It never rains but it pours

I had been expected life to be back to something more resembling normality this week as most of the work on the house is finished.  However it never rains but it pours and my life has been thrown into more chaos again because sadly my mother has suffered a stroke.

She is doing well and fortunately it was only a mild stoke, but even so she will be in hospital for a while.  I've been all at sixes and sevens this week and feeling so exhausted, but I am starting to sort myself out and am getting organised around the daily visits to the hospital.

It is such a relief that the horses are where they are and I know they are out in the pasture and well looked after.  We are hoping to spend some time with them on Sunday – and maybe even ride!

Tomorrow we are moving our elder son into the house.  I hope he will be very happy there – and I can start to sort my house out!

100th post!

This is my 100th post. Ceffylau has been running since April 2008. Looking back, a lot has happened in our lives with the horses in that time. We have moved Red twice and Dee three times. Red has been on loan and is now on working livery. We have experimented with DIY livery, part livery, grass livery and various combinations of all types of livery in an attempt to keep and continue to have the pleasure of our horses. We are relieved that at last we seem to have found a place where we can afford to keep both Dee and Red, where they are happy and we are happy too. I have also recovered from a bad knee injury and seem to be pretty fit. I now walk across the uneven ground in the fields with confidence.

I apologise for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks. Life is rather full at the moment and I am not succeeding in keeping up with everything. We inherited half a house a while ago, and in February we bought the other half from my brother-in-law. The house had been rather neglected over recent years and requires quite a lot of work to be done to it before anyone can move in. Having been working on the house a couple of days every week, I have decided that I wanted to move things along a little more quickly and so am now working up there four days a week until it is nearer finished. Our elder son, Daniel is going to live in the upstairs of the house, with a friend living downstairs. We are not making a complete split into two flats so that the house can easily be returned to a family home in the future, but we are ensuring that they have independent accommodation. Consequently we are turning the smallest bedroom upstairs into a little kitchen for Daniel, and are turning the scullery downstairs into a bathroom for our friend.

As well as all this time-consuming house renovation, I am involved in several publishing projects, so I am feeling a little thinly spread. I miss reading all my blog friends' posts and keeping in touch with you all. All these commitments also mean there is little time for riding, and I haven't in fact ridden either Dee or Red for two weeks. They are both well and fit however and I'm sure they don't mind me not riding, though they do seem pleased to see me when I go up to see them, which is most days. I have arranged to ride with some Briwnant friends on Wednesday, so I am looking forward to that.

I will try to post more often while the work on the house continues – even if it is just to put up some photographs.

Hwyl!