Rain.

I was up early enough to see the sunrise. And true to the old saying the red sky was a herald of rain.

It began raining just as we were about to lead our horses into the school and then to add insult to injury the overhead sprinklers in the school carried on for much longer then usual. 

But the rain was much needed as for the past three nights wildfires have been burning in the Elan Valley (photo from the web) and at Teifi Pools and yesterday there was another wildfire. The Hafod estate has been closed to the public as a precaution and people were being asked not to drive on certain roads.

 

But here all was peaceful as I sat gazing at the view. Everything was quiet as the seabirds, bar the odd one or two, had left the area. The farmers are muckspreading at the moment which generally yields a good bounty of worms and other invertebrates.

With few birds to watch I began to notice more subtle details around me such as the ever changing cloud formations. There's so much to see once you start looking.

Down at the stables I had my lovely Tex again. I was there early and gave his mane a good brushing. He has a thick mane which usually flops on both sides but today by the time I brushed out the hidden tangles I was able to get it all over to one side. 

There were only four of us in the lesson and after doing lots of work on 10m circles we ended the lesson with some a lot of cantering. I didn't ask Tex to canter from walk but was satisfied with him cantering from trot every time I asked. Earlier in the trot work he came nicely onto the bit too. I couldn't help laughing (as  did Chloe who was teaching us) when on being asked to lengthen his stride down the long sides his little legs went ping, ping, ping all the way.

After the usual supermarket shopping I went into town where I donated a bag of clothes to a charity shop. And came out with this party dress form Next for £4. (£42 on eBay.) It's too snug on the hips to simply shorten it for a disco top. I'm thinking slits up the sides after shortening as well as a bit of alteration to the top. The green sequins look blue from different angles, mermaid/ peacock?

Before coming home I drove to Tal Y Bont to pick up four more small pallets from the car park behind the hall. The printing company there often leaves out pallets for people to help themselves. I have plans to use the pallets to make a two level compost bin in the back garden. That should save some trips to the dump especially as our neighbour takes the hedge trimmings to burn on his farm.