gypsies, horses, friends and artwork

Having ticked the spring cleaning box on Wednesday, I didn't feel guilty about taking a day out on Thursday to visit Stow-on-the-Wold's Gypsy Horse Fair for a photo shoot with Oxford Photographic Society.  Although waking up at 5 am for an early start wasn't easy! 

It was everything you might expect - the gypsy community enjoying itself at one of the major events in the gypsy calender.  Mainly men doing the horse trading and young women indulging in a bit of retail therapy.  

Lots of horses, a few shetland ponies, even a couple of alpacas thrown in for good measure, as well as people riding bareback and driving carriages at what felt like breakneck speed!  Everyone was very friendly, happy to chat and have their photos taken for the most part.  

Walking round for hours on end in the open air with a brisk wind and occasional squally showers - not to mention the crack of dawn start - was exciting but very tiring, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that I didn't have the energy for much else by the time I returned home.  

However, energy levels were back up again the next day and we had made up the sofa beds and started some food preparation by the time our friends Chris and Prue arrived for lunch on Friday. Both remarked how well Steve was looking.  It's been a while since they last saw him, so that was reassuring!  

The visit coincided with the last weekend of the city's week of Oxfordshire Artweeks, when local artists of all sorts open their homes and studios for visitors to exhibit and sell their work.  

As a result, its been a very arty few days - looking at paintings, prints, illustrations, ceramics, textiles, photography, jewelry, fancy hats....All in all, we walked about five miles between venues, stopping once for coffee and a comfort break. The rest of the weekend has been taken up with food, drink and talking (and sleeping of course!). Thank you Prue and Chris for being such excellent company!

It will be different again next week.  I have preparation to do for work in Guernsey, followed by site visits on the island, decisions to write and a briefing note to prepare on my return, ready for a hearing at the end of the month.  In the meantime, Steve will be doing the last minute preparation for our next adventure...but more of that another time!  

It's now a little over three weeks until Steve's next assessment, so we are packing things in to make the most of this time and keep ourselves distracted from getting stressed about what the next X-ray will show.  With so much going on, I'm afraid that it's been difficult to keep up with and reply to e-mails and other people's news. But we are thinking of you, even if you haven't heard from us recently.