PENCIL PONY SKETCH GIVEAWAY AND MY FIRST SALE!

I did this little pencil sketch of one of the grey geldings in the herd in the summer and it's been sitting in a drawer ever since. So, I thought it would be a nice present to thank you all for your support over the last seven months since starting this blog. If you would like it, just leave a comment or, if that's not possible, which I know it's not for some people who don't appear on the followers list, just send me an email at emparko@gmail.com. I'll put all the entries in the glass bowl like last time and will pull out a name in two and a half weeks on Sunday November 4th. The reason I'm leaving it so long is that next week Origami boy's class is doing a residential week in Brixham. Because he is so much younger than the rest of the class of nine and ten year olds, he's not staying the night and I will be taxiing him there and back every day. It's going to be a tough week for all of us but I think he'll get a lot out of it. The week after is half term so I will be taxiing again between various friends houses, so my blogging is likely to be sporadic!

This morning, when I turned on the computer, I got a lovely surprise in my email. Notification of my first print sale on Etsy! At last! I'd given up hope to be honest so it was very exciting. One picture of a Hobby is on its way to Canada so I think I'd better start doing a few more birds. 

It's been a wet and windy few days; here are a few pictures from our walks:

Foal number 10's cut is still visible but he seems perky enough, if a bit disgruntled by the rain

Lizzy sheltering from the wind

Rainbow sheep

Today the wind was so strong the waves in this puddle were breaking over the rocks!

Hope you all have a good rest of the week and I'll try and post as much as I can between trips to Brixham. Until next time....a wet Snippet

FIRST FROST

Frost at last and what a beautiful day it's been, despite forecasts to the contrary. Ever since the Met Office moved down the road, they've consistently got it wrong in this area. They really should try looking out of the window sometimes. Here are some frosty pictures from this morning:

It seems that registering your blog with Technorati is worth doing for reasons of exposure, so I'm going to give it a try. I have to mention a code to prove I write this so it can be verified so here it is: BZ4QBK4GKGYM. Sorry to bore you with that! For some reason there's some very strange highlighting going on here which I can't get rid of. Mmm - very professional looking. MORE apologies.

I saw the ponies from a distance this evening when I went to check on Trigger, so I may have some news of them soon. On the other hand, they might have gone again by tomorrow....sigh. Still haven't seen a stallion with them so I can only assume the mares may be having a year off!

Better get off and sort out the fire....thanks to all of you for all your lovely comments and until next time when I intend to have an October giveaway....ooooo.......

MISTS AND PUDDLES

If I manage to upload this post it will be a miracle. Our broadband is narrowing swiftly to a point where it's taken me half an hour just to log into Blogger. Anyway, with such an inspiring post title I don't suppose I'll have many takers! What a truly awful day. I've just got back from a squelch through what is essentially liquid peat mixed with slurry, being whipped around the knees by long, wet, droopy grass. Failing to don the waterproof trousers was an error. Living somewhere beautiful is all very well as long as you can see it which, for the last three days, I have not. There is an eerie stillness in the thick mist and, if I didn't know this part of the moor so well, I wouldn't dream of going out in it when visibility is so limited. Today, where rain has meant you can see about a hundred yards rather than yesterday's twenty, I saw a man with a dog in a place I wouldn't expect to see anyone other than me. He kept looking at his map which was a bit of a worry but, as I started to walk towards him, he veered off down the hill and out of sight. Map reading where he was is not easy so I hope he's okay. Here are some dull, if Hound-of-the Baskervilles-ish pictures from the last few days.....

the hound

Dew on the dying grass this morning

Close up of that lonesome hawthorn. I can't resist another one of it....

Misty Snippet

A short respite from the mist on Monday, allowing clearer views of the puddles

Huge puddle in one of the many hut circles around here. I must do a separate post about them 

soon....

I think this might be a Mauve Pink Toadstall. I found it in a crack in a wall. A really good shade of mauve.

Poor Number 2 drenched this afternoon. My first sighting of any ponies since last Friday

Sorry to grizzle about the weather....on a more positive note, the wedding went very well in that I managed not to fall over in my 1 inch heals, which was a distinct possibility. I hate being photographed but by the end of it was managing not to get too stressed about it. What a stunning day it was. The sun was positively hot outside the church and bride and groom had a lovely day. They liked the drawings I did of their dogs as a wedding present too thank goodness. It's all very well drawing ponies and sheep that nobody will ever recognise, but doing people's pets is a very different matter! It's given me the confidence to do it again so I may have to draft some kind of advert....

Sorry, also, that I haven't been commenting on your blogs by the way....I get one done and then the next freezes for ages and I have to abandon it. Phone calls will be made to broadband provider tonight!Thanks for all your lovely comments; It's such a pleasure to read them. Until next time....

A BRIEF VISIT AND THE ART OF BEING A BRIDESMAID

 

Tomorrow, for the first time in my 48 years, I am going to be a bridesmaid to my lovely friend Cassandra. Many people have laughed, one so much she fell off her chair, but I'm so touched to have been asked. However, my friends before we moved down here over a decade ago, were not the marrying type, and all the friends I've made here were already married when I met them or single, so I have very little experience of weddings. I'm a bit scared that I'm not going to do the job properly to be honest, so any advice would be gratefully received. The bride and two of the other three bridesmaids are around 30, while the fourth is 4, so I'm feeling distinctly ancient being physically able to be the mother of all four of them! I've had to dig out a pair of shoes I've had since 1990 and borrow some tights from my mum. Luckily, the dress is long and dark green and quite kind for the aged! 

On Tuesday, to my huge relief, the herd made a brief appearance close by. They were all gone again by Wednesday but at least I know they're okay. Most of the foals were there but not 4, 7 or 9. I haven't seen the chestnut one with the wide blaze for ages (7) and I'm not sure I could tell the difference between a couple of the skewbald ones. However, it was lovely to see number 1, who is shaping up to be a very nice looking filly: 

She was with the TINY number 3, the lovely bay-ish number 8 and the dangerously new number 10:

Number 10

Number 8

1, 10 and 3 (in the background)

A little further down the hill were Betty and Lizzy with numbers 2, 4, 5 and 9:

Lizzy scratching

Betty - the Veronica Lake of Dartmoor

Number 5

Number 9

Talking of Betty, I'm convinced another pony I saw the other day is one of her offspring. I stared at her for a long time and she has many similar features....check out the hair!

I really am rambling now which, despite the blog name, is something I try not to do. A few more pictures, including one of the main path up onto the moor which is currently a stream thanks to total ground saturation. It's like walking on a giant sponge again and not very pleasant!

The stream/path

Saturation even on very high ground

Mr Scruffy

Difficult to see but there was a red flag on top of the hill in the distance letting us know the army were firing on the ranges that day

Even more scruffy

morning sky but certainly not this morning

Bit of an update....I've just gone for my post lunch walk and found the whole herd sheltering from the rain behind Kestor Rocks. So much for my worries although little number 10 has cut himself. He seems okay but with him being so young it's always a concern. 

Blood!

Until next time, I'll look forward to any bridesmaidly advice! Have a lovely weekend.