Zanny and the Wimp

"Grrr!" says Mr Mouse, "It is so boring being stuck inside when it rains." So he attacks one of the dining chairs again. 

 "Mummy, isn't it about time you painted these chairs?" Sigh. One day. There are far more interesting things to do.

 "Maybe if I bite and scratch it, the old varnish will come off and save you a job." Thanks Mouse.

 Yes Mousie, you are very cute!

 We had another wet day yesterday, but today there was a brief break in the weather, so the sun appeared for a while. I did some jobs (including an urgent mission to buy tea- I never thought I'd miss a cup of tea so much), then headed out to the farm to see Mrs Zanny.

Well, there was a lot of action out at the farm today. There were riding lessons in the arena, and Tara was in season yet again. She was prancing around flamboyantly, and had managed to break the front clips on her cover with all of the silly activity. When I mounted up, Tara was racing around calling, generally causing a scene. In addition to that there was a big gentleman practising his jumping skills, and his thundering hooves added to the drama in the air.

Now, Zanny is partially sighted, so screeching and prancing Tara plus Walter bounding and thundering, is all pretty scary when you can only see it on one side. She did very well, but I was far too wimpy and just plodded around, playing super safe. We did a bit of trotting but I was a bit disappointed with myself for not challenging myself by working on my goals. I've really got to push myself a bit harder to get over the fear barrier. Zanny is a very safe girl, so I should just trust her, and anyway, the ground was mushy in the arena so if I had fallen off I would have been cushioned by the slush. Or I possibly could have disappeared into a puddle of quick sand, crying "Save me Zanny!" and being the super horse she is, she would have done just that.

Next time I will do better.

Mr Mouse and I worked on a new project this afternoon. I bought this panel of fabric ages ago, and finally pieced together a matching backing panel. So we made the quilt sandwich today, and I started machine quilting it while enjoying some particularly graphic murder scenes from Dexter Series 5. I'm not sure that is typical viewing for ladies working on quilts,  but it kept me calm, even when my sewing machine jammed up with a stuck thread.

 I did draw the line at attempted theft of my quilting pins. Very dangerous, Mr Mouse! At least he kept his paws well clear of the sewing machine needle. We've had words about that before.

 I adore this fabric, with butterflies and birdies among the blooms. I've got Dutch iris out in the garden at the moment.

It is going to rain again tomorrow, apparently. I've got plenty to do. I can't believe the holidays are almost over.