes there as well it will get too crowded ~ and Mama Mia did enough of people-bringing, thank you very much!  I'll just show you this photo of the town (there's only one town on the whole island & it's imaginatively called Skiathos town).

so pretty!



New coat

Have just read Tania Kindersley's Tuesday blog, partly about errands & looking for a new coat.  I, too, had a coat dilemma just before Christmas.  My existing everday jacket was scruffy & not long enough to keep my bum/thighs warm in this arctic weather.  I was looking for ages at various brands and tried on a few Barbours ~ but the problem was that they've now become a fashion trend & are ALL bum-freezing jacket length.  (Even non-horsey, non-farmey folk are now wearing them - in the streets and on the soaps!)

I just wanted a good ole waxed coat like my ancient one. It's so annoying, when you've a picture in your mind of what you want but can't find it anywhere.  After visiting loads of saddlerys & country shops & trawling the internet I did eventually find a lovely one online, which arrived just in time for Christmas.  It's exactly what I was looking for, so result!  (I'm trying to keep it well away from horse-slobber, though, as that is the very devil to sponge off!)

  Here's a pic!

Snowy weekend

Grrrr .... I started this post, got sidetracked & managed to lose it totally!  (Could have been quite good,too!)

The weekend was uneventful, but very moochy and pleasant.  On Friday evening we knew we were in for big snow, so went out straight after work for a couple of pleasant drinks & to collect a curry (mine was chicken tikka dhansak ~ yummy!).  We were home for about seven ~ just as the snow really started to come down thick & fast.  I took this photo of the road up to our courtyard ~ don't know why the camera has turned it blue ... special night effect?

Went to the stables on Saturday & Sunday, but it was still too slippery for riding so we did lots of useful yard stuff (plus mucking out, of course).  Some of the owners were moaning that the horses had been in all week as the farm tracks were so icy, but the horses all seemed very contented.  The two Bens were being very sensible about it all and were enjoying having a bit of a fuss with no hard work involved!

I cooked a leg of lamb yesterday afternoon for dinner ~ most delicious!  There's loads left, but Paul can have it all as I'm fasting today.  I've decided to do the 5/2 fasting 'diet', as promoted by Michael Mosely on tv, to see how easy it is & if the Xmas pudding round my middle will just magically melt away. (I only put about 5 lbs on, so it's not too bad.)   Am also going to brave the pilates class tonight to start the toning process ...... lovely, can't wait!! 

Lovely Winter!

We're never satisfied, are we?  When we have a warm wet winter we all moan and say 'why can't we have proper winters, like we used to?' and when we have a cold snap like this we moan that we can't get about, or that the bins haven't been emptied.  I suppose it's just how we are, but it is annoying!

I love the snowy coldness ~ and it looks so pretty.  I specially like it at night when the snow goes sparkly and bluey-white & I keep getting up from the sofa to look out of the windows (Other Half - aka Lovelyhusbandpaul - never looks out ....... men have no soul.)

Here's a photo of where I live, taken at dusk.  The snow makes it look magical.

... and two years on!

What a rubbish blogger I turned out to be!  Only two in 2 years - ha!  I think I'm better at reading other people's ~ they're much more interesting than mine will ever be.  (The ones I do in my head are really interesting, but I've always forgotten them by the time I sit at the keyboard.  Someone should invent thought-linked typing!)

I'm loving Tania Kindersley's daily blog.  How I admire that she actually manages to produce one every single day ~ brilliant!   She also manages to move me (sometimes to tears) with her descriptions of the horses and dogs and her wonderful photos of Scotland.  Her horse, Red, seems so similar to my beloved Chennie ~ both in colour & temperament ~ that I'm thinking of Chen a lot at the moment.  It will be ten years in October since she died, but I can still bring her back so vividly into memory; her feel and lovely warm smell.

I must also investigate how to get some photos onto here ~ I'm sure it can't be too difficult for one with my obvious technological skills!  It would then be more interesting for me to look at in another 2 years, when I get round to the next post!
PS: did it ~ here's a grainy photo of my lovely girl relaxing in the field, taken a couple of years before she died (she'd be about 20 then).

Funerals

It's not been a bad week ~ fairly usual stuff, except we've just had to go to a funeral. Well, didn't have to go, but wanted to as a mark of respect.  It got me thinking ~ funerals are all about the living & trying to make them feel a bit better when it's time to let go.  The lady who had died was the wife of a well-known local ex-councillor and it was really well-attended.  I'm sure that this will give the family comfort in the days to follow.  Must be awful to have a loved one die & then hardly anyone bother to turn up.  

On a not dis-similar subject, saw Human Planet this week on tv & there was a bit about sky burials in Nepal.  One poor chap has the task of dissecting the body so that the vultures & buzzards can do their bit to dispose of it.   A very ingenious way, though, of dealing with human remains when there's no way they could be buried or cremated.  This community lives at a really high altitude & are Buddhists, so believe that it's good karma to do another living thing good when you die.  

Gosh .... I'd better cheer up a bit!!!  :-)