Putnoe Woods
My mum, Katy and I enjoyed ourselves in Putnoe Woods. Katy was diagnosed with cancer earlier in 2012 and after having her spleen removed was given 6 months to live. Well, its been over six months and she's doing just fine.
Here is Katy going walkies in the woods. It's a bit blurry because Katy is a fast little dog. (That's a good excuse for taking a blurry picture I think :)
They tried to pony-proof the woods, but I saw lots of places a determined pony and his girl could get in. Not here though.
'They' also tried to turn the woods into some sort of park by putting up silly little borders along the paths. When I was a girl the woods were more remote and peaceful.
Although Brandy had been gone many years and I may never see the world from the back of a horse again, some habits never die. While in the woods I was always on the look out for good jumps. Here's one in the picture below ..with a few more branches piled on it would be a good one. The most exciting kind of jumps are the ones that sneak up on you as you canter around a bend. And I wonder why I'm all stove up and horses are banned from the woods....haha.
Cattlemen and buckaroos say "stove up," meaning an occupational hazard of working with horses. Horses buck, kick, bite and do stupid things which cause chronic injuries, rendering people working with horses stove up.
I love poetry and I'm always resisting the urge to put some of my favorite poems in my blog. When I'm out walking I often think of my favorite poems and this is the poem I was thinking of that day.
In my life I really did take the road road less traveled.
Here's my oldest son Keegan during our 'mother and son' hike in Marsh Woods. He's 37 and a lifer in the US Air force. He has never aged since he joined the air force and still looks like a teenager.
I'm giving in to my urge again and including another poem.
Bedford Town
I am a Bedford girl. For over 400 years, and probably before, my dad's family have been born with a 12 mile radius of the town. My dad, his mum and I were all born in Bedford and so I feel at home here. The pictures below were taken in the Bedford Arcade which is a covered shopping area that was built in 1905. We like to think it was the first shopping Mall ever built.
I've been buying sweets from this sweet shop for a long time. I love their handmade pear drops and treacle toffees...oh and those licorice sticks filled with powered sherbert!
Here's my mum, she's a born and raised Welsh woman, racing along with her wheelie shopping bag. It wasn't long before I also was using a wheelie shopping bag. When in Rome..
My dad built the blue brick columns just in front of my mum. My dad has Parkinson's and gave up driving several months before I got there. More Bedford adventures to come..stayed tuned.
