I've just got back from a walk that started with a heavy heart. Apart from everything else that's happened this week, I hadn't seen Betty for three or four days and was getting worried she'd strayed further than I'm able to trek in an hour. There she was, looking beautiful with the most enchanting foal so far, in my heavily biased opinion; it even has a little white sock like her's. A bit shaky on its legs still but quite big compared with some of the others. I've had a smile on my face ever since I saw her.
Last weekend was lovely and sunny and I went to Totnes with a friend and her daughter. I haven't been there for years. Some very strange things in the market including this fox. We also saw the train on the Dartmouth Steam Railway which was beautiful. Always meant to go on it but never have.
Bizarre stuffed Fox at Totnes market
After the nice weekend, the week started to go downhill as the small amount of dry rot we had discovered in our kitchen escalated to a large amount of dry rot, running under the floor and up into one of the window frames. We now have half a kitchen and half a building site. No sink, no cooker and half the units out. The entire downstairs is coated in a thick film of dust. Open plan living has its disadvantages! Tuesday was my 48th birthday and I wasn't feeling too festive. Nice lunch with my mum but back to the chaos afterwards. Wednesday I was at Torbay hospital to see a specialist about my shoulder, which is very painful with limited movement. Went in expecting to be offered a steroid injection and came out three hours later on the waiting list for an operation under a general anaesthetic to try and free up a classic frozen shoulder. Am seriously feeling my age! On a more positive note, the beech hedging is all starting to come out.....slowly, and there are another couple of foals out there; numbers six and seven. I think Betty's had better have a name but I'm waiting to see if it's a boy or a girl.
Foal number six
Foal number seven
I haven't had time to any drawing at all, which is very frustrating. Also frustrating was the call from the printer company to tell me the printer I had ordered for the purpose of reproduction, was not available until June 22nd. Grrrr. It seems the Canon factory in Japan is still suffering from the floods so I can't really complain. It does seem like Canon ones are the ones most recommended for what I need it do.
Apologies for moaning today. I think I should probably stop now and reflect on how lovely Betty's foal is. I saw a pair of Stonechats this morning which was lovely. I normally see the males shouting away on their own and I'm not sure would have recognised the female without him. Also, to finish, today I found this flower nestled in a grassy tussock, way off the beaten paths. I haven't seen it before and having scoured the wild flower books, I think it might be Lousewort. Opinions gratefully received!
Lousewort? In Germany, apparently, believed to give lice and liverworms to cattle.....nice.
Foals one and four sleeping earlier this week
Early morning sheep sleeping on the rocks
Happy dog in the sun last weekend
Lovely photos. Possibly a filly foal for Betty? Or a colt breathing in!! Are there any more mares to foal in that group now? Looks like Lousewort to me.
ReplyDeleteAh Totnes. My dad's mum's family all hail from Totnes/Berry Pomeroy/Littlehempstead/Stke Gabriel and her sister's husband ran the Kingsbridge ferry . . . My g.grandfather used to be mine host at the Dart Hotel. I love Totnes, and would love to live there. . .
Hope you manage to do some drawing/painting soon.
Glad you agree about the Lousewort. There are a few more mares to go; I'm having to refer back to early photos to identify the skewbald ones now. Looks like there were two stallions as the three chestnuts look VERY similar.
DeleteYou must really miss Totnes. It's such a pleasure to go there. There was a man on the main hill selling t-shirts with 'Totnes - twinned with Narnia' on them which were selling rather well! Lovely to hear about your family history. Have a lovely weekend.
Dry rot! Groan! I feel for you - and remember all too well the repeated cleaning needed to rid the house of dust and mess after the builders had finished! Poor You! A walk to view the foals is a much needed break for you. I'm glad they'e offering you a real solution to your shoulder problem - steroids merely mask what's going on. This sounds like a cure. I hope you have some good times this week to compensate for the bad ones. I'm loving watching the ponies. Thanks for blogging.
ReplyDeleteWe've had a radon sump put in too which is why it was SO dusty. Our radon levels were over ten times the recommended levels but we are basically sitting on a big lump of granite so it's not surprising.
DeleteThey say this operation won't be a cure but should give me more movement during what they expect to be a 3-4 year recovery period. We really don't appreciate our bodies when they're working fine do we!
So pleased you're enjoying the ponies. It's such a privilege to be able to see them every day. And thanks so much for following!
What a beautiful foal. Hope things improve for you.
ReplyDeleteThank you; I'm sure they will. So glad you like the foal. I've had a good look this morning and I'm pretty sure it's a filly.
DeleteHave a lovely weekend.
I LOVE Totnes! I think I need to visit the ponies soon too! x
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome any time but stout footwear required. x
ReplyDeleteThe fox is still making me laugh!x
ReplyDelete