July 23rd

Well, the past two weeks have been fast and furious; anyone who claims that the countryside is too quiet should try spending a couple of months in it !  I suppose though, in fairness to those city dwelling parents amongst us, the end of the school year is exactly the same for us all; excepting that, we have to juggle/ wrestle/ pay homage to (insert as appropriate) the weather too. . . Hay and silage time now. We have four alternative forecasts saved on the computer . .  . All checked at regular intervals throughout the day; all giving different predictions and all seemingly changing by the hour !  We get there eventually though, either sunburned or soggy !
We had a nice little bull calf born too, don't know what the weather was like . . . he chose the middle of the night in a fifty acre field . . . a little early but fit and healthy all the same. He's in for a shock, the sun beamed out for his first couple of days . . . once he realises that he's not in the Maldives . . . !
End of term seems to have passed relatively sucessfully too. School reports good . . .. none of them set fire to the school or got arrested; they all know more than they did a year ago and have neither maimed nor been maimed by others !
My middle daughter is moving from First to Middle School in september. This has resulted in many tears; fortunately, though, only from me. I cannot remember having such a fuss made in my youth . . . we just left one building in July and then arrived at another in September.  Not now: we've had a Leaver's Service in school (I cried solidly for two hours, much to the utter embarrassment and lip curling derision of my child)  a School Leaver's Disco (Her invitation resembled nothing less than a Hunt Ball ticket) and a t-shirt, especially printed with a small photo of every child and, subsequently, signed by each one. Most of them are transferring to the same school . . .
We have also arrived at that time of year again . . . Pony Club Camp !  I have one child already in situ, sleeping in the horsebox, in a hammock and unwashed now for three days ( her pony is immaculate !) with two more children yet to go . . . It's true: Youth is wasted on the young !