Equal measures

Today is one of my favourite days of the year. It’s the Spring Equinox. It’s a milestone for me every year. A sure sign that we’ve made it through the gloom of Winter and longer, warmer days are on the way.

And it was a scorcher! The Upgrade said 18 degrees. Yes, my new car tells me the temperature. The Comedy Car was devoid of this feature. So now I can actually know, rather than just going with hot or cold.

The Upgrade also has working air conditioning. Now that’s a real luxury. The Comedy Car did have AC, but it didn’t work. Rather pumped out even hotter air! Kinda defeated the object really. I got used to the windswept look from having the window open. I usually arrived slightly battered. But no more…

Buddy had his own AC today. A naked day in the field. After months of rugs, it must feel good to have the sun on his back. I sat with it on my face and boy did it feel good!

Spring is my favourite season. Full of hope and wonder. Days like today make me smile.

Winter thumb

It’s that time of the year, when my thumbs splits. I have no idea how or why, but I do know that it blooming hurts!

Sometimes it’s both thumbs, sometimes just one. Sometimes both sides. It’s a very odd thing.

It makes you realise how often you use your thumbs…. I may have said ouch a lot today as I’ve caught it numerous times.

Roll up

Somewhere in there is a lesser spotted Bert! Or more apt, a slightly wild Bert. He’s had so much fun rolling around in the blanket sofa cover. He does make me laugh. It’s also exhausting watching him bounce around the house before he crashes out.

Oh to have that much energy! I do find that the cold makes me tired. Most animals like to hibernate when it’s cold. Horses can get a bit wired by it. Thankfully Buddy was on his best behaviour today.

We had the most magical moment when a red kite flew over the arena and hovered over head. I was so transfixed, I didn’t get my phone out. The red kite is one of my favourite birds. So majestic in the sky. Seeing one always makes me smile.

Ancient woods

I took Bert for a walk through some ancient woods this morning. I’d forgotten how beautiful they are. Even more beautiful in the winter sunshine.

After the grey skies, clouds and fog of the past few weeks, this made a wonderful change.

These woods used to be privately owned, but were bought with donations and put in trust to preserve them. That makes me heart swell. So much of our beautiful woodlands and countryside are being lost. Knowing this will be kept for future generations is great.

These woods were on one of my lockdown walks. It seems such a long time ago that I used to walk miles to keep my head from imploding with it all. Now I have Bert, I can see I will need to rediscover some of the routes again.

Think I might need to invest in some decent walking boots…

Snow

After walking into a Winter Wonderland yesterday with the Christmas decorations in the hotel, I really wasn’t expecting to wake up to one!! Who ordered snow?!

I feared the worst. It happens when you have 600 people due to arrive for Conference. But I needn’t have worried. Pretty much everyone who was due to arrive did. And we even had a few who weren’t! Swan-mode was fully activated.

We kicked off tonight with a drinks reception. So far the feedback has been great. The alarm is set for 5:45am ready for the Conference Day and Gala Dinner. Shall we have a sweepstake on how many steps I walk tomorrow, how many hours I work or if I actually get time to eat? Good job I bloody love what I do!

Oh and today’s step count was almost 28K or nearly 13 miles.

Blanky

This is a sure sign that we are heading towards Winter. The kittens have totally ignore this bed for months now. Today was the day Hugo reclaimed it. Can’t say I blame him. I love a blanky. And a fluffy one is even better.

Hugo is one very happy kitten right now.

Out out

Woo fricking hoooo! Buddy and I headed out in the Buddymobile today. Cause for celebration indeed. It drives like a dream and so did Buddy. He was striding out round the tracks. Sound in walk, trot and canter. Phew!

It felt so good to be out and about again. The Equidry was out and about too! Have Spring and Winter had a tiff?! Cause Winter feels like it’s doing the whole ‘…and another thing’. It was so cold, windy and wet!

The bluebells were out and even in the wet, miserable conditions, they put a smile on my face. As did the cheese toastie and mocha. Well I needed warming up and there was cause to celebrate. We were out out!

Spring forward

I’m 53 years old. You’d have thought by now that I would have mastered the whole clock change thing. In my defence, the clocks in my house aren’t helping matters.

Last Sunday, my alarm clock sprang forward unexpectedly. That resulted in me getting up an hour early – without realising it.

I manually adjusted it so it was correct.

Today, said alarm clock decided for some unfathomable reason to fall back an hour. So I lost two hours!

Yes it should automatically update like my phone does. Not a clue what’s going on there!

Seems the weather is a tad confused too. After a beautiful Spring Day yesterday, we’re back to Winter vibes. Yesterday I was full of the joys. Today I wanted to hibernate. My planned garden day turned into a house day. And yes, there was a lot of clock changing going on…

Waking up

This is a sight that always makes me smile. The first signs of Mother Nature waking up. Snowdrops are such cheery little flowers. They almost look like they’re smiling too.

I’ve noticed that I have little signs that get me through Winter. This is definitely one of them. Winter is a time to rest, restore and rejuvenate. So that we can Spring into action. Not sure I’ve done that much resting so far. I’ve done a lot of driving. I know that.

Still the nights are drawing out. We’ve made it through the 600 days of January. But I’m not counting any chickens just yet.

Spring is my favourite season by far. It’s a season of new beginnings. I find it a very hopeful time.

Loungewear

OK, so I might be preparing for winter. I bought this loungewear set today. No I didn’t really know that loungewear was a thing. I thought they were very fluffy pyjamas. But no, loungewear it is!

I saw them in John Lewis and couldn’t resist. The trousers are so fluffy, I resemble Mr Tumnus from Narnia. Don’t care though, they’re toasty warm! Let’s face it, I’m usually cold. So having warm legs is a novelty.

I haven’t been to John Lewis for ages. But it was a great place to meet a friend for a coffee, mince pie and lots of chat. It’s been a while since we caught up too so there was a lot to cover.

I then spent the rest of the day in a rather chilly unit packing gingerbread. As one does on a Saturday. Another friend had a huge order to fulfil and sent up the gingerbread equivalent of the Bat Signal. Pity I had to wear chef’s whites and not my fluffy loungewear.