C.J.

We've had snow again for the past two days. The trouble is, it keeps melting by late afternoon, by which time, it's too late to ride. It is definitely getting light earlier in the mornings now, though, and not getting dark until well after five. I heard two horses trotting past the house yesterday, and felt like rushing out and shouting, "Go home! It's not fair! If I'm not riding, you shouldn't be riding!" Can you imagine the looks on their faces if I really did it? They'd go back to their yard and say, "That mad old lady from Moor Farm was out again!" Tempting though...
The farrier came today. One day I shall pluck up the courage to ask if I can photograph him (and his partner) at work, and put some pics on here. He came at 10.30, so Barnaby had been kicking his door most of the morning. I managed to block it out in the end. When I went indoors he stopped doing it, so it's a bit obvious it's attention seeking, isn't it?
Fudge just had a trim. He reared up when the farrier did his front foot. He's only a little pony, but his head was touching the ceiling. His feet may still be sensitive, I suppose, but that was a little extreme.
The chickens don't want to go home until 5pm now, so I am letting them put themselves away and going to check on them and shut the door. I am a bit concerned, though. Do you remember Mr O and I saw a fox running across the field last week? Then Missis said Lexus had rolled in fox poo on Sunday night, so the fox has been in their garden. If you come any closer Charles James, you'll be sorry.
We did have pancakes, by the way, and they were gorgeous. I first made them when David was a toddler. We were watching Blue Peter one afternoon, when the presenter (I forget who it was) made pancakes. She started off with a perfectly good mixture, but kept pestering it, until she ended up with a pile of scrambled eggs in the middle of the pan. Of course it's live television, so there was nothing she could do about it. I was laughing my head off at her predicament (you can't swear on live children's TV, after all, but I bet she wanted to). I thought, 'Surely I can do better than that?' and immediately went down to the kitchen to have a go. They turned out very well, and I've been making them (sometimes obsessively) ever since. We had black cherry pie filling and cream, bananas, maple syrup and cream, and Mr O had ice cream. Yummy.
Then the next day I had a brainwave, and decided to make some jam tarts to use up the leftover black cherries. I even had enough to make a jam turnover. I haven't had one of those since I was about seven.
The problem is, Mr O has decided to give up all sweet things for Lent, so he couldn't have any. We are born again Christians, and have no obligation to 'do' Lent at all, but we normally do. I am giving up chocolate, which will be torture enough I think. My job is so physical that if I give up a lot of food, I'll probably pass out!
One of my challenges this month is to make a lemon meringue pie, which I've been dying to do, but if Mr O can't eat it, it's a bit mean I think. I'll have to postpone that to after Easter. Over last summer I did a project on bread, biscuits and cakes, and got quite good at them. Then not long ago we were discussing 'the youth of today' and I was saying how most young people wouldn't know how to make pastry, and wouldn't be able to make a pie, which is probably true, but afterwards I thought, "Can you, dear?" so I am challenging myself to make lots of things with pastry, hence the desire for lemon meringue, but the jam tarts are a start, aren't they?