Thursday Arvos

That's "Thursday afternoons" for the non-Aussie readers. Making the most of our semi-rural living, Marlene goes horse riding each week. She has done this for almost 2 years and still seems keen on owning her own horse one day. A dream she will need to fulfill without her parents involvement! That is not to say we don't like horses but the thought of owning one seems overwhelming to the non-horse enthusiast.

First let me introduce you to a few of my friends. I have given them my own names. Here is Cappuccino...she thinks quite highly of herself as you can see in her confident pose.

Cappuccino shares a stable pen with Macchiato. Although share might be a little strong as Cappuccino is quite the attention seeker. Even as I tried to take a photo of Macchiato I was muscled out of the way. Is this a blond thing?!?

Marlene was riding an Islandic horse today. A step up from her usual ponies. She did very well given the horse can hardly feel the 20kg on top of it. They have the most gorgeous manes. The Islandics can also do an extra type of running called tolt. But today they were doing the usual trotting and galloping - not that I know anything really. So no more questions please, its just a brown horse and I drive a black car.

Here are all 4 riders going round and round (the technical term) as the dark clouds gather.

An attempt at an action shot. I am not sure that she was going so fast. It's possible the camera was so slow that its a little out of focus. And yes there is the little sister looking on from the sidelines.

We then headed to a swimming pool which was a complete disaster. We need an official certificate that she can swim 50m, and it was a chance to get it. It was 15 degrees C ( I read the thermo at the pool) and it also said the warmed outdoor pool water was 23 degrees....insert belly laugh. Given Marlene stayed in for a total of 35 seconds before leaping out shivering, I think it might have been a tad cooler. Mind you I can not blame her as it was steadily raining and I did not feel like standing poolside getting drenched whilst she waited in line in the water for her time to swim the 50m. We all came home for a hot chocolate and I noticed the heated towel rail had switched itself on in the bathroom. Welcome to summer in the North!

 Sorry Cappuccino, did you want to add something?