The end of 2010 is so close

This is the 23rd of December 2010, and Christmas is only two days away. I'm not "doing" Christmas this year, apart from the fact I'm just not interested, I don't have money to spend on anything other than absolute basics. (mortgage, insurance, petrol & food.)

The images above I designed for this years Christmas Card with a charming little poem by Oliver Herford inside. I was so late ordering the card to print them onto, and they took a while to be delivered, that I was too late to post them - even 1st Class. So no cards from me this year.

2010 has been another bad year, with so many disappointments and I actually can't think of many positive things that have happened. From my animals health to business and personal finances, things have been pretty tough for a second year, so I really hope that 2011 will be an improvement. One more moan before I leave this subject; we are NOT going to the pantomime this year which just puts the tin hat on 2010 for me.

Enough of this Bah Humbug stuff. I just love this wonderful Arctic weather we have been having. I know it takes a little longer to get to places, but the world looks so beautiful, and my kitchen floor stays clean with no dirty boots marks and muddy dog paws!

Chris and I are having Christmas lunch this year with Auntie Mo, and only a couple of cousins. Everyone seems to be away or doing something else this year, so it will be an intimate affair. Mum and Dad are having all of us over for lunch on the 27th and I have been asked to make banoffee pie. I must remember to buy whipping cream this time as I learned the hard way that you can't whip double cream!! In fact, I mustn't forget to buy the ingredients tomorrow.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Enjoy the festivities.

Happy Holidays.

POTATO PIE

POTATO PIE

Serves two as a main course or four as an accompaniment.

4 large potatoes

2 purple onions

1 yellow pepper

3 eggs

A glug of milk

Mature cheddar cheese

Sea salt & black pepper to season.

1 teaspoon of olive oil or chilli oil

I used an 8” square dish, but you can alter the ingredients to suit the size of your dish.

• In a frying pan, drizzle the oil and heat on a medium heat. Cut into thin slices the onion & pepper and add to the frying pan and gently cook until soft. Season lightly.

• The potatoes should be boiled and best left overnight in a fridge to firm up. Cut potatoes into reasonably thick slices. Place one layer of sliced potato onto the bottom of the dish.

• When the onions and peppers are soft, layer over the top of the potatoes, add grated cheese over the top and season lightly. Add the rest of the potato slices over the top of the cheese.

• In a bowl, mix three eggs and a glug of milk and beat together. Season. (As if you were preparing scrambled eggs.)

• Pour the egg mixture over the layered potatoes – the mixture should reach the top layer but not cover. Firm the potatoes down into the mixture with the back of a fork. (You don’t need to be heavy handed here, as you don’t want to mash up the potatoes!) Add as much grated cheese as you like.

• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at a medium heat, (250) or until the cheese is golden brown.

P.S. You could add bacon, stronger onions and red or green peppers if you want.

P.P.S. The image above may not be the most appetising of pictures but believe me, this dish is scrummy!

Lots been happening in September - October

Things don’t change much. Here we are half way through October & I’ve written nothing about September, even though it was quite an action packed month!

So I’ll start with the first Sunday in September. Chris and I took the dogs to the Puppy School Fun Day & Bar-B-Que held in a field in Gateside. Fleur disgraced herself, getting her knickers in a twist because she saw a collie dog, so Chris took her home.

Imogen and I tried all the different disciplines, from the Scurry to Showing to Retrieving, from Agility to the Obstacle Course. It was a lovely sunny day, lots of happy people, great food and lots of laughs.

To her credit, Imogen won 2^nd prize in the Obstacle Course class, which was such a surprise, and we got a special mention from the visiting Agility Judge, because together Imogen & I completed the course in the fasted time – 1 minute! We were disqualified however, because the dog is supposed to jump the jumps not me! Ach, she did the tunnels perfectly though!

This picture shows just how interested Imogen is in Dog Showing classes!

The following day, Chris and I flew down to London for a couple of days to celebrate his Birthday & attend a client’s party. We had a wonderful time. Each morning we went on a London Walk. The first walk was so interesting and amusing, we decided to go on a different walk on the following day. I really recommend you go on a London Walk if you are ever in London.

On one of the walks we passed Sir John Soane’s house, (13, Lincoln’s Inn Fields) which is now, a museum containing his eclectic collection of carvings, furniture, paintings and some of his own cartoons of buildings he designed. His house was his “showroom” for potential clients. We also saw Holgarth’s original paintings of A Rake’s Progress and An Election.

We went to the New London Theatre to see “War Horse”, based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo, in association with Handspring Puppet Company. WOW! A simple but disturbing story about one particular horse sent to France during the First World War, but the innovative puppets and the backdrop were absolutely amazing. We really enjoyed the puppets, but the acting was a bit on the hammy side, actually it became rather irritating, but the puppets were captivating. Yes, I cried.

Pictures taken from the internet of WarHorse.

We also visited Westminster Abbey for the first time & were eventually chucked out at closing time, and we hadn’t finished looking round. What a jumble of a place. There didn’t appear to be any sort of planning for all the memorials, stones, obelisks etc. They seemed to just “bung” them anywhere! Did see Mary Queen of Scots tomb and Elizabeth’s. I don’t know why I didn’t know that MQS was buried in Westminster.

October 2010

Chris and I are just back from a week in Caithness filming the Royal National MOD for An Comunn Gaighealach. This was our second MOD and although different from Oban last year, Thurso and Wick delivered a brilliant festival of singing, music and fringe events. We really enjoy working at the MOD, although the days are long because of the evening events, the week always seems to fly past.

Picture of surfers in Caithness.

One of the fringe events, which the committee were keen to promote, was surfing! The beaches around Caithness are perfect for surfing, long, clean, seaweed free sand and perfect curls / waves – Oh and sun. (We had the full range of weather last week, from warm sunshine with blue skies to dark skies and torrential rain, rainbows and sleet.)

The best part of the MOD for me is the final Saturday morning, when all the choirs and singers parade through town and meet up to sing together. The sound is just magical; I can’t explain the tingles that shiver up your spine when you hear a mass Gaelic Choir. You’ll just have to experience it for yourselves.

If we are asked to film the MOD in Stornaway next year, I think we will have to learn a few more words of Gaelic!

Weekend on Colonsay

The first weekend of July, Chris and I nipped across to Colonsay to stay with Jude & Hans who were there on holiday. Duncan, Caroline, Alastair & Alison were already on the island when we arrived.

Sadly, the weather had broken, and typical late summer we were wrapped up in waterproofs as the wind & rain came in fits and starts, but we didn't care, that didn't stop us from pottering about!

Each couple made a meal: Friday, Duncan & Caroline made chili beefburgers (Bar-B-Qued) with salad and bread, Saturday, Al & Alison made chicken curry with rice & pitta bread, On Sunday, Jude & Hans made lobster, lamb fillet, beetroot, potatoes & salad, and lots of wonderful nibble things during the day, e.g. garlic bread, pizza slices and oven baked Camembert. Chris & I made breakfast on Sat & Sun morning which seemed to take us forever to make! Eggs, bacon, mushrooms, sausages, black pudding, tomatoes, toast, tea and coffee.

We had not been to Colonsay for several years, and disappointingly nothing had changed.

Glenisla Holiday Pictures

Here are the other pictures I wanted to post with my holiday article, but couldn't. Enjoy ... !

Tomorrow if I have time, I'll write about our weekend on Colonsay.

Summer Holidays 2010

I can't get over just how lazy I have been, by not updating my blog site. I seem to make this excuse all the time!

The last week in June, Chris, the dogs and I spent a week staying at Clover Cottage on the Brewlands Estate, Glenisla, in Angus, which I think turned out to be one of the best holidays we've had!! The bonus being the weather was fantastic and the midges more or less stayed away, just couldn't ask for more.

Clover Cottage - above - was rather cute, and had a decent sized and comfortable bed, but that didn't stop us both being awake at 6 each morning!

We spent the week walking the hill of Angus. There are paths, tracks and drove roads all over the hills, so walking was easy and not so difficult for two arthritic dogs. Big relief not to have to yomp through waist high heather.

We bought two OS maps (Brewlands is right at the edge of the OS maps!!) and each night we planned where we would walk the following day. Believe it or not, we were in the car by 9am every morning, having fed the dogs, and had a proper breakfast. I was most impressed with ourselves.

After a day walking, we'd open a bottle of cheep fizzy, then start the Bar-B-Que and open a bottle of red. Some evenings we'd pack the car with the B-B-Q kit and walk to a ruin & spend the evening miles from anywhere, watching the sun set etc. Needless to say, the sky was overcast on Mid Summer night!

The pictures posted show how we spent our time, so I don't think there is any need to write any more about our holidays.

Seagull Chicks

I couldn't resist sharing this picture that Chris took of a seagull nest on the McCormack Islands. Aren't the chicks cute? I wonder if the egg has hatched?

The Boys Go Sailing

Chris is just back from a fabulous weekend sailing with Hans and Alistair, unfortunately Duncan couldn't join them this year. The weather couldn't have been better - lots of sun and a bit of a breeze to get the sails up. They meandered from Keils across to Gigha, then Islay, and on the last night, they anchored off the largest island of the McCormack Isles, situated at the entrance to Loch Sween.

ORANGE PRIZE SHORT LIST & HOLIDAY TIME

Well, I must be mad! I've just bought all six books short listed in the 2010 Orange Prize. I'm going on holiday at the end of the month and require reading material to last a week, and I thought buying these books was a good idea, as I haven't read any of these authors' works before.

When on holiday, Chris and I like to walk for miles with the dogs, bar-b-que in the evenings and read. That's all, that's it, that's what we do on holiday and it's great.

Just in case you didn't know, Barbara Kingsolver's book "The Lacuna" won the Orange Prize for 2010.

Head Shaking Syndrome

The other night Mum asked me what Bombay was like to ride last Sunday, as his Head Shaking is steadily getting worse and we are trying to judge how many weeks we have left before he becomes un-ridable. As some of you may remember - if you read my blogs - last July I had a nasty fall in a show field, because of Bombay's condition, which shook my nerves as his behaviour was completely out of character.

I described Bombay as beginning to loose his ability to concentrate, stumbling and sluggish gate, weaving across the road so that you have to constantly have to work to keep him straight & occasional violent head tics. Head always looking about, seeing monsters in the hedgerows and his shadow being very scary, putting his nose down to scratch it on his leg. Head and body beginning not to communicate, definitely worse than last week, but if you ride in company, we have another couple of weeks before we have to call it a day for the summer. But the one thing that I did notice while tacking him up were his eyes. They were sort of glazed, as if he wasn't actually seeing - the lights were on and no one was at home if you know what I mean?

My friend refuses to ride Bombay - she says she is too heavy for him - so she cannot feel what he is like to ride. It is like riding a drunk man - no co ordination, inability to listen, no communication between body and brain, oh the list is endless. She says Bombay is "taking the piss" and I say he definitely is not. I'm not a good jockey, but I know what I can feel is not right and that I have no control over what is going on beneath me. I was beginning to have doubts and feeling very isolated because there seems to be no one else around who has a horse with Head Shaking Syndrome to talk to or compare notes with.

I searched the Internet the other day to see if I could find a chat room or some sort of help and found The Head Shaking Syndrome Centre in the US. At last, useful, knowledgeable, sensible information and I hope help. I felt elated. However, the downside is that I discovered that the reason for the head shaking is more like a violent headache / migraine rather than an itchy irritation, which did upset me. Poor Bombay.

The site also had a pain table, and so far Bombay is I would say at Level 3 going on 4. One woman had successfully managed to treat her horse with a 3 day purge of steroids, every month and claimed her horse was nearly back to his normal self. I suggested to Mother to perhaps try this course of treatment, but I'm afraid she just burst into tears, saying she couldn't cope. I think the thought of the boy being in so much pain distressed her to be honest, and that was why she reacted so emotionally.

I feel there is hope and help on this site, and will print off articles for Mother to read. I found it inspiring and helpful, and will keep going back to it to reassure myself that all is not lost. First thing though - he is to remain stabled during the day with a head mask on and out at night when the light levels are lower, and don't ride him on windy days - makes matters worse not better as I thought.

The Head Shaking Syndrome site is linked below.

MAY 2010

Time has passed me by again! Not that the last few months have been uneventful, I think I've just been too lazy to update my blog, that and I'm addicted to twitter.

Christmas was the usual Christmas. The Panto on Hogmany was very good, thoroughly enjoyed the outing & dinner at the Tiffin Rooms afterwards was fabulous.

The last four months many things have happened, but at the moment I can only think of the most recent events. The first being my beautiful, 22 year old Irish Draught cross TB had to be put down after a episode of Colic on Monday 19th March 2010. Such a distressing situation for all, and nothing that could be done for her although we tried. My heart was breaking at the time, but I knew it was for the best - although that doesn't help ease the pain.

That same weekend, more emergency call outs to the Vet as Fleur was very ill with a pyometra. She was operated on the same Monday that Corrie was put down. She is getting better, but still lacks energy, although she has moments of acting the fool - an encouraging sign that she is on the mend, but it will take time. She still sleeps a lot, and is not keen to go walking any great distance - yet.

The Dartmoors have lice, (as did Corrie) and I have been treating them with some fearful stuff the vet ordered for me. I have to dress up like a spaceman to apply this stuff, which spooked young Bazil. The second dose was put on last week, and I'm still finding eggs in their coats. I'll just have to keep going until I can see no evidence of them. All brushes are soaked in insecticide and then washed after use etc - just such a pain, as I can't take them to any shows etc.

I'm fencing off a couple of acres to keep the Dartmoors off the grass. It is taking a long time to plant the stobs by hand, but with little spare money, it is the only way I can think of prevent them getting laminitis.

Bazil was 3 on the 5th of May. I can't believe my "wee" boy is that age already. He is a mono-orchid, so has not got stallion papers and because of this, he is not technically allowed to be shown. However, his education must continue, so although he can not enter any Society Star Shows, I shouldn't think small agricultural shows should cause a problem. He has been bitted, which he took with his usual laid back attitude however, I'll have to do some more work with him with the bit in, because he is becoming very rude and pushy. We have a few battles over the last few days, e.g. I want him to come for his tea, and he decides he wants to stay where he is! (mare in another field in season) He has to come in to eat as I have him on AloEquine, which I'm hoping will help prevent his sweet itch. He has been on the aAoe Vera gel for 3 months now and so far, so good.