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Almost Autumnal
The swallows and the house martins are gathering into flocks, ready to head south. There was a big, mixed, group of them over a maize field this afternoon:
We're also starting to see impressive patches of fungus in the woods:
And (coff) I have new Autumn In New York nail varnish colours....
Mike has a peach tree, which arrived last week: it was a birthday present from his mother, and it's going on the front patio to replace the not-terribly-interesting climbing things that we inherited. Right now, it's been left to grow naturally, but in the spring we'll start training it against the wall.
We're just about to start another dressage series with our instructor, and this morning we had the first goes at our tests. We're swapping horses, so that should be interesting. I think that the Baby was knackered by the time I'd done with him. I was pondering, while walking the dog later, and now wonder if part of the trouble is that he's not liking his saddle: he has changed shape a lot since we bought it, and each time the saddler's checked him it's been "it should last another six or twelve months before you need to get him his grown-up saddle": if that time has now come, it would explain the bucks he throws when he goes up to canter for me (even GB does that when his saddle's pinching him), and possible also why Mike struggles with the canter: he starts to strike off then goes 'ow' and stops. Fortunately, the saddler's coming in a couple of weeks, so we'll see what she says. I hope he's not going to be a too-awkward (and therefore expensive) shape to fit.
We're also starting to see impressive patches of fungus in the woods:
And (coff) I have new Autumn In New York nail varnish colours....
Mike has a peach tree, which arrived last week: it was a birthday present from his mother, and it's going on the front patio to replace the not-terribly-interesting climbing things that we inherited. Right now, it's been left to grow naturally, but in the spring we'll start training it against the wall.
We're just about to start another dressage series with our instructor, and this morning we had the first goes at our tests. We're swapping horses, so that should be interesting. I think that the Baby was knackered by the time I'd done with him. I was pondering, while walking the dog later, and now wonder if part of the trouble is that he's not liking his saddle: he has changed shape a lot since we bought it, and each time the saddler's checked him it's been "it should last another six or twelve months before you need to get him his grown-up saddle": if that time has now come, it would explain the bucks he throws when he goes up to canter for me (even GB does that when his saddle's pinching him), and possible also why Mike struggles with the canter: he starts to strike off then goes 'ow' and stops. Fortunately, the saddler's coming in a couple of weeks, so we'll see what she says. I hope he's not going to be a too-awkward (and therefore expensive) shape to fit.