I am trying to walk as much as possible.  The theory is that  I will walk my spinal pain into submission.

So, after going for a very quiet ride on Haakon with Daisy and Iacs, I followed up by a walk. For company, Flossie and Klængur came along too.

And BeAnne, obviously.

We walked along my usual route – the road to the cattle grid and back.

Haakon was with me.

I thought I would see if Klængur liked thistles, or fistles as we call them.  Haakon adores these prickly plants.  They are a delicacy to him and on the way home, he always drags me off to find them on the side of the road.

He eats them right back to the root.

After little encouragement, Klængur found he liked thistles too.

Klængur took huge mouthfuls around the whole plant like it was boiling hot or a whole chilli.

Flossie likened it to eating a pop-tart hot from the toaster (an unknown concept to me).

I am sure thistles are good for the horses. They would’nt ask to eat them if they didn’t want to. It is odd, however, but at no other time of the year do my horses bother to eat them.

After we had stopped for every thistle on the side of the road, we wended our way home.

PS All the thistles at Leradale have been ripped out and eaten too.  Most odd.  Maybe it is an Icelandic horse thing.

I have always been fascinated by the art of felting and wanted to have a go at it myself.  Some lovely friends listened and sent me kit(s) for Christmas along with all the necessary so I could have a shot at it.

So, armed with everything required plus BeAnne, I drove over to a friend who knows all about this sort of thing.  She is very arty and crafty.  I am not.  All geared up, my friend got me started.  I learn much better seeing things being done in real life, rather than through films, books or lectures.  I had my own private tutor.

BeAnne was with me too as her New Year’s resolution is to widen her horizens and to travel more.  She settled quickly, which meant I didn’t have to worry about her.

I did attempt to read the instructions that came with the equipment.  They were excellent and informative, if strange.

And off I went.  I was trying to make a whale from the Whale Kit.

I quickly gave up on the whale idea and started making some legs instead.

Yup, I drew blood.  It was inevitable.

Can you guess what I wanted to make, or who?

I made sure I went outside regularly to stretch my legs and my back as I am still suffering.

And this is my finished creation.

I must admit I am feeling well chuffed with myself.  I think I have found what I want to make in my studio. I really enjoyed myself.  I had an excellent teacher and learned what to do and what not to do.

The future is a large flock.

A boring non-animal day today.  OH and I went to Lerwick with the van to collect building supplies for my studio.

A good few hours were spent measuring, cutting up and loading insulated plasterboard.

There were neat piles of the stuff in a huge builder’s yard shed and the pile we chose from was the damaged stock being sold for less than a quarter of the normal price.  A bargain not to be missed.  So we measured, cut and lugged many sheets of the damned stuff, going through a huge pile trying to find the best and least damaged sheets.

After that trial, on to the electric department for cabling and bits.

Lerwick was deserted – most shops still being shut for the Christmas, New Year, and possibly going into next Easter, holidays.

My back is agony now.  I got home, took some painkillers, clipped BeAnne onto her lead and took her for a walk along the road to try and exercise my agony away. I did not succeed.  I have my acupressure mat to lie on after supper.  That usually helps.

I tell myself it is all good moving onwards and upwards with the studio build.

It was a perfect morning so I took BeAnne for a walk on our local sandy beach with the sole purpose to be introduced to a lovely black Sprocker (springer x cocker spaniel) girl who belongs to a friend.

Of course the dogs totally ignored each other while us, the owners, walked up and down the lovely deserted Shetland beach having a good chat.

I like to try and encourage BeAnne to meet and make friends with new dogs.

The beach was lovely – cold, dark and in it’s winter mood.

We had the place to ourselves.  We didn’t see a soul which is always good – perhaps I am turning into BeAnne or she has turned into me.

All was going smoothly until it was time to go home.  I offered my friend and her dog a lift home so they got into my car and then I looked around for BeAnne.  She had vanished until I spotted a Sit-Down-Strike going on a few yards away.  I sighed and went to chivvy Her Maj into the car as she wasn’t going to budge.

We drove back to my friend’s house and was rewarded with a lovely cup of coffee.  BeAnne and her new friend quickly settled down together which was lovely to see.

The cat also introduced herself.  So it has been a day of new friends for Her Maj, which is good because I think, like me, she has become very insular in her old age.

It was a dark and stormy night – no, it actually was.  We had fierce winds with massive short sharp rain showers, like someone throwing a bucket of water out of the sky.  This morning the wind was beginning to die down and I went out to feed the sheep while it briefly hailed.

Storm damage from last night was fairly small – one garden gate ripped off its hinges and a stable door had blown open so I reckon we got off relatively unscathed.

Even though we are past the longest night, good daylight is a rarity these days.  Having had a fit of cleaning the kitchen (New Year, new resolution), I drove over to check everyone at Leradale.

Yes, I brought vegetables.

You may possibly be able to tell.

The little ones were, of course, not moving much and it worries me that they just stay in one place despite having a massive field to live in.

So I loudly waved my bag of veg and they all followed me across the burn and towards the better grazing.

Waffle and Storm never left my side, or my pockets. Faithful followers.

Even Vitamin and Fivla appeared without me having to drag them over.

Having reached some nice pasture, the herd left me to my bracing New Year’s Day walk – New Year, another resolution.

I went onwards, turning back occasionally to check they were all still where I’d left them.

Having done the circuit, it was home to clean my tack – yup, another New Year’s resolution.

Today I am feeling very virtuous, positively saintly.