It's after midnight.  I'm still up, and my mind still ticks away.  I just did my dishes, and tidied up a bit, and watched (I love this fancy iView thing my brother hooked up) the Nathan Tinkler Four Corners report.   And then, because I didn't feel like going to bed quite yet, I returned to wrestle with my Walkley Awards entry.  Single image, or put a few in.....  It's tricky, v tricky...  Do they need more work?  I don't know..There are no easy answers to be had at this time of night.

I had my jumping lesson this morning with Grant. Was I stupidly pleased to see Snips? That's a definite yes. I'm getting very fond of this boy. It is a very bad habit of mine. I'd forgotten to grab his carrots out of the fridge before I left home. But I was rescued by the box of sugar cubes I has successfully planted in my handbag for Freelance. And I'm happy to report that Snips is a horse who knows about the humble sugar cube. Good boy!!  I gave him a couple just as I got on, and after this he kept turning his head hopefully back towards me while I was on top of him. But I didn't think Grant would approve of mid lesson sugars so I resisted the urge to lean forward and give him while before we got serious.  But I was sorely tempted. Having only ridden once in the last 3 and a half weeks I didn't feel super balanced to begin with. But Grant said we did great and that is ridden him much better than last time and he thinks we are getting better. So I was v p...

There are days where I think I'm back at square one.  And I've really made no progress in the last 6 months. But mornings like today, when nothing seem to go quite right, only adds to my sense of frustration.  I'm working on a couple of projects.  They require concentration.  And that's hard to come by some days.  And it's not just because I get interrupted by my children every 90 seconds, but also by my own thoughts.  And in addition to the few software hiccups and errors, when I just can't work out how to do something, it's easy to feel that nothing is going right.  Or perhaps it was walking by, after an attempt at straightening up the house, and looking at the new equipment I've bought but haven't used yet.  I'm still to take it all out of it's bags and then work out how to put it all together, without that guiding voice or that truly ace ability that some luck people have that allows them to instantly guess (correctly!) which way someth...

I'm not sure that I've achieved all that much today.  I decided against taking the camera to soccer today, because I wanted to call in at Myer to try to get the kids some clothes and some shoes, seeing as they had their final markdowns on a lot of things.  And we called in to the ABC Shop, which is always fun, just for good measure.  I bought a couple of books published by ABC Books.  One is Shane Jacobsen's new book "The Long Road to Overnight Success" .  I love him as an actor, he's ace, and he's also in one of my favourite shows that's currently on ABC, called The Time of Their Lives (mostly I watch it on iView after my brother set up the clever networky extender thingy, that connects into the posh Blue Ray DVD player that he also gave us as another hand-me-down.   I really need to start sitting down with a good book, especially at night, and I've loved working with the team at ABC Books so much over this past 12 months, so buying...

I'm sitting watching Jessica ride. The last of the sunshine is gone and it feels very cold all of a sudden. The white pony, Tinsel, she's riding has reminded me, as I pick the long white hairs off my black jumper, not to buy a grey horse. The last couple of days have felt a little gloomy, and today I found myself struggling with that subject of getting back in the saddle.  It was cold and foggy this morning and my neck has been pinching and sore.  I have to admit the cold, on top of the 3 week break in my routine and my riding, made me feel like making excuses, initially telling myself my day was too busy to work Freelance. But not doing the things you know will make you feel better, because you're too complacent, tentative or just feeling downcast doesn't do me any good. My show jumping lesson had already been cancelled on Monday because Grant was busy.  First I tried to stay focused on my bookwork for a couple of hours, and tried not to look at things that o...

Ok...  Yes.. I am trying to find excuses not to concentrate.  Ah ha!  You've guessed correctly, it must be because I am doing bookwork and data entry, and you are absolutely right, it is again boring me stupid.  And it's providing the usual little reminders, some pleasant, some not so pleasant, of where we've been and what we've been doing.   I am, again, reminded that it is Northland, NOT Northlands..  And entering the receipt from the Croydon Hotel where we had the Christmas in July lunch made me pause to smile wryly about getting lost on the way home due to that completely non-existent internal compass.   I'd stayed talking to my cousin Tim, and promptly forgotten to ask how I got home.  It was pouring rain and my iPhone had run completely flat by using Apple Maps on the way there with the kids using the power port for their DVD player.  I sat in the car for 5 minutes waiting patiently (ok, that's a complete lie because ...

The More Joyous Saga found itself back in the limelight yesterday.  It's not my role, or desire, to weigh into the debate.  However the 2nd installment of this saga was because it came to light that More Joyous went into the Group 1 Queen of the Turf Stakes on Golden Slipper day, as a $1.70 favourite, after not being able to gallop all week due to a hoof abscess. I realise that there are degrees of seriousness to hoof abcesses.  My 2nd riding/dressage horse, and ex-racer thoroughbred had one once.  Wow...  He was as lame as a duck!!!  Incidentally, that's a funny saying really, isn't it?  Ducks never strike me as looking particularly lame, but they certainly waddle as well as the next overweight person.  Waddling looks cute in a duck though..  Anyway, back to my lame horse..  He couldn't put an ounce of weight on it and was pathetically miserable.  Once the farrier burst and drained the abcess, he was instantly more conmfortable....

I'm sitting in the car with Jessica while Heath is at soccer training. He's in the next pitch over and the light is dimmer and I have trouble making him out. And Jessica and I find it too cold to stand and watch on the sidelines. My eyes are beginning to struggle a tiny bit in dim light. Too many hours squinting through a view finder, and then negative and/or computer screen I guess. These days when we drive on the highway I prefer to have the trip over and done with by dark. Particularly when there's no back up driver. And sadly more often than not there is no one to share the driving with. I have to try to remember to watch Gerard Whateley's football show at 7.30pm tonight (please don't ask me to remember what it's called, I know you know I cannot remember it), and watch the announcement of which stallion has been chosen for the great Black Caviar, in what will be her first year at stud. Black Caviar is not an ordinary horse, is she? She is Extraor...

My creamy kitty Maxie was overjoyed to see us when we walked through the door last night.  He's been well cared for by my terrific neighbours, but these long trips are hard.  He was like glue last night.  Wherever I went, he went, as a constant, purring, kitty on my lap.  This is him today helping me with the washing, which there seemed to be loads of.   Yes, my washing and housework still lacks finesse.  As always, my defence is that you can't be good at everything.  However the groceries have been done, all the washing done, and the horse fed.  I'm trying to get through the mountain of things I have to get through.  And Maxie has just made it harder for me to type, by joining me at my desk again, and sitting purring on my lap. This afternoon the kids and I watched one of my favourite movies from when I was growing up, the rabbit story Watership Down.  The kids have gotten very keen on rabbits since our trip.  And thi...

We are at Gundagai. The kids were given $10 each by my lovely cousin Simon, who we kept bumping into at Phillip Island, so we are in the gift shop at The Dog on the Tuckerbox. The river at Gundagai is full still. Many of the rivers have been full actually. It's been v cold the whole way home. Dan puts his heart into it as he battles the strong head wind. We've broken the back of it now, but the kids are over it and I'm tired. Jessica has chosen a clever pen, a couple of crystals and a lantern pencil. And as usual poor Heath is agonizing over his choice and taking forever.

The kids are tucked in bed.  We're at my sister's house for the last night of our Melbourne Trip.  And heading home on the Highway to the cold that will be Canberra.  The drive home is the gloomiest part of our trip, and we are all always sad to be heading north on the Hume Highway. Will I sleep tonight?  I can only hope, as it is a long drive home. We spent a really great 3 days on my friend Lyn's farm on the Peninsula.  The kids just thrived.  You can see it in their faces.  What a great part of the world.  I've been struck by how much importance is placed on outdoor, sporting, environmental, music and animal activities at all the schools we visited.  And by the sheer quality of them.  And spending time with Lyn and all our animals was  lovely and gave us our much needed horsey fix.   The weather turned truly evil, and the riding didn't happen.  But we did lots of fun things anyway, with the ride on the qua...