the path

“Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use.” ~ Carlos Casteaneda

Photo tag...

"go into your photo archive, pick the 4th folder in the archive, select the 4th picture in the folder, and write about it. A person then needs to tag 4 other people to do the same".

I was tagged to do this by Bonnie, over at her blog "Frogma".

so on this very wild and wintery day I'm pleasantly surprised with the photograph, its holding folder was titled 'Robbie goes Driving' so there was a fair bet you were getting a photo of a horse, but there was a run of flower photographs before him. there were three of a blue poppy, then this beautiful peony, then six pictures of an orange poppy, two of Cotton the cat and then six little mini movies of Robbie pulling his carriage.
this peony is still a small plant, it was a cutting handed fom my gardening friend Terri who lives across the road, it took a while to establish and flower, a coule of years I think. it has a short flowering season, dictated by the weather, as soon as it 'wind and rains' the petals deteriorate very quickly, but it is beautiful and worth having.

so my people to tag are
Peppylady
VegPlot
Alison Dyer
Snappys Garden Blog

an hour of weeding

my first snowdrop appears under the hedge

and my new gardening gloves get their first outing, they were a present at christmas

these leaves have been growing since last year, I haven't the faintest idea what it is. I did plant it but can't remember if it had a name or was a gifted 'bit'
closer to the centre, you can see the furry leaves

closer in still.....
thats the gloves officially part of the garden

thankyou to Laughing Orca Ranch

thankyou to Lisa of Laughing Orca Ranch for this 'award', it comes with this story
"This award is for those Bloggers who manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervade amongst different cultures and beliefs. The Blog contents inspire; strive to encourage and offer solutions. There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Cultures and Sciences and Beliefs. The Blog is refreshing and creative. The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking."

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root

here's some inspiration!!

Abbey, the beginning of a journey

well its been a good week, getting to know the wee horsey. I've been playing natural horsemanship games, here I'm standing high up and she walked and trotted circles round me.

and squeezing through a tight space, when she gets used to this I'll put some wood in the middle for her to walk on.

and this is the first time I've been on board, we did some flexing and a wee walk with bend to a halt. she did really well with the rope being thrown over her head(to change direction)
and after some nice dinner, she's back out in the field in a cosy rug.

on the subject of rugs, when I bought her she had a ripped one on, so I got her a nice blue one(like the one I bought Katie)....you know the poor wee horse deserves a nice rug.......that lasted a week and she totally ripped it..........in the same place her old one was so she obviously does not do well with rugs!!! those two rugs are now off to a good repair(restoration jobs!!) and very kindly this one was given by my friend Liz- it was meant to be the spare but there it is! and thanks to Liz too for coming along and taking the photographs of me and Abbey.

if you must buy yourself presents...

make it a big one!!

this is 'Kevic Abbeydale', Abbey is her daily name, she is a Welsh Cob, Section D, about 14hh and about 9years old. we became an official partnership yesterday and I'm still a bit emotional about it all! we'll be following the Natural Horsemanship path of Quantum Savvy and I'm looking foward to the journey.

no snow here....

recieved these in an email from a friend, so theres always snow at Christmas somewhere!!

hope everybody has a good holiday season!!

the birds too!!

wishing for summer

I've just put this on my laptop as the background, as an antidote to winter gloom!! its the solstice and shortest day tomorrow so its all light from here on.....
the greenhouse showing between -5 C and 15 C. chilly...

laughing out loud

more animals at the LOLcats site

by the light of the Fiesta..

last night, going up to bring Smokey in to his stable after work, it was pitch black and some of the stable lights are not working. I couldn't see to read the code to open the padlock to get Smokeys breakfast ready for the following morning, he does not 'need' this feed or the treat of apples and carrots he gets for his tea, but.....how could you dissapoint the poor horse? so I reversed my Fiesta round the barn, avoiding building materials etc. and used it as a torch...don't know what the farmer would have thought of this and I'm not sure you are allowed to take your car round there. just to point out this car is 10 years old and sooooo reliable its amazing. just realized i don't have a picture of it, will try to take and post one today sometime.

and here is my wee garden robin, unfortuately I have had resisdent robins before, one was dispatched by the cat downstairs and another by the cat next door. my cats have yet to be accused of murdering robins, Tansy has had a couple of sparrows and a bluetit. Daisy has never caught anything as far as I know and I have seen birds hopping round her as if they know she is not a threat.

brrr......

late afternoon and the ice has not melted from the leaves of the purple sprouts(em, no sprouts actually just leaves!) the greenhouse temperature gauge showed a minimum of -5 C and a maximum of 18 C. it was a really sunny day so I did think it might have been a bit warmer in there. not sure of the outside temperatures, it would be interesting to have an outside one to compare.
this is the icy surface of..
this perfectly clear circle...
of ice formed in a bucket!
Katie eating hay, they eat out the centre and put their heads right in it. notice the rug is no longer clean, it still luminous enough to pick her out from a distance.

barefoot in the snow

just a barefoot baby horse.....I had my wellies on!!!

searching for colour

theres not much happening in the garden now, a careful search found very little to photograph, a late flowering borage, suffering a bit round the edges from the frosts.

the pernytta gives a good display of berries, the birds dont seem to eat them. we've had some snow but it didn't lie for long.

winter tidying

I've started to move the pots off my doorstep and put them in Billy's coldframes to keep them through the winter, if it gets really bad I can out their covers on for extra protection.

my leeks are doing good and there have been some nice pots of soup already, thanks Wildside for the seeds!!

a little rose doing its best in the sun, its blown away now...

a collection of autumn multi-coloured leaves, its a never ending thing... I used to keep them separate to compost but am too busy just now so have stuffed them in with everything else.

Ardie says...

o hai

winter time

Katie in her new winter coat.

"winter time" seems to have arrived promptly on top of the swift autumn wet, following the summer wet. we have had some stunning weather this week, freezing cold and bright sunshine. wrap up warm and be glad of the blue skys!!

I realise I don't update the blog as often as I used to, and while it started off mainly as a gardening diary it seems to have become more of a log for my journey with horses. mostly the weather is to blame as it really has been too wet this year to garden much, and half the time I will not even take my camera out with me so it does not get ruined in the bad weather. horses do not care what the weather is like and demand to be fed every day so you cannot put it off!

the lack of posts is also due to a lack of time, since last winter I have been working at two jobs, the receptionist post and the horses at weekends. so life is a bit full and not always nice. difficultys with office hours and office people are never ending, also there seems to be some 'subterfuge' happening, where there are factions and side and secrets? there is a very strange atmosphere. I can only long for financial security and the opportunity to have dirty fingernails all the time, and its really difficult to find a nail brush that will get that weekend dirt out!!
today I have a rare day to myself and its a beautiful day, so the I'm off into the frosty garden to see what jobs can be done today, the camera can come out too so hopefully a post soon with some plants in it.

white when washed

Smokey, he loves the mud. seriously, when he is washed he comes out white with a silver mane and tail.....which will now need to wait till next summer when its warm enough...

new wellie boots!!

whoohoo!! warm feet for the winter!!

I've treated myself to a new pair of Muckboots, neoprene lined comfy wellies, no more damp cold feet out doing the gardening or the horses. I sold a load of cross-stitch kits on e-bay to raise the money, I probably bought them off e-bay in the first place and I am not going to have time to do them.

on a comfy seat

here's Katie, wearing the saddle I sold my kayak to buy... its treeless and fits virtually any horse/pony. so far its been on Katie, Robbie, Smokey and Duke.
its a Barefoot Cheyenne, used with a Grandeur Saddle pad. it has a fiberglass form over the pommel and the rest of it is mostly padded foam, soooooooooooooo comfy.
it can make a real difference to the horse too, Duke in particular is a 20yr old thorougbred, dancing about on his toes and making his new owners nervous. I sat on him for about 5 seconds and decided his saddle was hurting his back(yes he was trying to politely tell them this, considering what he could have done!!), so I put my saddle on him and rode him and he turned into a different horse, quiet, responsive and kind. his owners have just ordered him a Barefoot after seeing him ridden in it a few times, good!!