MUSICAL DOLL; Jealous

"You and I, feel like its forever, 

You're my do or die...

Acting like I care less, but oh my god, I'm jealous!

ONCE UPON A DREAM; Autumn Riding & Writing

 

I have always missed horses the most at this time of year.  There is something about the autumnal trees and misty mornings that make me long to ride through the woods and enjoy a good gallop.  For a long while, I haven't really had the time to ride because I've been so busy with my studies, but I knew that once the Masters degree classes were finished, I would get back in the saddle.   

I really enjoyed my first ride on the autumnal equinox, and I have been riding regularly since then.  It's wonderful to be back in the saddle and out in the fresh air.  As a writer I spend a lot of time cooped up indoors, so it's lovely to get out riding once more.  Although I can't spend as much time at the stables as I would like, it just feels amazing to be back there at all, especially after the pandemic.  I feel like I will never take stable-life for granted again!

Riding is hard work.  It's a fantastic workout and it has the added adrenaline rush of a risk attached, because horses do spook and throw their riders from time to time.  But that's one of the things I love about it.  It is unpredictable and the horses keep me alert and thinking ahead.   Autumn is a busy time for wildlife and so the horses do tend to spook a lot, as birds fly out of the tree line, or squirrels dash around looking for food to store.  All this sudden activity can scare a horse and make them shy, so you do have to be ready for the unexpected!

When I worked at the equestrian center some years ago, autumn was my favorite riding season because it is still sunny, but neither too hot nor too cold to make riding and stables chores an arduous task.  The weather is just right.  The woodlands are stunning in all their autumn colours, and while the deer tracks can be muddy under hoof, it all adds up to an enjoyable and exhilarating riding experience.  

Although I no longer work with horses, I still love the smells and sounds of the stable yard; the shuffling of hooves through shavings or straw, the chomping of the bit and jingling of harness, the smell of fresh wood shavings as beds are put down, the grassy scent of hay as hay nets are filled, followed by the rustle as horses pull wisps of hay from the netting.  I love the scent of saddle soap and old leather, of molasses mixed into feed with fresh apples and carrots.  I love it all.

As the days grow shorter, stable routines become much cozier.  Beds are put down earlier and filled out with fresh shavings; horses are  brought in from the fields, groomed and put into their pajamas - that is they are rugged up and their stables bandages put on. Hay-nets are filled, weighed and put ready for the night checks.  Tucking the horses in for the night was always a pleasure. 

One of my favourite jobs at the equestrian center was mixing the night feeds. The feed room would always smell like a summer meadow, with all the varieties of feed in their bins. I enjoyed mixing up the meals for individual horses, adding in the molasses, the sugar beat, the appropriate supplements, stirring it all up and then leaving it to dampen down, before it would be given to the horses last thing at night.  Feeding time is still one of the things I miss about working with horses - but I am so glad I'm free of that job come the winter time or a summer heatwave!   Still, the scent of horse feed always makes me feel nostalgic for my very first job at the stables when I was a teenage girl.

That said, at this stage in my life I am much happier to just ride and leave all the hard work to a whole new generation of pony-girls! It's someone else's job to clear the ice from the water troughs, or dig the ragwort from the fields!  Now I love that I can just go and have all the fun, with none of the discomfort of working long days in pouring rain, or freezing winds.  Now I ride, I take joy in the outdoors, I see my horsey friends and enjoy the camaraderie - but then I get back in my car and drive home to my warm little house, where my writing work is waiting for me.   

I feel like I have a good balance of writing and horses in my life again and it makes me so happy.  It's as if the two things feed off one another - the writing pays for the riding and stable time, while the fresh air of a woodland hack or a lovely lesson blows away the cobwebs, leaving me clear headed, inspired and ready to write when I get home.  Since childhood, horses and books have always been the two main staples in my life, keeping me happy, healthy and motivated.  I am grateful that I am still in a position to enjoy both to the full. 

I'm currently working on some brand new projects too, which is very exciting.  My summer deadlines were met and so now it's time to bunker down for a dark season of new writing.  These two new projects are quite involved and there is a lot of work to do for them, but I am so thrilled that I get to create in this way that it doesn't really feel like work at all.  Writing is what I love to do. One of the projects is a dream come true for me and something that I used to imagine for myself, but then dismissed as a pipe-dream that would never happen.  Well, now it IS happening and I feel so grateful for the opportunity.  I can't wait to share it with you all!  The second project is also something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, but again, I didn't think that I would ever get the opportunity - I thought I'd missed the boat on that one completely, but now the chance has come along for me to bring that vision to life in my writing as well.  I feel very lucky.

To my mind, there is nothing better than riding beautiful horses and ponies in the morning, then returning home to settle into my study and start writing my dream projects.  I'm also planning to return to ice-skating at some stage this winter too, all being well and I am going to an ice-dance show in December, so that should get me in the mood for skating again. 

It's awesome that this is my life and that I get to do all the things I love once more.  After months of restrictions and lock-downs, it is wonderful to have my horsey, happy writer's life back again; to have things to look forward to again. I never take it for granted and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is just thrilled to have a life again, because life after a pandemic feels even more magical!

Blessed Be

Marie x 

BOOK NOOK; Beswitched by Kate Saunders

 

"Flora looked down at her own arm, and her heart did a somersault of shock. Instead of her long-sleeved T-shirt, she appeared to be wearing a dark green jacket.  Something was throttling her neck uncomfortably - a green tie with red stripes, like the tie her dad wore to his office. How did that get there? She had never worn a tie in her life. Had she been knocked out and kidnapped and forced into someone else's clothes? No, don't be silly."

As a child, I used to love reading old-fashioned boarding school stories.  I devoured Malory Towers, St. Clare's, Trebizon and The Chalet School series, so I was delighted when I was sent this middle grade book, Beswitched, for review purposes.  

Yes, it's a children's book, but it's also a great story and I have always believed that good stories are for everyone, regardless of age.  I've had it on my shelf for a few weeks, but I wanted to wait until I could devote an entire day to reading it.  That day was today and it has honestly been one of the most nostalgic books I've read in a long time.

Although the protagonist, Flora, is very much a twenty-first century twelve year-old, this book is full of old-fashioned charm. I immediately felt like a girl again, as I excitedly curled up with a bag of sweets and a brand new boarding school story to read! I wasn't a bit disappointed. 

Flora is sent off to a modern boarding school for a couple of terms, so that her parents can create a granny flat above their garage and have her grandmother come to live with them.  As a spoilt child of our times, Flora isn't happy about this at all.  Even less so when her train journey somehow takes her back in time and she ends up in 1935 and at a totally different kind of school!

Here she must sleep in a dormitory and wear a hideous school uniform. There are no hot showers, no posh hair products and she has to do Prep every night after a full day of classes. There are no laptops, mobile phones or internet to help with school work. She has to use her own brain for everything.  Add to this the pressure that she knows all about the Second World War that's coming but is powerless to stop it, and she feels the arrogance of the British Empire as it is in full swing, and Flora could be forgiven for having a sulky tantrum or two.

But all is not what it seems at St Winifred's School - students are dabbling in spells and witchcraft!  Flora makes new friends and they introduce her to a whole new world and a more modest way of living.  Will she ever find her way back home again, to her own time?

This is a lovely book for any young girl who loves school stories, or for any grown adult who used to love school stories!  It has all the charm of an Enid Blyton book without any of the problematic issues those stories are now frequently condemned for i.e classism, racism, sexism - all the isms really.  

In fact, Beswitched addressed these issues in a totally unique way, carefully considering them through the lens of the past without actually condoning them.  This book also highlights how much modern kids take for granted and how easy they have it compared to their grandparents.  It's a great historical and social commentary, told in a way that children can understand and relate to.  I did guess the ending, but I think that's because I'm an adult reader, not a child. Youngsters probably won't see it coming - they just don't think that far ahead! 

I think Beswitched will be popular with school teachers and parents alike.   It's certainly a nice little book and I have enjoyed reading it.  It really was like stepping back in time, into my own childhood reading habits! I highly recommend it as bedtime reading if you have kids - or even if you don't.   It's a simply spiffing read! 

BB Marie x

AD: This book was sent to me by the publisher for review purposes.  It is available now.