Summertime

Summertime. I love the golden yellow hues of the dry country. I always thought I would prefer a greener place but as it turns out, I don't.

Flo the pony is doing so well, it's hard to imagine that 12 months ago she was uncatchable and with ridiculously long feet in need of a trim. I was so stressed about it at the time too, but things do change, nothing stays the same forever and now here we are. I can walk into the paddock and give her a scratch, catch her easily, groom her, clean her feet and she stands quietly for a trim. She's still pretty wild and I really love that about her (I'm taking lessons from her).

It's become really apparent to me lately that my life is feeling anything but 'simple' these days. I have this deep desire to just 'be' at home with my child, yet somehow I manage to fill our days up with other things. So as we come into the new year, it's very much on my mind that 2016 is going to be a year of simplifying, slowing down (again), finding my feet (again) and focusing in on what I really want.

The next days are for sitting with all that has been in 2015, and letting most of it go. I'll be doing some deep inner and outer clearing (I have been in decluttering mode for the past month already!) and ready to dig deeper in 2016, on what really matters to me. And where I want us to be. I've given in to the restlessness I feel in our current home, and I'm just waiting for a new home to materialise now. I've mentally packed up the kitchen dozens of times, and if anything I've created a new impatience at wanting to move.

And in all of that, I'm appreciating the warm days. The washing drying so quickly, the ease of not layering into so many clothes, even the pulling closed blinds to keep the harsh light out. Quiet time indoors while it's too hot and sunny to be out and about. I do love summertime.

This and That

Winter officially starts in a couple of days. We've had a couple of frosty mornings already, and the fog is starting to sit. Life in this little home is mostly delightful; mornings, our outside time, the lunch hour, the outside jobs and the dinner and bed routine - the rhythm of our days. I watch the interruptions to our rhythm, and try to minimise them. I watch as my little boy's own rhythms change, creating changes to our day.

I've picked up a crochet hook again, which I've not touched in months. A blanket for my little boy is slowly taking form. With the yarns that I rushed out to buy about a year ago, for this purpose. I guess there wasn't such a rush after all.

Managing the animals here continues to take up much of my time and head space, on top of parenting a wonderfully bright toddler. Flo and Harmony have completely opposite needs - I'm trying to keep the weight on Harmony, and with not much feed coming through in the paddock I'm relying on hay, mostly oaten hay as that is what I can get. And with Flo, well she founders at the sight of oaten hay, so I've got to keep her away from it. So we fenced in her spring paddock in the trees again, my little one and I, and she's going to stay there for a little while and eat lucerne in peace. Plus the two roosters, Edward and Edward. One of them can stay, the other has to go. Anyone looking for an Australorp rooster?

Apples. We have a lot of apples to eat. I'm thinking up all the things I want to bake with William, so we can eat them warm with melted ice cream. Apple pie, apple crumble, maybe some apple muffins or apple scrolls. I will make at least one of those happen!

All of the images in this post are cropped from my Instagram account. I'm over there much more than I am here, simply because it's more accessible, and I could probably talk about crystals all day. I'm spending more time away from the computer than I have in years actually, and it's a nice change.

These two

Well, they're here. The horse and the pony. Harmony and Flo, actually.

It has all happened rather fast (like many good things do) but not without a significant amount of internet searching and soul searching on my part. So I'm breathing a sigh of relief just to see them together in the paddock, resting under the trees and eating the grass (yes - eat that grass! But not too much Flo, or you'll be locked up..).

Flo was the first to arrive. She's a little Shetland pony, who has had not much handling by or interaction with humans. And that which she has had, I don't think it has been great. She's not real sure about us and our intentions and promptly heads the other direction whenever we approach. I've caught her once, using this method, but I tell you what, the next day when I tried it again, she knew the game and outplayed me. Tactics that may work with a horse, may not have the same results with a Shetland pony.

Anyway, she's about 6 years old, she may or may not be in foal and she cost us $120. So here she is, slowly deciding to become part of the family and I'm happy she's here (for the price she cost us, I was worried she would end up being dog food). Poor little thing spent a week here by herself, fretting about being on her own, and with me fretting about her fretting about being on her own. Hence driving myself and my family nuts trying to find a suitable companion for her. 

And then Harmony came along. She's a buckskin quarter horse, almost certainly in foal. She's had much more handling and is broken to saddle and thankfully is quite catchable, but has spent the past few years in a paddock having babies. She's in pretty poor condition to be honest. She's about 10 years old, she's a stunning looking horse and I'm so, so happy that she's here too. Come December we hope a little baby horse will appear, the father being a Clydesdale cross Cob type, so the foal should be an interesting horse. All going well.

I have spent so much time with my head in the internet, lurking around Horse Deals and Gumtree and Horse Yard trying to find the right horse to be here, to keep Flo company and to be a riding horse for me. I looked at one that was too big, I looked at one that was too small, and shortlisted about eight that were okay… but not really what I was looking for. Anyway Harmony had been under my nose the whole time, and when I clicked on her ad at the end of the week (after a brief look at the start of the week), I just knew. And she came from the same place we picked up Flo, after all that.

So here we are. The horse and the pony are here. And the relief for Flo when Harmony arrived was palpable, and the relief just washed over me then too. Our little flock of animals is complete, until perhaps a foal arrives, maybe two. Anyway the life of these two right now involves eating grass, getting treats, feeds and brushing. Getting to know us, doing some ground work with me, and making sure they're healthy and happy. It will be a while before there is any riding of Harmony, and that's fine with me. And goodness knows what Flo's intentions are, she may decide she never wants to come near us, and that is ok too. I'm hoping that in a few years I can get her trained enough to be a lead pony for William, but we will see. In any case, this is her home, both of their homes now. For me it feels like pulling on the old favourite pair of jeans, to have horses in my life again. A part of me that was pretty much gone is suddenly surging back into life. And of course, William loves them.