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).