more mo

quickly while i'm at it here's another one of rike and mo, taken just yesterday and you can see that it is still very sunny and warm for the last days of november (13 degrees celsius after all) and so we had yet another beautiful afternoon with the black fluffy. the two of them will ride another dressage competition on saturday, so there was some training involved, too.

also great to see was the strikingly unreal tree in the middle of the field at mount mascal, often occupied by a large parakete population, and yesterday in the low light truly bewitched....

Motown!

finally and after increased pressure from friends and family here are some pics of the latest addition to our circus: ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the magnificent motown!!!

rike started riding this black beauty (if i got it right he is a welsh c cob 15hh, but i'm sure i'll get corrected on this one) back in september when an all day saturday engagement at the centre for young musicians meant she couldn't go riding with her mates in willowtree any longer. after we had cruised the near and far livery yards in kent, essex, sussex and dorset, it was by sheer luck that on the last day of holidays we saw taylor's yard and bumped into mo's owner who was just looking for a rider. rike disappeared for half an hour or so and came back with glowing cheeks. and, yes, the rest is history...

look at the picasa pics on the top right for more on mo. 

a school boy and a half

The highlight of the highlights this summer was of course the first school day for our youngster konstantin, my lovely nephew, now six years old and therefore just ready to start the lot. Once we had the invitation to be around we cut short our stay in switzerland and dashed over to frankfurt to see just how many sweets you can pack into a 'schultüte', that candy filled peculiarity the germans and some of the neighboring countries use to celebrate the day.

konstantin's bag was full of sugary things and some other little nick-nack and if i'm right rike was seriously considering starting school all over again in germany. but there were more serious moments, too. after a childrens service in the local church the whole family went to the school to have the boy registered and tagged. this was followed by a song-and-dance from the seven year olds who battled to get the kids attention away from the candy bags and cheerfully told the kids that it was normal to be nervous. i looked around. there were no nervous children, they were all way too busy munching sweets. no, the only people nervous were the parents, and - the aunties, indeed.

wassen and andermatt

what do you do if your child has hardly seen any mountains at all in her life and your husband claims the rockies are the only peak worth climbing? admittedly we have seen some spectacular mountain ranges in the us, but let's not forget that i learned skiing at the tender age of 4 and that my then hometown was just a short hop into the alps. so i felt a certain need to take rike and deac into the white (and grey and green) world of the 3000er to wassen and andermatt this summer, just to show off a bit.

the hotel alte post in wassen on the gotthartpass, which already housed good ol' goethe on his way to italy, became our place and we were smitten by the friendly welcome. it was just when I mentioned that we would now climb onto the gurschenalp that they startet making faces: rike here gives a fine look of a mountain bison, and deac reminds me vagely of the alm oehi from "heidi". only me then to look prep and pretty and keep the family together!

but just like me they also truly enjoyed the glorious views from the mountain tops and a flash of pride when my europe sceptic husband muttered 'impressive'...plus spledid isolation at the peak - just us!

moulin de la pipe

i mentioned our happy go lucky approach to accomodation this year already and there were moments on the trip that i had no idea what i had actually booked and what to expect. the print-out from the booking and a good sat-nav meant we were sometimes totally taken by surprise, and often just happy how great our places were. moulin de la pipe was one of those places where we were just lucky. a great old hotel now run by the jazz loving owner who holds concerts for 2000 people twice a month it has breathtaking scenery and a wealth of interesting places to go to. check it out!

magical moments

Just back from a couple of days in Belgium where the days were sunny but the nights already close to freezing point and as we caught the last sun rays i had to think of what must have been the most beautiful moment of the entire summer, a long and relaxed lunch with dominique and michel in lagrasse, in a little farm belonging to their friend. After we conquered lagrasse on horse whe crossed the river over the mighty bridge and walked just along the famous abbey to an old farmhouse, where dominique served one of the best meals we ever had. i don't even really recall what it was - some roasted veggies, and a ratatouille, plus an apple tart for dessert, some wine...Deac said later he felt like being in a film, in one of these fantastic french films, where life is small but beautiful...sheer magic!



le plo

le plo in montlaur is one of the places we dream of going to more or less all the time and as much as we try not to compare it with our beloved geronimo it is hard to resist. in the end i decided that it's better to list the things they have in common: very special people, fantastic horses, and spectacular landscape. it was beautiful to see that all the horses we rode six years ago were still there and happily coming on the trail, and after a little bit of checking deac got dulce, rike rode the gorgeous zuccador and i ended up with the lovely apache. day long rides took us deep into the corbiere mountains, to lagrasse, montagne d'alaric, and other places steeped in history and with stories to tell.