gapvic

Thanks CC and yes, I shall :D . Florentino will stay chestnut but the other two will go grey.

Thanks guys. Trifecta yes, I'm absolutely delighted with what he has produced for me :D

Thanks Teekay, was looking for props on ebay and found it there. Cost me all of about $50 lol! Probably made by a child in China . It's green but comes in other colours. Here is the link: My link

49/52 - Florentino

I've had three foals this year, my first by my stallion :D . Feel free to add your own foal photos too! Flavia, the last of my three to be born and the only filly: Florentino, the first of the three: And Flanders, who was born on Remembrance Day and named after the fields of Flanders:

God is it really week 50??? I'm so far behind! 48/52 - self portrait

We should start a foal thread - I've had three this year :) :)

46/52 - Liz 47/52 - Shane

LOL! Funny Stan!

He has made a real mess of it and is currently in plaster with bone grafts and a plate. We've a long rehab ahead but fingers crossed he will be ok at the end of it. Poor Dave!

Not our Dave HW (who is currently suffering a badly broken hock) but a lovely boy called Lucas adopted out by us :)

Beautiful Teekay!

Hi all, If anyone lives in the Lancefield area and has a well-mannered Wolfie, Deerhound or Borzoi that they are happy to volunteer for a photo shoot please PM me. There is no payment but I'll give you copies of the images. Hope it's ok to post this here! Larissa

Stunningly beautiful Thank you grumpette! He is my stallion :)

45/52 aureon Love that one teekay!

Thanks guys, I am pretty smitten :laugh:

Sorry, not great photos (so hard to photograph hairy black puppies lol!) but here is our new girl, Gretel, a black Affenpinscher pup who came to live with us on Saturday :D

I'm still behind too 44/52 - gretel

Love the lightening pic! 43/52 - Bethany

thanks guys

Danois, we got there around 6.30am. Hardly a soul in sight. I agree Kirislin... it would be hard to turn your back on the history and the lifestyle. Perhaps the lure of the new beginning is what brings them to Australia (and other countries)? Thanks Weibritty, it was wonderful. Although it already seems like it happened to someone else, not me

And finally, some black and white edits:

Some extra photos :)

Dear all, When I imagined La Spezzia, I had thought it would be an industrial town refective of it having a naval base at its heart. Instead we find an elegent and graceful old seaside town that is an absolute pleasure to walk around. The buildings are all so pretty with their pastal colours and balconies full of flowers. The cheerful waterfront is a wonderful spot to just sit and watch the locals fishing or walking with their families. The piazzas in the evenings are full of children playing as their parents chat amongst themselves. It is lively but has none of the over-crowded feel of Florence. Obsevation no. 19 - the chemists in La Spezzia have vending machines in their windows for afterhours shopping. You can buy anything from pain killers to baby forumla to vibrators. Our first full day here, Sunday, we had hoped to start visiting the five towns of the Cinque Terre but were hampered by a train strike. Perphaps for the best as we later discovered they are insanely busy instead of just extremely busy on the weekends. Instead we had a quiet morning getting to know La Spezzia and in the afternoon we took the half hour ferry rde around to Portovenere. The attractive beach front was very crowded with the tour groups we are all growing to really dislike, but we have found that they seem to have an aversion to steps and so if we are prepared to climb a bit it is possible to escape them. This we did, making our way up to the castle that towers over the little town below. There were only a handful of people up there and the views, especially down to the Chiesa di San Pietro (a church built in 1198) perched on its point below and bravely taking whatever the sea may throw at it, were fantastic. Here I sat on a rock and enjoyed the view in the gorgeous afternoon sunshine while mum and dad explored the castle. Monday was The Day of The Hike. The day we would walk between some of the villages of the Cinque Terre. Our plan was to walk the blue path (also known as the number 2 trail or the Sentiero Azzuro), an ancient mule track that links all five towns by foot. The easiest stretches between Riomaggiore, Manarola and Corniglia remain closed after the 2011 land slides. That left the 3.2km stretch from Corniglia to Vernazza, and the most difficult section, the 3.6km walk from Vernazza to Monterosso. We chose the latter. What the guide books tell you about the trail: - It's tough (true) - It's narrow and rough (also true) - It's spectacular (very true) What the guide books don't tell you about the trail: - There are no toilets. Ducking off into the bushes is impossible when the terrain both above and below the trail is perpendicular. - There are no guard rails. One false step will see you tumbling down the mountain nd into the sea below. - There are billions of steps. There are over 700 leading up out of Monterosso alone. And just when you think you are done, you round a corner and there they are. More steps. - It's not a trail. It's a goat track. But what a glorious goat track it is. After a fairly short train ride, mostly through tunnels under the mountains, we disembarked at Monterosso. Mum walked with us to the start of the trail, laughed at the almost verticle rough stone steps that appeared to head upwards forever, and sent dad and I on our way. The walk was spectacular. It was tough; the trail is very rough in places, and very narrow, and what feels like impossibly steep at times. But the views back to Monterosso and then eventually on to Vernazza were amazing. The whole area was terraced over 1000 years ago and much of the sides of the mountais are still covered in grape vines and olive and lemon trees. There were a few of us walkng the trail but it was by no means crowded and it was interesting to chat with people from all over the world along the way (when we had the breath to do so). It took us two hours and when we made our way down into Vernazza on wobbly legs mum was nowhere to be seen. Amazingly we had beaten her there. Vernazza is one of the prettiest towns I've seen. The colourful houses huddle around a lovely cove full of brightly painted boats. The water is so blue and so clear. Thankfully we were on our way back to the train station when the dreaded tour groups descended, en masse, upon the town. Returning to La Spezzia we celebrated our achievements with gellato. I had four scoops. I figured I had earned it. Observation no. 20 - Italians love Nutella. They construct ellaborate window displays paying homage to the nutty spread. It is in calzones, crepes, pastries and gellato. It is sold in industrial sized tubs in the supermarkets. Today is our last day here before heading to Milan tomorrow and then (reluctanty and sadly) for me to return home this weekend. We left the apartment early this morning for dad to walk the second part of the blue trail while mum and I strolled around funny little Corniglia, a short and narrow town perched high on the cliffs above the sea. Mum asked in coffee shop for a map of the town and the man just laughed - "The town is only 200m long" he said. He was right. After meeting up with dad we went to the fourth town of the Cinque Terre, Manarola. Unfortunately as it was late morning by now it was so full of tour groups tha it was difficult to move around and impossible to enjoy the town. Observation no. 21 - I'm not ready to leave Italy. I'm not ready to return to reality. Mowing lawns. Paying bills. Getting up t 6.30am. I want to stay here in the sunshine and eat gellato every day. I want my time to be structured around church bells and aftenoon siestas. To drink coffee too strong for me, to buy pastries wrapped up in pretty paper and tied with ribbon, to sit at the foot of castles and eavesdrop on conversations in a foreign language. So, that's it for me. I hand over the reins to my parents who may or may not send us all an email about their travels in Switzerland. Love to all, Larissa, Christine and Michael xoxo