Riding in Ireland

I have photos, if you want to see them you can go here.



If you love riding, then you should really try this holiday, you get given a map, your horse, B&Bs are booked for you that have a field for your horses, and your follow yellow arrows, doing about 25miles a day for 6 days!
We (edited to add that we, means my mad mother and I. I was sent a text at 8am this morning wanting to know why I had failed to mention her presence!) were so lucky with the weather this year, there was a ten minute shower, and that was it, most embarrassingly I got horrendously sunburnt, particularly the back of my hand which is so painful! The horses as ever are beautiful, and wonderful to ride, forward going, but not too much, and brilliant with traffic. This is the 3rd time I have done one of these trails, there are 3 in total, and I have now done all of them, anyway if that sounds like your sort of holiday then you can go here.
I don't really know what to add, just that it was an amazing holiday, I could go on for ages, but more would be dull if you're not in to horses!

I'm back

So I went away for a little while. I thought I'd put a post up about it, but apparently I hadn't....
But anyway, I've spent a week trail riding (on horses) in Ireland, I'll put up photos shortly, as in I still need to get them off the camera! If you want to see previous trips then you can go here.
I've got back, after a week with no internet, read 60 emails (I'm unloved!), 80 blog posts (so much I would have commented on at the time, but don't want to a week after the original post!), an checked my bank account to work out how I will pay for my car which has been in the garage while I was away. For those of you that know my car it should no longer feel like I'm driving a sofa!

As it's now 11.30 pm, and I'm back at work tomorrow I'd better leave it there, photos and a full account of my adventures will follow.

An ending

Lots of things are finishing at the moment. Not only have I no more Harry Potter books to read, I also graduated from university.
I was doubtful about going to my graduation ceremony, and to be honest my parents weren't to sure about it either. while both are graduates, they went to a very different type of university to me.
Anyway by the end of the day we were glad we went, it kind of provided a nice full stop to this part of my life, and besides, there was free wine on offer from my department after the ceremony! (and we're the only university in the UK where the undergraduates doing a simple Bachelor of .... get to wear fur hoods, and the Master of ... and Doctorates get plain ones!)


It had been so wet that when directed to stand by the fountain for this picture lots of frantic arm waving went on as my heels sank in, and sank in, and I genuinely feared I'd end up backwards in the fountain!

Potter Mania!

Book bought- 10am this morning
Got home from shopping- 11.30am
Finished book- 5.30pm

Wow!!!!
So much happened, stuff I thought would happen, lots I thought wouldn't, and just such rich detail.
Lots of people belittle adults who read Harry Potter, but if only more adult writers could write stories that completely capture you like this, so what its not real, but in case you've been in a nuclear bunker for the past few years some pretty shit things have been happening, a book that allows you to escape for a few hours can't be a bad thing.

Wish you were here...

Welcome to my part of the Virtual World Tour, organised by The Impatient Patient. A load of bloggers post pictures of their home town, and you'll find all the other stops on the tour here.
Anyway, welcome to my hometown in the UK. Not my regular place of residence, I spend most time further north due to being at university, but as far as the passport agency is concerned I live here!

The view to the east(ish, looking out to the moors, in the direction of Morridge.


The view to the west, just behind the houses atthe very top of the picture is where I went to first school.


Our fig tree, maybe not what you'd expect in the north of England, but it produces figs every year.

Our minature pond, home to more frogs than you care to immagine, how they fit in I have no idea!



Products of the garden, the raspberries this year taste wonderful, the strawberry's aren't as good as usual, due to the lack of sunshine!


The view out of the back garden, you can see my parents picking the raspberries above!

A Day lilly in the front garden


The front garden.


Our skull collection, no we're not wiccans, or wierd, we collect them on mountain walks and they all make their way on to the pergola!

Floral Art

As requested, here are some pictures of some floral art by my Mum and I. This first one is by me a few years ago, the class category was something like "a day at the seaside", the one below is by my Mum, the class title was "Musicals", and it represents Jesus Christ Superstar.
There would have been a few more, but I've kind of broken the scanner, oops! Apologies for the quality, they were taken on film quite a few years ago, and the scanner isn't great quality, but hopefully you get the idea.

Bad Blogger!

Yet again, I'm being a bad blogger, no I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, it's just that I've got a bit busy all of a sudden. Anyway, i have a lovely long post planned out, with lots to talk about!

Right, first things first, currently at parents house busy working at the climbing wall. Lex has started his new job, is currently home alone, and apparently misses me, though not so much he's not going to watch the start of the Tour de France in London this weekend, and not see me until Sunday, at which point I go home for more work!

Work today was not an experience I want tomorrow, we were out at the Roaches with a private school, and it rained, and rained, and rained, in torrents. All the kids ended up in the emergency shelter due to having no waterproofs, while I faced the rain and took the ropes down. Despite having £200 waterproofs I was drenched, every waterproof has a big design flaw, the holes for your hands and head, and when it's running down your face and down your neck it doesn't matter how expensive the waterproof is! (And breath, mammoth sentence there!) Anyway, I was soaked, just need to get everything dry now.


Ok next, according to the Gender Genie , I write like a man (found courtesy of Jo). Basically it analyses text from your blog, and looks for certain words which are typically masculine or feminine. My score comes out at Female Score: 776, Male Score: 1016, so it's a close thing but I'm still a little upset, well you know what I mean....

Finally, I am considering myself tagged by Niobe, for the eight things about you meme. Errrr eight things about me that you might not know

1) Until the age of 19 I lived in the same house for all but 2 weeks of my life.
2)Age 13 I did the Juan de Fuca Trail on Vancouver Island, all 47Km of it, over 5 days, carrying everything we needed.
3)I have an Aunty who lives in America, and an uncle in Australia.
4) Aged 18 I travelled to Thailand by myself.
5) I have entered and won prizes in Floral art Competitions
6) I worked at a riding stables every Friday night for nearly 6 years, and have been on 4 trail riding holidays covering about 270 miles, with another week in the saddle to come.
7) Both my mother and I are thwarted vets.
8) I love to read, like love it, I hardly ever don't have a book on the go, my mother's prediction for my future profession in my baby book was a librarian.

Right, I am now meant to tag 8 people, however I don't know 8 people who haven't already done this, if you read this and want a go then feel free.