Horse Riding at the Beach

Friday 15th July and the Memsahib and I are offered the opportunity to take one of the horses we are riding to the beach. Suzanne, one of the girls from the stable, has a horse box and volunteered to take us down with her and her horse 'Mickie'. We arrive at the beach and realize that Ace (our horse) has not been to a busy beach before, his ears prick up and his eye's look wild and I'm thinking is this a good idea? Anyway, Suzanne calms me down and says to get on Ace and let's ride on to the beach. He actually does remarkably well and we end up trotting and cantering quite nicely up and down the beach. Eventually the word 'gallop' is broached, gulp! I'm not sure that I am ready for that. Once again Suzanne gives a lesson on how to apply the brakes when the horse is going quickly and before I lose my nerve we are off, galloping down the beach. It is exhilarating and a little scary and at one point I thought I would fall, but I relaxed again and applied the breaks and Ace came to a halt. The Memsahib gets on and has a go, and she also ends up galloping and trotting along the beach. Hopefully Ace is the horse to build the Memsahibs confidence. Back to the lorry and back to the stable for a hose down and a good tea for the horses, Ace has earnt his tea tonight.
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Youngest Son's sixth form Prom

Well here we are another year on and it is the turn of our youngest son to attend his sixth form prom before leaving school for good and entering the big bad world. Here he is in full Scottish Formal dress with our Lurcher Tilly by his side. Very proud parents :-)
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Rain

Here I am sitting in the kitchen with the cat, looking out of the patio doors and watching the next band of rain approach. Today has been either sunny and bright or absolutely tipping down, both in equal measure. Its been one of those days were you just don't know what to do for the best as the weather is bound to change for the worst just as you embark on a venture. We were going to do the roof of the summerhouse, but then it rained and the wind built up with it. Then we went up to the stables with the idea that we would take the horse out for a hack during a break in the weather but, you guessed it, the heavens opened. We cleaned the horse out and left her in as the forecast was not good and went to a friends house for tea. Would you believe that from 3pm until 7pm it was bright and sunny, could have ridden after all! Now we are in having had tea and once again the rain is coming down like stair rods. The forecast for the week, rain, rain and more rain :-(
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Banjo

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Every since I saw Tommy Steele singing 'I want a Banjo' in the musical 'Half A Sixpence' I have had a hankering for the instrument that went 'ring a janger, jing a janger' and now I finally have one. A beautiful instrument (the photo does it no justice)  i can now shut myself away and play 'ring a janger,jing a janger' to my hearts content (provided I am out of earshot of the Memshaib that is =D ) Once I have conquered 'ring a janger, jing a janger' I'll move on to 'Duelling Banjo's' from the movie 'Deliverence' :-D

Holidays @ Home :-/

Two weeks off and for the first week glorious sunshine. We were going to do a cycle trip if the weather was good (which it was) or take a short notice trip somewhere warm if inclement (which it ain't) where do we end up? At home! The Memsahib decides it would be nice to stay at home seeing as it is so nice and potter around the house (for that read DIY). Before you can say 'but dearest' I'm out in the garden stripping the wet roof off of the summerhouse and replacing it with fresh felt and Batton and that's were we stop; because we do not yet have the top dressing for the roof, that will be here middle of next week. New glass is on order too for the window and doors of aforementioned summerhouse, but that's not here yet either. Move swiftly across to job number 2, the pond. It requires the liner raising up to make it deeper and a top dressing/seat applied around the top. Once again I'm stripping back a previously finished job and improving, shall we say, the structure that already exists :o Three days later and that job is finished, interspersed with some horse riding shenanigans and guess what? The glass is here. So we pick up the glass and its back to the shed; excuse me, summerhouse and we replace the glass. It has to be said that once completed it is a much nicer place to sit and wile away the time (not that we'll be doing much of that I dare say). As we speak I AM sitting in the summerhoose sipping a beer whilst the Memsahib is up at the yard seeing to the horse. The pond is complete, the summerhouse awaits its new roof dressing and I; well I am awaiting the next job :-)
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Swallows

It's always a treat to see the Swallows return with their incredible aerobatic displays and we have had Swallows nesting around our house since we moved here seven years ago. Last year a new nest was built under the eaves of the log store and a successfull nest full was achieved from it. This year they are back again and are already checking out the nest, I wonder if the same breeding pair find their way back each year to the same nest spot or is it a different pair just taking over a ready made home? I have a feeling its the first point made. I find it amazing that such small birds can find their way back to a garden in South West Scotland from South Africa year after year. They really do herald summer and its certainly feeling summery around here at the moment, 20 degrees regularly for the last week or so, fantastic. Spot the glass of red wine in hand, still fits in with the swallows theme :-)
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