Summer ... a mix of rain, storms and sun.

Summer's here, the elderflowers are blooming, catch them while you can, it's Elderflower Champagne time.

Since exam kick off in mid May, family life has concentrated a lot around Ben's GCSEs.  He sat all seven papers at the secondary school in St. Neots and seemed fairly OK with how they went.  There has been continuous revision all the way through the exams, concentrating more on Maths, which Ben felt was his weakest subject.  There was a good two week gap between the Physics papers which we thought was good at the start but proved difficult as the second paper loomed as Ben had used all his mental energy on Maths and needed extra "reminder" revision to get through the Physics.  Results will be out on 25th August - fingers crossed he get the grades needed to move on to A-levels.

Three of the papers were morning sittings and we felt it better for our nerves to stay over.  Out of all the times we've been to St. Neots, this year and last, we have only had 1 fabulously warm sunny day - St. Neots in the sun is far, far better than in the rain!  I can now say I know the roads of St. Neots well - finding several back routes between the school, town and the two Premier Inn hotels we stayed in ... with Costa and Prezzo being excellent places to reside.

I have been enjoying a very chilled horse these last few weeks as Jay has been going out with his buddy for overnight grazing.  Most mornings I'd find him zonked out and it's been super to see him relaxed enough to continue snoozing while I give him a good stroke and pester him with continuous selfie shots.

Unfortunately, he seems to get up to night time silliness and it has caused himself a couple of minor injuries meaning he's back to going out in the day time, in his own paddock - he's just too much of a playful kid when out with others!

Paul and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary on 18th June and decided to experience our first Polo Match on the 19th to celebrate.  Luckily the weather held for the day (it bucketed down later) and we were able to sit out, enjoy a lovely hog roast sandwich lunch, and experience the horsing around.  I came away a bit hooked on the game - it's quick, fun and just brilliant.  The commentator was fantastic ... he really made the event.



I think it would be safe to say we've had more wet weather than sunny so far this Summer.  Great for the paddocks, the grass is continuously replenishing, not so good for the gardeners who are having to constantly mow the grass and keep on top of the weeds.

The first picture with its stunning bright poppies is a real contrast to the heavy storm clouds in the distance over Kings Lynn.  We watched as a funnel appeared from the centre of the cloud (probably too small to see in the photo), luckily it dissipated.  The second photo was taken a couple of days ago.  We had sunshine but the storm clouds were moving in swiftly from Holbeach way.  We could hear the rumbles of thunder but strangely it never actually reached us.  The third photo was taken during a greenlaning trip in Norfolk.  We had cloud burst after cloud burst so we endeavoured to drive along sturdy lanes to preserve the countryside.  We were surprised to come across this ford at the end of one. Paul had to scrabble around under the Landie to put in the wading plugs before driving through it!

Enjoy any warm sunny days that come your way.

A time to celebrate

Celebrations happen throughout the year of course, but the Summer brings a celebration in the form of University graduations, A-level and GCSE exam results.  My facebook page has been dotted with wonderful photos of friends and family celebrating their successes in their final year of Uni, kitted out in their special attire and surrounded by loved ones.  It's an event that rightly recognises those that have studied hard and have achieved their current goal, a time to enjoy their achievements and proudly move on to the next step in their lives.

Katie is preparing for her journey on to University in September.  I say "preparing", she's actually taking a long relaxing break from any form of work and counting down the weeks until she moves on to the next chapter in her life.  Each week I've been buying her a few necessities to ease the financial burden once she finally starts.  At the moment I think she's kindly accepting these little every day gifts but plonking them straight into her expanding laundry bag!  I'm hoping once she's finally left home she'll appreciate why I've done this for her ... life will be tough for a while!

If you know someone celebrating an achievement, an exam pass, driving test pass or graduation, celebrate with them ... achievements are what spurs us on in life.

Just around the corner ...

... is Christmas!



The decorations are up and this year we decided to buy a real tree to sit on the window seat in the living room and put the not so real tree in the snug.  As always, the cats woke from the slumbers to investigate, pounce, play and destroy have fun with the artificial tree and all that endeavours to hang from it.  The photo is of Tilly, having climbed half way up to discover many, many new play things!

I took advantage of a free postage offer from Pocket and Pin (an online craft supply shop that has been in my favourites list for a long time) to purchase a roll of felt in "vintage colours".  It arrived beautifully wrapped and the colour of every sheet in delightful.  Itching to start to use it, I made this very cute Westie keyring using the "meadow" green felt.

Finally, with present wrapping under way, I put together these little packages to hold tiny gifts.  Simply cut from greaseproof paper, stitched with embroidery thread and finished with a button.  Perfect.

September's gone already

The Summer continues which is lovely - warm days and cool nights with mist and fog some mornings.  Just love those last few Summer days, with Autumn biting at the heels.  A few of the chimneys have started to smoke in the evenings around here - a sure sign that Winter is on its way.

Ben did well in his two GCSEs and is studying two new subjects, Chemistry and Astronomy for next Summer's exams.  He's into both subjects in a big way, but my teaching only extends to the Chemistry as he's doing a distance learning course for Astronomy (although I'm still sourcing interesting websites and I'm around for night sky viewings etc).  Both are taking up a lot of time.  In the mornings, when I sit in the car at stupid o'clock having dropped Katie off for the college coach, I spend an hour studying Chemistry (not a subject I know at all) ready to teach Ben when I arrive home from the yard.  We're doing well, and as always, I'm loving the fact that I'm learning something new too.  Astronomy for me kicks in when I'm ready to turn in for the night.  Tripods are set up, binoculars are focussed, sketch books out and much toing and froing (and choice words) trying to get decent photos of the moon.  Ben talks non stop about galaxies and what have you - my head becomes more of a fuzzy muddle that it is already.  I can't complain, I'd prefer him excited about his learning than not.

Katie, having completed her first year at college, is now looking at University courses for September 2015.  She's not sure which route to go down - at present it's a toss up between Game Art and Illustration.  Having visited one Uni last weekend and being completely bowled over by the enthusiasm of all the tutors, I think her leaning is more towards Illustration, but after the next three or four Uni visits, who knows - she may end up doing something completely different!  She's very tired at the moment - her course is full on and she knows (thanks to my constant nagging) that she needs to start her own portfolio of art work to present alongside her college work when interviews start from January next year.  She also knows (thanks again to my constant nagging) that she needs an impressive Personal Statement.  She'll be fine I'm sure, she always is, but it feels like a constant worry at the moment.

On the work front things are ticking along nicely and I'm working hard to build up my shops ready for Christmas.  One customer has requested a catalogue as she finds it hard to use the PC so I've just started making some new goodies just for this and hope to get it out to her (and anyone else who requests one) within a month.  At the back of my mind I'm thinking that Katie could help with the design as that, together with the business cards she designed for me not so long ago, would look good in her portfolio

One big down that we had this month was the loss of 7 years of photos from our PC.  We've lost a disk load of photos before (which was tragic), but 7 years worth seems 10 times worse.  Luckily some are still on blog postings, facebook and instagram, but a lot of videos of the children and pets have been lost which brings a lump to my throat.  I'm not really sure how it happened either - deleted one photo and suddenly (in that moment when you go completely cold with fear), the whole lot vanished and couldn't be found, not even in the recycling bin.  Ho hum - these things are sent to try us.

A post without pics is a little dull so here's a bright and cheerful fabric wallet that I made recently and is available at Ellie's Treasures.  It's been cut from gorgeous vintage fabrics - the brightest of which (the blue and orange) was brought over to the UK from the Far East in the 1970s.  Love it!

The Merry Month of May

This May has seemed like a long month (and it still hasn't ended!), which is unusual in this day and age as time seems to whizz by and before we know it the end of the year is upon us and the mad rush to stock up on Christmas presents has presented itself once again.

Other than keeping myself busy with a customer order and making plenty of new things for Ellie's Treasures at Wisbech Craft Centre, May also saw my birthday come and go and Jay's too - he's now 17 years old, although he certainly doesn't act that age!


We've had some glorious hot days where the barbecue was dusted off and the home made coleslaw prepared for a couple of alfresco meals.

Ben's "selfie" whilst toasting marshmallows on the barbecue.

The lawn is being cut every weekend and the herb garden has gone into over-drive!  We've been busy tidying the front of the garden too, mainly because we had a special visitor (or 15) come in the middle of May.


Back in January we received a letter from a gentleman named David whose Great Uncle used to be the village policeman living with his wife in our home.  He used to ride around on a specially adapted bicycle and David asked if he could bring the bike back to its home for a visit, along with some of his family and a team of cyclists doing a charity bike ride.  The day dawned, bright, sunny and wonderfully warm and the rather large team arrived around lunchtime.  It was as if we'd known them forever, they were all so friendly and chatty and interested in the bike in question and its origins.  One of David's Aunts used to visit our home as a teenager during the war so we gave her a bit of an indoors tour and took the opportunity to ask her some questions on the house layout and which rooms were used for police business etc., etc.  She also got to meet one of the oldest residents in the village who lives next door to us.  David's Great Uncle was 6'7" which is why the bike had to be adapted.  Many of the cyclists, including David, had a go at riding the bike up and down the road - not as easy as it sounded as there were no gears and you had to peddle backwards to brake!  A lovely sandwich lunch with the group at the local pub and a pop down to the village fair afterwards made for a very pleasant day.

David riding his Great Uncle's special bobby bike.

May has also seen the start of Ben's GCSEs.  The 3 hour English Language went well and luckily the hot weather broke in time for the big day, meaning those sitting it weren't feeling as uncomfortable as expected.  By the afternoon the weather had changed drastically with thunderstorms and very heavy rain.  Villages close to where the exam was held experienced unbelievable hail resulting in damage to some properties in the area.

Since then, the weather has remained fairly unsettled.  This little fella seems to be the only thing around that's enjoying the sudden downpours and sogginess of it all.


With his Maths exams popping up early next month and soon out of the way, concentration is turning to Physics and Chemistry and the thoughts of GCSE Astronomy as well (via distance learning).  We have found lots of You Tube videos to help with the sciences and some interesting hands on experiments (which so far have been successful - it's not always the case!).  We made a basic battery a couple of weeks ago which was fascinating.  Details can be found on this pdf here.

Layers of pennies, tin foil and kitchen towels damp with salt water = simple battery.

Ju-jitsu award for Ben

A few weeks ago Ben took part in a competition run by KSOMA, the martial arts school he attends.  He had to perform four moves, three of which he could choose and practise before the event and the fourth a move that the teachers and judges selected on the day.  Each part of the competition was judged and marked and a comment sheet presented a week later with an overall percentage mark and grade.  Ben was thrilled to received a Distinction grade (and was especially pleased with the two "awesome" remarks on his sheet") and a trophy too.  All who took part received a medal with different coloured ribbon depending on age and current belt grading.  Go Ben!

New Year - new ideas

Happy New Year to you all.  I hope, for those who saw the new year in, you had a fun-filled evening, and for those who crept to bed before the midnight hour, I hope you weren't woken by fireworks and revellers!  I think this was the first year all four of us stayed up to hear Big Ben strike 12 and watch the fireworks from the comfort of our sofa.

With new year comes new thoughts and ideas.  For the first time since 2010 I've resurrected my trusty Filofax (yep, they're still around) for my hard-copy diary as I really am not very good at using the diary on my phone.  With all the other sections too that needed updating I thought perhaps I'd use it for quick Ellie's Treasures notes and ideas too, so everything will be in one place.

I've had a new product idea which, for now I'll keep close to my chest, but the first thing I want to update is my packaging.  Currently all my items are wrapped in tissue with ribbon decoration, but I'm thinking of moving towards using envelopes for my key rings and brooches that can also hold a little printed note and a business card.  That way everything will be sealed together in one neat little package and I'll decorate it with a tasteful something or other on the front or back.

There's plenty of small A6 envelopes on ebay to get me started, and I've discovered riky and nina who sell extremely cute stickers and Miss Honeybird who sells pretty stamps.  Ooh, the ideas, the ideas ....

Sunset over Hunstanton beach

It had been a scorcher of a day last Thursday so we decided, after tea, to head out to Hunstanton beach to make the most of the wonderful weather.  The tide was out but the shallow creeks of cool water were perfect for paddling in.  Ben's friend, visiting from Skye, decided to bury Ben in the sand and turn him into a mermaid, and then he very kindly offered to lay on the sand and become the dividing net for a game of beach tennis!  We witnessed the most wonderful setting of the sun as the evening progressed and couldn't resist taking lots of snaps.

Household Cavalry Equestrian and Country Show

Having unfortunately missed this last year I blocked out the majority of July's weekends for this year in order not to double book and miss it again. The Household Cavalry spend some time in Norfolk for their Summer break, the highlight of which (for the locals and those lucky enough to find out about it beforehand) is their Holkham beach visit where horse and riders in large numbers have the best of times in and out of the sea. They don't really broadcast the date of this trip in advance, I guess for obvious reasons of being swamped by visitors and cameras, and so we did actually miss this again this year but hope, one year, we shall be lucky and get to witness what must be an amazing site. You can follow the The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment on Facebook and see all their fabulous pictures.

However, we did get to go along to their Equestrian Show and Country Fair last Sunday. Weather was blooming hot by the time we reached there, around 2ish, and I felt a bit sorry for the riders in all their finery, they must have been very uncomfortable. The atmosphere was amazing - friendly, welcoming and relaxed. We watched the Mirror Image Knockout Competition - something I think should appear at the local shows - such great fun. Two rows of simple jumps and two competing side by side to clear them in the quickest time, against each other. These horses (and perhaps the riders) aren't so used to jumping, so it made for an entertaining show at times (as was the Eventers Grand Prix later in the afternoon).

 After this, and a quick watch of the bird of prey demonstration, we headed off to see the tentpegging. I have to admit, when I saw this listed last year I didn't realise it was a horse activity, the name doesn't really give away what is involved! The steady horse and rider team has to ride at a fast pace, aim and successfully scoop up a couple of hanging rings and then something secured in the ground using a javlin to begin with, and then a sword.

A quick visit to the beer tent for much needed cold refreshments and then a wander through the temporary stables to visit the gorgeous cavalry stars - the horses, including Mercury the adorable drum horse. Stupidly we'd left our packet of polos in the car (and it was a long walk back to it), but those horses certainly didn't miss out, people were handing out treats left, right and centre!

As the sun heated up even more we found a seat and watched the Eventers Grand Prix and then the parade or horses which featured, as a guest star, Joey from the musical War Horse. When the crowd were invited to jump the fence and meet the horses in the parade, the majority went over to see Joey - he was so lifelike and had quite a personality for a puppet horse!

The highlight of the afternoon was of course the Mounted Regiment Musical Ride.


A spectacular show of man and horse working in partnership.



An absolutely brilliant afternoon - will certainly be diarising again for next year.




Photos taken by Katie.

Life at Ellie's Treasures HQ

In the last month we've lost one and seemed to have gained one - pets that is.  Ben's gorgeous fantail fish swam off to watery heaven this week, which is sad but he/she was an fabulous age, probably around 8 years old so I'm guessing it was a natural end.

With one down, another appears.  This fluff ball, who we've named Toscanini seems to have attached herself to us.  She started appearing in the garden a few weeks ago and then she'd made herself at home inside the old rabbit hutch and, of course, I started putting a bit of food out for her as she's quite thin.  Within a few days she was coming closer and closer towards the house asking for her food.  Eventually she wandered in and has now taken residence on the comfy snug chair.  She has a biggish belly, so I'm hoping she's not carrying a litter - guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!  No one has shown signs of looking for her, no posters up in the village or anything and she's not in the best condition.

It was interesting to see how the other cats adapted to her being in the house. Kan, himself once a stray, accepted Tosca immediately and completely ignores her, like he does the others (unless they're in his space).  Tilly was a little wary to begin with and gave her a wide birth but was happy to share the same space to eat.  Pepper, forever the sensitive, was completely put out, hissing and yowling like a demented wild animal, staying out unless he knew the coast was completely Tosca free.  He was so angry with everyone and everything it was more over-the-top than usual for him and eventually we found out why.  He had a huge abscess on his side, bigger than a golf ball.  Luckily we were able to let it drain and he's back to being sensitive but no longer yowling!  He's still a little put out by Tosca, but at least he'll eat in the same room as her now.

Tilly - caught red-handed munching on Poppy's food!

We took Poppy along to Long Sutton show to have a go at the dog show this year.  She did very well a couple of years ago and I thought it would be fun to try and win a rosette (or two) again this time.  Freshly bathed and in her best lead we entered the “prettiest bitch” class along with, perhaps, 30 others.  No contest, didn’t get a look in!  I was going to put her in for “veteran” but got chatting to friends and decided the rosettes weren’t worth the catching up and enjoying all the other horsey activities taking place.  It was a fun afternoon, but very hot.

Jay and Katie have been doing very well with shows.  A few months back Katie decided to take him along to Spalding Riding Club show to just try the clear round to see if Jay was capable of jumping a course of jumps.  He loved it, flew round and they got their clear round rosette.  This spurred Katie on to try a full class and so we took him along to Wisbech & District Riding Club show a month later.  He came fourth in that class, having jumping two clear rounds at 2’.  Last month she took Jay to Tilney Riding Club show and competed against some other horses at 1’9”.  The first round they went clear and were put through to the jump off with four other horses (the class had been split into horses and ponies) and Jay managed the jump off in such a fabulous time that matched that of the ponies.  Mr. Speedy himself I think.  They came first which was absolutely fabulous.
 
Last weekend they took part in a charity pleasure ride and were able to jump a few cross country jumps which was good fun.  Next … back to Spalding show to take part in the 2’ novice class.

Summer = ju-jitsu demonstrations for Ben and his martial arts team and also another grading which means he’s now on first purple belt.  Inching ever closer to the black!  During the summer holidays he’s going to do a three day intensive “gain a grade” session to up two belts at his next grading.

Time to slow down!

Yeah right, as if!  It's been all go here the last couple of months with Katie taking the last of her IGCSE exams.  After our visit to Bristol for Art, the remaining two, ICT and Computer Studies, were sat in Attleborough, South Norfolk with a couple of weeks between them.  A little closer to home, but still and hour 1/2 drive away, so it warranted a couple of overnight stays because of early starts.  We went self catering at The Lodge at the the Old Manse which was extrememly comfortable and well equipped with plenty of goodies in the fridge and cupboards to keep us hunger free at breakfast time and well oiled with tea and coffee!  We stayed there with my friend and her daughter who was also sitting exams in Attleborough, so it was nice to have someone to hang around with while the girls were busy, especially as one exam was for 3 hours.  There were plenty of coffee shops to sit and natter in, and plenty of well stocked second hand shops too for a spot of browsing and purchasing.  We had such a fabulous curry at The Shapla on our first trip that we decided to return for our second trip, taking Paul and Ben along with us too.  A lovely evening both times, delicious food and friendly staff, although it took several attempts to get a bill out of them at the end of the meal!  Exams seemed to go OK, pretty much, so we just need to wait for the results and keep our fingers crossed.  Katie's had another college interview, at Stamford, and got the impression she'll be accepted, subject to the necessary exam passes.  She's really pleased about this as the course seems to tick more boxes than the one at Peterborough College.

So, now exams are out of the way, text books are being put firmly back on the book shelf and course work hidden away (probably under the bed!), Katie finally has some time to do absolutely nothing!  Actually she's decided to find a little job to bring in a bit of money as her list of horsey things is growing and growing and she'd like to save up for a better laptop.  It'll feel weird if she manages to find a paying job - she'll have more money than me ;0)

Ben has been working away throughout all this upheavel on his GCSE Maths, ICT and English without any hint of trouble.  I've decided a good break is well needed, from a teaching point of view, so the Maths will take a bit of a back seat until after Summer, unless I get a sudden urge to sit down and plough on with it.  He's more-or-less finished the exam course already, so I'm not too worried about leaving it for a bit.

My desk is a mountain of unattended paper work, bills to pay, money to sort, things to look up etc., etc.  You know how it is, it's never ending.  Summer is a busy time with outings, birthday get-togethers and Ben's jujitsu demos which will kick in very soon taking up a lot of weekends.

On the sewing front I've started a new wallet in grey and 70s style swirly/paisley green and white, and have listed two new items, a keyring and a necklace.  Taking photos of these two seemed to take an age, and tweaking them to get the colours right took even longer.  Hope you like them.  Others are in the pipeline as is a new idea of a mixed media picture.  I'll keep you posted :0)

Somerset holiday

We spent a lovely week in North Somerset, coming home last Saturday.  As Katie was taking her art IGCSE in Bristol is seemed a perfect opportunity to rent a cottage for the week somewhere close by and we found Mendip View in Congresbury as our ideal holiday home.  It was absolutely perfect with owners, Clare and Richard, just next door in case any problems cropped up and for a good natter over the fence should we see them!  A homely, well stocked welcome basket awaited us on the kitchen table and there were other lovely little additions around the house - bubble bath, dishwasher tablets, a towel for Poppy (should the weather be foul (luckily it wasn't)), games and plenty of books.


As the week went on we began to realise how perfectly located the cottage is.  Main roads to Bristol were a stone's throw away, the motorway about 15 mins and the local train station which took us into Bristol (and then on to London as Paul needed to go into the office one afternoon) just 5 mins away.  We even had Bristol airport a short drive away and took a couple of opportunities to drive up to a parking area alongside the runway to get a really good close view of take offs and landings.  We could quite easily up-sticks and move to this place - it ticked all the boxes.

Shopping took place in Bristol and at Cadbury Garden Centre (excellent craft finds there).  Pretty water feature at Bristol harbourside.  Some eating out took place - nice to be spoilt once in a while!  Watching planes take off and land alongside the runway at Bristol airport.

With the house being at the foot of Cadbury Hill, we took  a climb to the top to witness the fabulous views right over the Bristol Channel to Wales.  On the way back down, getting a little lost among the many man-made paths, we discovered a vast expanse of wild garlic - it smelt wonderful.


Other amazing views were from the top of Uphill, a lovely village close to Weston-Super-Mare.


There were also visits to Clevedon, SS Great Britain (Brunel's beautiful ship docked at Bristol harbourside), At Bristol interactive science centre (Ben's highlight of the week) and a few drives in the Land Rover, including some lovely leafy and hilly lanes.

Nice to be home, but really missing the fun and relaxation of being away.

Mother's Day

I hope all mums out there had a special day last Sunday. I was treated to a yummy breakfast cooked by Paul first thing before heading out to the yard. It was a lovely treat, although I don't think Katie and Ben liked the idea of getting up 1/2 hour earlier than normal to eat it! Ben and Paul cooked home made pizza for evening dinner, and Katie made a deliciously sweet banoffee pie. They know me so well - the way to my heart is certainly through my stomach!!


I made this voucher/money pouch for my mum as a Mother's Day gift as she thought the one I made before was a good idea and apparently she has a lot of vouchers and notes to carry around!  The one I made for her has gussets at the sides to make it wider and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It took quite a while to complete and at one point, close to finishing, I realised one side was completely upside down! Anyway, mum was really chuffed with it and has asked for another for her other handbag!


Would love to hear what you all got or gave or did for Mother's Day - comment below if you want to share.

 

So we've had the snow ...

and now the temperatures have risen and, although the wind is quite blustery, it feels Spring is just around the corner (although we had a flurry of snow first thing this morning!).

As always I loved waking up to a white world, but this year, the excitement of it didn't last as long as usual.  Having to drive to the yard twice a day takes its toll when roads are slippery from ice, snow or slush!  It took a while to melt too, but while it was here we had a bit of fun in it, of course!

We took the sledge out, as we've done in the past, pulling it behind the Land Rover with Ben sitting comfortably having a ball!  I think we drove faster this year, keeping a careful eye on our young towing passenger behind so he didn't fall out :0)  He loved it, the road was mighty slippy and at one point he was weaving from side to side and in absolute hysterics! 

On day two of the snow we had plenty for snow ball fights and made a snow dog.

Weirdly after a week of temperatures in the minus numbers the temperature started to rise to about 10 degrees and has hovered around that mark ever since.  The sun's been out and it's been pretty pleasant out there (even started me thinking I'd get on with digging the veggie patch). 

Our four hens have kept us egg-less since they all arrived in late Summer, but during that chilly spell we had our first egg and now plenty of eggs are appearing in the hen house every day.  Naturally we grumbled about the lack of eggs, now we are kind of grumbling about the sudden influx of eggs!  Lots of baking, carbonara, egg fried rice and fried egg sandwiches are making a small dent in our ever growing supply.  We came across a large stash of eggs in the bushes the other day - perhaps they'd been laying for longer but we hadn't been finding them!  That's often the way I believe and I'm sure there's other little stashes around the garden we have yet to discover.

Roll on Spring, lighter evenings, warmer days, yep, that's what we all like.

16 years ...

that's my Katie - yep, 16!  She celebrated her birthday yesterday, as everywhere turned white - first snow of the year.

I love the way she knows exactly what she's doing - there are things in her life that she's very passionate about, although you wouldn't really know about them unless you stood back and took it all in.  Working quietly and in her own special way to gain more and more understanding of what she loves - she has goals and she'll reach them.

I love having topical conversations with her and listening to her view point - we've shared a lot and I've learnt a lot from her.

It's not all fabulous!  It often feels like I'm constantly nagging her to work harder - she has grades to reach in order to move along her chosen path.  However, she's proven over the last couple of years that she knows the time frame and she gets to where she needs to be in good time!

Early rises are not her forte, but Katie gets up every morning (unless she has a friend staying over) to go to the yard to muck out, feed and ride Jay.  Her quiet determination to build up Jay's confidence, muscle strength and riding skills have been amazing.

Big changes happening this year with college just around the corner - let's hope 2013 is a fabulous year for her.

Happy birthday Katie.