Well, hello everyone!
I can't believe that the last time I posted on here was Sept last year! School sure does get in the way of activities during winter! Blast.
Kezia has had a good start to her academic year. Her reading and writing is coming on leaps and bounds and she is showing a real aptitude and interest in maths - something she obviously gets from her dearest papa and not me!
The first thing we did in October was to leave our livery yard and relocate little Gilda to my aunt's fields in Aylesbury, in preparation for my surgery in December. I was sad to leave little Gilda over there - so far from me - but she had a little herd of shetlands to introduce herself to and 5 acres of land to punt around in. To get her to Sue's I booked her a place with Gillies transport - which is essentially a little horsey bus that picks horses up once a week on a long UK driving tour and drops them off on the way round ... It was absolutely brilliant. I packed little Gilda up with a comic and an apple for the journey and off she went. She was in illustrious travelling company, as she shared the bus with 3 of the Queen's famous Highland Ponies who were on their way to Windsor from Balmoral ... hopefully she didn't let the side down with her countrified ways! chuckle.
My aunt lives in an absolutely gorgeous part of the world, with lots of high hill, narrow country lanes and twisting roads. Which meant that the lorry could make it to Sue's house, but not to the fields 3 miles away. So little Gilda had a cup of tea and a stretch in the back garden before popping her walking shoes on for a little roadside marathon.
She did very well, didn't even spook when we had to pass a big hedge trimming machine thing, and she was very pleased to see her old field with some chums in it.
She set to straight away, and I have heard that since then she has been teasing the full height stallion ( which is hilarious because she if by far the littlest of the adult shetlands) -she can duck under his electric fencing, tease him with a good show of her bum, and then dart back under the fence before he can get to her. She'll end up in trouble, that one!
In October Kez had her very first school disco - Halloween themed, of course!
We rushed home after our morning of school, and get dressed in our lovely spooky clothes that Nanny Hooper had bought us for the occasion
halloween from Emma Hooper on Vimeo.
Then of course, there was Fireworks Night. Throughout my childhood, fireworks night has always involved a much needed element of danger ... as if letting off explosives in your back garden isn't tricky enough, we have to do it with our own loving version of The Incredible Hulk. For years my brother and I have watched dearest pops stagger about in the dark, falling over his wellies, tripping on the way back up the garden, returning to the perilous unlit firework ... it was always an adventure (which, incidentally, seems to have put my younger brother off homestyle firework shows) And this year Kez got to experience it for the first time.
The Peril of Firework Night from Emma Hooper on Vimeo.
Firework Peril from Emma Hooper on Vimeo.
I can't believe that the last time I posted on here was Sept last year! School sure does get in the way of activities during winter! Blast.
Kezia has had a good start to her academic year. Her reading and writing is coming on leaps and bounds and she is showing a real aptitude and interest in maths - something she obviously gets from her dearest papa and not me!
The first thing we did in October was to leave our livery yard and relocate little Gilda to my aunt's fields in Aylesbury, in preparation for my surgery in December. I was sad to leave little Gilda over there - so far from me - but she had a little herd of shetlands to introduce herself to and 5 acres of land to punt around in. To get her to Sue's I booked her a place with Gillies transport - which is essentially a little horsey bus that picks horses up once a week on a long UK driving tour and drops them off on the way round ... It was absolutely brilliant. I packed little Gilda up with a comic and an apple for the journey and off she went. She was in illustrious travelling company, as she shared the bus with 3 of the Queen's famous Highland Ponies who were on their way to Windsor from Balmoral ... hopefully she didn't let the side down with her countrified ways! chuckle.
My aunt lives in an absolutely gorgeous part of the world, with lots of high hill, narrow country lanes and twisting roads. Which meant that the lorry could make it to Sue's house, but not to the fields 3 miles away. So little Gilda had a cup of tea and a stretch in the back garden before popping her walking shoes on for a little roadside marathon.
She did very well, didn't even spook when we had to pass a big hedge trimming machine thing, and she was very pleased to see her old field with some chums in it.
Gilda is the little chestnut one in the middle.
In October Kez had her very first school disco - Halloween themed, of course!
We rushed home after our morning of school, and get dressed in our lovely spooky clothes that Nanny Hooper had bought us for the occasion
Kez was particularly impressed with her dress because the bats on the front of it lit up if you pressed a button - tres chic, mais ouis?!
halloween from Emma Hooper on Vimeo.
Then of course, there was Fireworks Night. Throughout my childhood, fireworks night has always involved a much needed element of danger ... as if letting off explosives in your back garden isn't tricky enough, we have to do it with our own loving version of The Incredible Hulk. For years my brother and I have watched dearest pops stagger about in the dark, falling over his wellies, tripping on the way back up the garden, returning to the perilous unlit firework ... it was always an adventure (which, incidentally, seems to have put my younger brother off homestyle firework shows) And this year Kez got to experience it for the first time.
The Peril of Firework Night from Emma Hooper on Vimeo.
Firework Peril from Emma Hooper on Vimeo.
