FSO - Out and about

"Take us on a walk through your town. What are the sights you see when you are out doing your daily or weekly chores, or when you are out for some leisure?"

I've been off the farm twice in the past week.  On Wednesday I collected Georgia from hockey practise - and found strolling around the sports fields watching teenage boys do their football training more entertaining than the hockey.  

They all heard the instruction from the coach at the same time, their reaction times are slightly different.

 Isn't there always one going in the wrong direction?

I blogged yesterday about my excursion to the west coast, so all that's left is to show you some shots of my walk around the farm earlier in the week.  I only had to step out on to the front deck to see the clouds of dust rising behind the tractor.

Down by the creek the young poplars are just starting to change colour.

The stubble from the recently harvested maize crop.

The hill next door is not quite as brown and dry as it was a couple of weeks ago, the little rain we have had has helped.

The pampas grass/toetoe looks lovely this time of year.  I should know the difference between them but have to confess that I don't.  Pampas grass, from South America, is a pest.  Toetoe is the native NZ plant.  I think this is toetoe.

I hope all the FSO participants enjoyed their time out and about as much as I did.  Why not pop over here to see what they saw.

Oh my hat

I woke in a sweat thinking I'd forgotten to turn off the electric blanket when I got into bed like I usually do.  But no, it was off, it was just an unusually warm winter morning.  And it turned into a magical day with a light breeze and soft light. Perfect for a walk - with stops to greet the animals.

 the heifers

 the yearlings

The horses took a while to decide to approach me for a rub.

 And that was when my hat blew off.  At first he thought there might be some food in it.

 Then he thought it might be food:

He seems to be thinking about what to do with it next.  In the end he dropped it, the wind caught it and the last I saw of it it was scurrying across the long grass towards the creek.

 Ah well, it was still a lovely day.  Not having to worry about the hat flying away I could lift my head more easily to admire the silvery white toetoe against the silvery grey poplars and that lovely blue sky with just a little puff of a cloud.