Tantrum

So today I had the mother of all tantrums. Guessing I’ve hit the ‘angry’ stage of grief then. To be fair, stuff has been building for a while. I rarely lose my temper. It tends to be apocalyptic when I do. So I work really hard on keeping things level.

What caused this outburst? Hanging a picture on the wall of course. It was a birthday present from a wonderful friend. Hanging it has been on my list for some time.

Now I love my house, but the walls are made of concrete so normal picture hooks don’t work. So I had to buy special ones. Which I did months ago, then promptly lost them in the pile of ‘filing’ that sits on my kitchen counter. Said pile annoyed me today so while I was waiting for not one, but two laptops to do updates, I cleared the pile.

Finding the special picture hooks, I thought I’d hang the picture. After several bashes to the thumb, bent pins and a chunk out of my wall, I lost my shit and threw the hammer down. So now I have a dent in my carpet and my concrete floor!! I was incredibly lucky as the hammer rebounded and hit to doorframe of a plate glass door! That could have been very messy.

More tears, expletives and stamping of feet – months of frustration, angst and annoyance came tumbling out. When I calmed down, I remembered I’d bought some of those sticky Velcro things for hanging pictures. The picture looks great and makes me smile.

My behaviour today also makes me laugh. I’m 54 and can still have a tantrum like the best toddler. Is it something we fully outgrow?!

Paper thin

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well this one doesn’t tell half the story. It looks lovely, right?! Nice fluffy clouds. Bit of sunshine. Perfect for a spot of dressage. This was after the BRC Dressage Qualifier had finished…

What the day had ACTUALLY been like was torrential downpours. It could have been renamed to ‘dancing seahorses’.

I was there to steward as Carleton RC were hosting. We all know how much I love a clipboard and some hi-viz, so I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately I didn’t check the weather and didn’t get my layering right. Very grateful for the full length rain coat I was lent to keep me dry at least.

And can’t be said for my running orders that were so wet, they all stuck together. That made it rather challenging to work out who was meant to be where.

Four arenas is a lot to steward so I felt a bit chaotic at times. Luckily there was a dry running order to hand. With the use of a clear plastic lid and a bit of creativity, we got through everyone with military precision.

I left the Showground looking forward to a hot shower and a relaxing evening. Oh wait, I watched the England match. Great result, but my god, we like to do it the hard way…

Cheating

Buddy’s face was a picture as I held another horse today. He was happily munching away till he saw me and came over to investigate. Think I was caught in the act.

We had Allen & Page weigh bridge at the yard. Buddy weighed in at 637kg. And scored a perfect 3/5 for his body condition. She said he was a beast, but in a very good way. He’s rather muscular now.

Covid Land

This picture sums up the past 18 months in Covid Land for me. It’s given me time to rekindle my love of walking. And my appreciation for the beauty around me.

So much has changed in my life in that time. I’m going through a huge transformation. I’m growing as a person. I’m learning more about myself every day.

It can be exhausting some days. Other days I have boundless energy.

It’s made me stop, reflect and really understand what I want my life to look like. For that I’m grateful.

What’s your Covid photo?

Visitor

Today my friend Ruth came to stay. I haven’t seen her for a good few years. But it’s been like no time had passed. We went for a long walk this evening, it was wonderful to walk and talk.

She drew this picture for my 50th. It always makes me smile. In fact I have two of her drawing in my house. Now I have the artist in person. She’s so talented.