Christmas Tree.

Quite mild today with a little sun and a lot of rain. Although it wasn't raining at the time I had my wake up cuppa sitting in the open doorway as the terrace was very wet.

When I got to the stables the rest of the group were already there. We were a bit early, 8 and a 1/2 minutes we were told so the boss and her girls had time for a coffee and we were asked to wait. 

The horses all have their saddles on but are tied up wearing headcollars and we are expected to put their bridles on when we are ready to take them into the school. After the lesson if they are going to be needed again we leave their saddles on otherwise we untack them. Today I was back to riding Cadno. He needs more leg than Margaret and encouraging noises help. I also tell him that if he doesn't liven up I'll smack the crop on my leg (the sound is enough to wake him up). It was all dressage type work in trot today, sitting as well as rising. There are three of us that like riding Margaret as she goes so nicely in trot if unpredictable in canter but the owner likes us to ride different horses and she's the boss. Some of the class were booking themselves on a two and a half hour hack before Christmas but it clashes with my Welsh class and there is the crocheting to do. 

I took some stuff to the Red Cross shop in town  then made them a donation and they gave me this glass paperweight for my collection. At least that's what I told Peter. That's a different way of saying I bought myself yet another paperweight. I also bought a new purple canvas handbag with a long shoulder strap. I had two handbags at home but the one which is big enough for my camera is looking rather worn and the zip broke on the smaller handbag. Not only did the toggle come off but it left the bag closed with purse, phone and car keys inside (I was at choir at the time). I had to use somebody else's car keys to force the zip open.

(Photos below from the web, first two taken by William Johnson.)

It wasn't this dark during the day in town, but dark enough when it rained that the lights on the town Christmas tree looked very pretty. It is one of several around the town and was made by a local blacksmith. The very same guy who was supposed to give us a quote for our terrace balustrade. Our recent builder has the details of the same company that supplies the glass and rails and is contacting them for a quote. I have a feeling he will be a lot quicker. There is at least one traditional tree in town too.

This is the only photo I could find of our village tree all lit up. Driving home from choir on Wednesday I could see it from about half a mile down the road and very pretty it was too.

Off now to crochet.

PS It was a laugh at disco aerobics last night and we danced to a lot of Christmas hits. Some people turned up in sequinned tops and strings of tinsel while I had my glowing dog collar. The glo-sticks I took along were a real hit. I shared them out so that it ended up with ten of us wearing them. They looked extremely effective especially down at the dark end of the hall.