A duvet day.

When the weather is bad and, lets face it, just lately it has been, there's not much you can do but cosy up on the bed with some cats, the laptop and some knitting. It took me nearly a year to make these first socks! They were ripped bak and restarted too many times to think about. Once finished though, I felt ready to tackle more.

I found an easier pattern with less stitches and these soks have taken less than a week! They would have been finished in a couple of days, but I made a fair isle pattern for the top which didn't work out, so I wasted a lot of time reworking that. In the end I opted for the most basic fair isle stitch as these socks are a present for my lovely man's birthday next week!

The wet weather has driven all the cats inside. Bambam loves to snuggle with Manchee and his blankets :D

Dexter has been making a determined effort to break in to the house by sneaking in behind the other cats. I muddle him up with up with Bambam all the time and he's managed to get half way in. During the day, that's not a good idea as Manchee still barks at him and would give chase if he could! Last night though, I let him in. It was very cold and although he has a duvet and two hot water bottles, it felt mean to shut him out.
Fae adores him, so long as he remembers his place.

So here we have all 7 cats in one room. The sofas are covered with towels and blankets in case of an accident and a quiet night was had by all. I slept very well knowing they were all snuggled together :D

For the most part, this is Dexter's bedroom. He has a very cosy bed that Finn often shares with him, away from those silly girl cats ;) I think he's very happy to have found us and I know that I'm really happy to have him. He makes me smile and laugh so much <3

A bit of fun.

Just lately I've been waking as exhausted as if I'd skipped a night and gone straight into another day. I'm just not getting enough rest due to hot sleepless nights (thank you hormones) and worries about how the animals are coping in this rain and mud.
This morning I dragged myself out to feed the ponies and it was such a bright, sunny morning that I was in no hurry to go back inside. I told T that I would be in shortly, but what started as an idea quickly got out of hand. I started digging a little drainage channel so that the area around the hay rack could drain and give the ponies a break from the mud. Two hours later, the area was draining very nicely but so was my energy!
Very rarely does the Fibro show up physically but my hands were like balloons all day and by evening the back of my left hand was purple with a bruise. That was a bit of a warning, I guess, but I still managed 10 rows of knitting! I think it actually helps with the swelling (I'm convincing myself, haha).
Sometimes when I can't knit, I go to Youtube for inspiration or just to learn something new.
This however, I doubt I'll try. I have accidents cooking normally without combining it with knitting, let alone Fair Isle!!!  It's fun to watch though and I love the lady talking with passion about her art. She is sooo fast though!

Have a look and see what you think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKDA63_DT4shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKDA63_DT4s

Into the Wet and Windy Wildewood!!!

I can't tell you just how wild it's been here lately. The weather has built up until we thought it had peaked and then died down just to build up again. A few nights ago, the house shook with the wind and we had lighnting but no thunder or rain. We've suffered the tail ends of a couple of hurricanes and been almost drowned with incessant rain. The paddocks have flooded and on more than one occassion, almost given in and moved the ponies to their spring pasture. I'm glad I resisted though, as the newly planted grass is so thin and frail, that after only hours we would just have another muddy paddock.

A rare moment of sun. The hayracks have been amazing, but today, this one was broken and the area around it flooded, so the feed was moved to a drier area. The green patch behind the horses is the spring paddock. It looks great, but it couldnt withstand seven lots of hooves in this rain!

So after running outside to feed the ponies in the wind and rain, I came back in to a hot cuppa and a very hot shower. I almost crawled back to bed, but instead settled to some knitting and blogg hopping. I visited my dear friend, Pattypan at Tarragon and Thyme. I've been thinking for some time about yogurt making and I've asked for some cheese making kit for my birthday, so when I read PP's post about yogurt, I accidentally bought myself a yogurt maker (and a little wool!). I'm looking forward to trying some soya recipes that I found online because I can only cope with a little dairy before I get tummy issues (that's all I'm saying). I'm ok with cheese, which is strange, but yogurt is one of the things I really miss.

 We got really cold and wet doing the second feeds, so I came in and made coffee. This little pot is my Christmas present from T, it's sooo cute <3 I bought him a blue one, which made us laugh as we think the same way often :D

My new gloves are on the needles and they match the coffee pot, haha :D I love this wool. These gloves are for me <3

Jerry.

It's been so wet here all over Christmas that my musles have been suffering big time. Lugging heavy hay nets around and filling the large hay mangers has taken it's toll on my shoulders and hands. I've had so much help, for which I'm very grateful, but all the same it's been tough. Today wasn't so good and I had to go back to bed for a couple of hours, which I hated as I just don't like wasting a day.

I was restless, but couldn't settle to anything, so I went outside to hang out with the ponies and horses. Since arriving here, T's horses have been very wary of me. The journey was stressful and they only respond to T. I've waited patiently and left them to settle down. It's been nearly four months since they arrived and I've barely been able to lay a hand on any of them.

(Jerry on the right and Flash on the left)

I decided that Maggie needed her mane sorted out. In the picture below, she looks lovely, but in the last four months, her mane has become knotted and tangled. Frankly she was a sight! She let me loop a rope around her neck and for half an hour I carefully combed the knots out. She looked beautiful again and asked to be scratched all over her neck. A persistent little nudge on my shoulder told me that Flash was feeling left out. I still couldn't do much with him, but he was close and that was good enough.

Next horse to push in was Benson. He laid his head over Maggies neck so that I could fuss him without getting too close. I combed his forelock and he was happy. The biggest surprise of all was Jerry. He is T's horse and that's that. Arabs are very loyal to their people and Jerry hasn't spared me a single glance. However, this time, he came right up to me and I carefully lowered the rope to the ground and stood, looking down. He touched my hand and I slowly moved the brush towards him. He sniffed it and let me move it up his neck. I slowly groomed his mane and worked out the knots. As I worked, the weariness left me and I felt a great surge of love for him. He moved closer and I scratched his neck with my fingers. I moved away before him as I wanted him to know that I wouldn't push him. It was a lovely moment.

The next day, the weather was terrible and Jerry and Maggie seemed to be struggling with the cold and wet. I spent a little time with them and resolved to put rugs on them. They've been so stressed since their arrival that rugs seemed a lot to ask.
The following day was warm and bright so I just hung out with the horses and they let me move the rope over their necks. I plaited Maggies mane to stop it from tangling again and then fetched her rug. She ran away, but was soon by my side as I fiddled with the rug in the field. I put a halter on her and with much persuasion, I was able to rub her neck with the rug and finally put it across her back. She loved the attention. Much later, it started to rain and I was glad that I'd taken the time with Maggie as she let me put the rug straight onto her. Jerry was no problem at all! I caught him by accident, I was eating an apple and suddenly his head was in the halter that I'd used for Maggie. Of course it was too small for him, but it didn't matter, I slipped the rug on him, but needed T to help me fasten it as I can't deal with fiddly buckles at the moment.

I'm so glad we did rug the two vulnerable horses (well, pony and horse) as the rain and wind built up to a very wild night, last night and I was able to feel less worried about how they were all coping. My three ponies are fat and have wintered very well, but as Jerry is an arab and Maggie has been stressed they needed the extra protection from their rugs. Soon we hope to build their shelters.

I forgot to say why this post is called 'Jerry', it's beause he made me feel so happy, helped lift me from the doldrums and for a while, reminded me of my dear old Oliver with his gentle, careful manner <3

Tipping point.

We've reached that moment when one year becomes another. It's only minutes on a clock, but somehow it means so much.
Earlier today I needed a lie down and as I slumbered in a very cool bed, I thought about my garden and how I saw the flower beds in the spring and then the summer. It was so lovely to look ahead to the months to come. This house and home means so much to us all, so many plans lie here. Dreams of a future filled with potential and promise.
 
Next week there's a gathering planned outside the Mairi. Half of the population (150 - ish) are turning out to welcome the new arrivals to our lovely village. Wait! That's us and a couple of other newcommers!!! Holy mo, what an honour :D I'm excited and scared by degrees. I'll be practising a few new sentences in French, just in case!

So, on to the coming year. I've been knitting like a demon, ready for phase 1 of the new business - Grow it, dye it, knit it. I hope to grow the plants to dye my fleece, whih will then be spun and knit up to sell. I've been in touch with a lovely lady who breeds a local rare breed sheep (Oussant) who I'll be meeting with next month with a view to one day owning my own ewes. This is the slow part of the business, the animals, horses etc... are the beginning part of it all. I can't really explain it, as it will develope as time passes in an organic kind of way.

So the practice side has led me to little gloves, which were a Christmas present for the Moomin.

 She loves them and has cast on her own knitting for a large jumper. I can't do big projects as I get bored easily!
I straightaway cast on a new project for gloves as I couldn't resist the wool calling me and my gorgeous wooden DPN's that were my Christmas present from my son. I got a little bag with about a dozen sets of needles in varying sizes. They're super cute and so easy to knit with <3

I have mastered the Norwegian style and am happy to report that I have no hand cramps at all and can knit for hours in this style. I always knew there was a system out there for me.

Also, I found a wonderful walk this week but alas I didn't have my camera. It's not far from the house, but there are amazing rocks rising from the ground like the bones of Gaia. I wanted to stay, lie down, paint, meditate all at once, but I had the dogs with me and they ran off to find fox pooh and other smelly stuff! I'll go back by myself next time and take some pictures.

So, here I am, now in 2018 and I'm filled with excitement. I hope the New Year holds magical moments, times of hope and happiness and above all possibilites for everything you wish for in your life.
Love and bright blessings to you all.xxx

What to leave and what to take.

There are only a couple of days left of this year, and maybe some people are thinking of New Year's resolutions and some are wondering why they ever bothered. We often give up our resolutions after a week or so, because they're just too hard to stick to, right? I've often made resolutions that are way out of my control, regardless of the bestest intentions while sat full of Christmas food and wine and wishing that I'd indulged a little less. I'll get slimmer, fitter, earn more and be better at everything I try!  When you've overindulged it's never the time to make resolutions, if that's even what you want to call them.
From now on, I want to focus only on what I learnt from last year. What served me well, what lessons did I learn and what do I never want to repeat again? There are too many for me to list here so I'll keep it simple.

I discovered so much about my art and my work ethic this year. What I want to do is very different from the passion that flows through my veins. I have always wanted to paint and sculpt, but this year I've learnt that there is art in so many things I do, from baking bread to raising plants from seed and even from pruning an old tree in the hope of bringing it back to new life. Art is something I feel and breath, not always something I put down on paper.

So what am I leaving behind? Well, for me, I guess, everything. I've pretty much left all my baggage behind in the UK. I finally walked away from the things that were bringing me down found a new life, a new focus and haven't looked back since.
Looking forward, I face many adventures, many challenges and as far as I can see, many happy days full of hard work and rewards.  Bring it on :D

Arne and Carlos

I think I'm in love with these guys and want to make them my knitting brothers! As I can get You Tube on the tv, I had their vlogs playing while I did a little knitting. My lovely T gave me some very odd looks as he walked through the kitchen a couple of times, but I watch his cooking shows (and often enjoy them) so it's all square :D
Check them out if you don't already know them and if you want to learn how to knit Norwegian style. It's completely changed how I knit now :D

Arne and Carlos easy knitted socks

Wild in the Wildewoods

We had an incredible storm last night. The wind was so strong that the upstairs landing window blew open and the force pushed up the loft hatch with a mighty crash. We were scared for a while until we realised it was the storm and not a burgler crashing in. The dogs burrowed deeper under their blankets which is a usual sign that there are no intruders. The storm built up in force and then came the rain. No thunder or lightning, just incredible driving winds. Throughout the bangs and crashes the forest droned like a hive of angry bees. At one point it was calm enough for us to sleep, but I heard it building up again around 7am and a pain in my shoulder kept me awake as I listened for any hint that the ponies had escaped.  In a short while, we'll go and survey the damage.

How has Christmas been for you all? We had a lovely, peaceful time just chilling out and eating far too much!
Walley adored the tree but couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed to play with the balls!

 We had a really cold and frosty couple of days where the sun was golden and the skies were clear.

 Yes, it was cold, but it was refreshing for a while, mud free.

 Finn and Dexter chose the warmest spot, outside of Moomin's window. They're often together <3

 Bambam decided that she loved Walley and snuggled up to him whenever she xould.

 On Solstice eve we lit our candles and put lights around the mantel piece to welcome back the sun.

 Bambam does love to pose ;)

Sadly, since Christmas eve, we've had pretty much non-stop rain which then led to last night's storm. It's been sunny on and off all day but only in between wickedly harsh showers and hail stones! It's a great day for the heating to stop working and trying to figure out the timer is a little beyond me. We persevere!!!

ps, the ponies were fine, but their buckets were scattered around in nearby fields! If that's the worse we have to deal with, then I think we got off lightly!

A feast.

We have eaten far too much and it's only Christmas eve! We had a gorgeous indian curry, cooked by my lovely man. I made the onion bhajis and bombay potatoes while also making bread and spiced red cabbage for tomorrow. Our meal was delicious and got us very niely in the mood for khristmas.

I'm making bread just about every other day at the moment as, it seems that we eat a lot more than we did in England. French bread is lovely, but just isn't any good for toast or sandwihes, and I really love a good sandwicch. So this has given me a lot of time to perfect my loaf! I've tried several recipes in the last week or so, but this is my good old standby recipe and it is pretty reliable. I'll share the recipe after Christmas if anyone wants to know. It has a lovely soft inside with a slightly crunchy crust, perfect for a good sandwih or toast.

Today was a gorgeous day. It started off with the usual drizzle, but after lunch a little weak sun warmed the damp air and we took the dogs and a bag of baubles to the woods. We dressed a little tree and had fun taking festive photos. There was a lot of tinsel, but the Moomin said it was tacky, so I laid it aside while we draped beads on the tree and before I could react, Manchee had run off with it. He danced and pranced with his prize and then savaged it until almost nothing was left. It was very funny, but clearing it up wasn't so much.
It was a good day and hopefully one to be remembered <3

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas as enjoy your day as much as possible. It doesn't have to be what most people call traditional, so long as it makes you happy. Blessings to you all.xxx

Holy ow.

The 'C' on my laptop is failing. If I want it to work, I have to bash the keyboard real hard or just type with fingers crossed. Sometimes it works and others not at all. If I want a capital, I an only use shift on the left side and never on the right. I'm sharing this be cause sometimes I just can't be bothered to go bak and orrect everything! I don't want a new laptop, I don't want to go through the whole thing of copying my hardrive and moving it to another, so for now I'm making do, but I can see a time in the future when I have no hoice. For now, I'm just explaining why my posts are strange as I use words that don't have CC's in them! oh for heks sake!!!!!

A little help from my friends.

Thank you all so much for your kind words, friends are just as important whether in the same room or across continents :D

I was struggling but then discovered that I could get You tube on my tv and listened to the Sergeant Pepper Film soundtrack as I pottered about doing little bits of work in between rests.  It cheered me up so much, I loved the film when I was young, but looking back now, it was so incredibly cheesey!!!

Having Fibro sometimes drags me down and then I go through the stages of misery, anger and acceptance. After the acceptance I usually pull myself out of it and get back up to fight again. I'm not as bad as some people I know and if I manage everything sensibly, I can live a pretty good life. Most of the time I'm fine and coasting along quite happily, but that silly fall last week just tipped me over the edge.
 I don't think it helped either that Wednesday was the 10th Anniversary of when I lost my beautiful Oliver. He was the most amazing horse and we had 20 very happy years together. It was because of him that I became an Equine Reiki master, as I wanted to support him in his twilight years. As he got older, the more he asked for treatments.

 I only had to put my hands out and he would put his head where he wanted to feel the Reiki. As often as not he would run away and leave me feeling daft and rejected! He had a wicked sense of humour ;)

So having got through a hellish few days, I asked T to help me improve how we feed the ponies. They've been wasting so much hay in the mud. He came up with these lovely hay mangers and made two in a day.

 At first the ponies were wary, but soon got the hang of eating from them. This has changed our routine so much for the better that I can even manage to do the feeds by myself if I have to. Although, I haven't had to this week as everyone has helped so much while I recovered <3

Yesterday, someone, probably Flash (far left in this picture) went through two strands of electric fencing probably after a fight over hay and manger rights!!!

We were sat contemplating the decoration of our little Christmas tree when Manchee started barking and just wouldn't stop. After yelling at him a bit, we all heard the thundering of hooves and got to the front door in time to see the ponies galloping across the garden and into the field behind. They did a lap of the houses at the end of the road and came back up the road, hooves clattering and mud flying to stop at the lush grass in the orchard garden. We quietly caught them with buckets of food and put them away again. Well it wouldn't be the weekend without a break out of some kind!!!


Edited to add. I'm such a doughnut that I blogged twice about Oliver, I guess it shows how much he's been on my mind this week!!!

I can do better!

It's not been a great day if I'm honest!

After a silly fall on Sunday my Fibro has kicked off in a big way. Today my back just got worse and worse as the day progressed and despite managing to do a little painting in the bathroom, I found myself in tears of pain and frustration. Getting angry with my condition is a pointless waste of time, but it inevitably, on occassions, it happens.
I know that in the warmer weather I'm so much better, hence the move to a warmer climate, but before I feel the benefit of that warmer weather, I have to deal with an increased workload with double the animals to care for.
I know that I can improve the way the animals are fed and the current system is currently being reviewed but for today, it's been one long hard slog after another. I need to get my thinking cap on work out some much needed solutions to these issues.

Ouch.

So tonight I fell over. I've been really good and managing to get everything done that needed to be done, but I guess I overdid it! I sat down to start knitting some presents and fell fast asleep, under the duvet with Bambam purring beside me. I really should have stayed there. Moomin and her brother sorted the ponies with T, but the alarm went off for the bread and I roused myself, probably a bit too soon.  Walley needed to go out for a wee and that was fine, but on the return I slipped on some mud and ploughed along the drive on my hands and knees. To most people that would be enough, but the shock caused a big old muscle pain and I was very sorry for myself. Not to stay down for long, I consoled myself with a chunk of a fruity breakfast bun! It helped a lot!

 The white loaf was also very good and not quite as burnt as it looks in this picture. I'm finally getting the hang of this oven.

In a couple of days it will be the 10 year anniversary of when I lost my beloved Oliver.  He was all I ever dreamed of in a horse. We were best friends, confidantes and soul mates. I still feel the pain of his leaving as badly as when he first went. I don't live with it daily, but sometimes the loss just hits me. A great big absence of feeling.
I'm giving him Reiki in this picture and he loved it. I would hold my hands out and he would just put his head where he wanted. It's a bad picture of me, but he looks so gorgeous <3

 We had so much love and trust between us. We spent 20 very happy years in each others company, often riding but also just hanging out.

 This was a very special day for us with so much love and joy.

Post office.

Today I did it. I finally braved the Post Office. Not the one close to me where the parking is awful and the shop hard to get to. I went to my favourite tiny town and walked in. All French phrases left my head and I said to T that I would listen to the person in front of me and it would all come back! Unfortunately for me the person in front was English and had managed to raise the ire of the Postwoman who babbled a lot in fast French. I understood a great many 'non's and 'pah's and the man stomped from the building uttering a lot of four letter words which were unfortunately very clear in any language.

I took a deep breath, walked up to the counter and said goodbye!!! Bonjour is hello, bonjourno is have a good day! Thankfully the postwoman laughed and told me to say it when I left, or was I leaving already. Some of this in perfect English, so she clearly understood the previous gentleman and was just being awkward! This had quite an effect on my confidence and I managed to send out a few Christmas cards without any further embarrassment. I'm going to make that my usual Post Office as not only is it a delightful little town, but I'm no longer terrified of the Post staff and need a good service for when I re-open my internet shop in the new year.

Meanwhile, back home at crazy acres, as I sometimes call it, the hay was fast running out and the ponies were planning another jail break. The two separate herds had broken the fence and were in togerther, the Eriskays had T's horses backed up into a corner and wouldn't let them onto the meagre strip of grass remaining in the paddock. Moomin and I gave them large buckets of feed and planned to ration the hay to last the weekend. Tempers were frayed, human and horse. I came in, soaked and cold and poured a large glass of Pastis and water. This is normally a summer drink and served with ice cold water is very refreshing, however, I've found it to also be quite warming after a cold day in the mud! As I started to unwind for the evening, I noticed an email from my lovely farmer, Pierre (I kid you not), the hay was on it's way. So, back into wet boots and outside to move the remaining hay ready for the delivery.

Pierre arrived on his Ferrari of a tractor (I'm no expert, but it's better than my car any day) and in less than half an hour I had five huge rounds of hay unloaded and covered and my pockets were a good deal lighter. It's good to know that we have hay until the new year, the cave is well stocked with food (50 kilos of potatoes from Pierre and cupboards full of cat food after a stock sale) our freezer is stuffed and we have over half a tank of oil from Jean Luc (honestly). We fired up the boiler this evening and mercifully have a working central heating system. It was such a huge luxury to feel warm and as the temperatures are due to drop after the weekend, it's quite a relief to know that we won't freeze like little match-girls!!!

Blogging.

I'm back from England and back to my blog again. I've had a couple of heavy work days before I could even switch on my laptop, but I think we're catching up now and I'm allowed a little pc time before bed. To be honest, I'm finding it hard to wind down after all the frantic activity.

We caught up with lovely family in England and there were so many people to see that time just ran out. It didn't help that I booked my car in for a service and repair to the windscreen wipers only to have the brakes go on the journey back to where we were staying! The wipers weren't even fixed!!! I complained to my garage and the car was taken away the next day. Great! Two days without a car and a heap of things to buy to bring back home. I was so stressed when the brakes went that I managed to coast into a supermarket and begged to use their phone (of all times this was the best for my phone to break!). I wandered around the shop in a daze and bought four boxes of tea and three packets of bagels, that goes to show where my head was at!

Do any of you other bloggers find that you start a post with an idea in mind only to have the words tumble out into another direction entirely. I do! I've been determined not to prattle on about my car troubles, and yet there I go, off on a wild ramble!

Anyhoo, I was originally thinking about blog friends over the years. I've made so many and lost touch with quite a few. Some for some reason stop blogging and others stop responding to comments for no reason that I can fathom. It's such a strange thing when you think about it, pouring out your thoughts onto a page and hoping someone will take the time to read, much less comment on it.  I was friends with a lovely lady for years, who very sadly passed away. But her blog wasn't finished, I said over and over, it was hard to deal with her loss when she always had so much to say.  I suppose, where my mind is going with this is that it's so important to live our lives to the fullest, to maintain friendships wherever they occur and to be the best we can to everyone in our lives.

I'm going to sleep now before I start to sound all preachy, that wouldn't do would it. I've learned my lesson about being on my laptop late at night after accidentally posting a slightly dodgy picture to Instagram that had Moomins eyebrows raised so high I thought she'd had a bad facelift. Stay away from multi-media after a couple of glasses of wine, that's the moral to this story :D