We are off!

Well, here we are, doing last minute things and packing the carts! Hectic days, and no time for posting... I am happy that life is going to take on theslow rythm of walking from now on!


I will keep a journal of our trip, that I will post in episodes when I get internet connection on the way... until then, think about this...

"... reading has given me the impetus to live and valid ideas as to how I should go about it. Reading has gifted me dreams and the courage to transform them into reality. It has prompted me to ask myself if I really wanted to continue down the path I had chosen. The great strength of literature is that of showing us that reality is not something immutable, established once and for all. Wer can write our own lives along those margins where nothing has been written so far."

Björn Larsson

Spring

The first post accident walk with Kaylee and the cart. I believe Spring is finally among us! The woods are glorious. A pale chartreuse haze suffuses the gaunt trees, and the floor is of the most astonishing sap green, that looks like grass at a distance but is actually an endless carpet of Anemone nemorosa, glittering with hundreds, thousands, countless thousands of pure white flowers. These are as elegant as a spring flower can be, graceful on their long maroon-green stems. The normal form has six petals but the observant eye can easily pick up flowers with five, seven or even eight petals. Clumps of violets and Ranunculus ficaria, the lesser celandine, on its shiny, jewel like leaves, add colour, and the first flowers of cardamine pratensis, the Lady' Smock, a particular favourite of mine, grace the sunnier pastures. This is a small flower, but so neatly drawn that, despite its puny size and demure tint, it looks as beautiful as a carved heraldic picture. Its colour ranges from nearly white to pale lilac, through every shade of mauve, colours that would indeed well befit the Lady Arwen of Rivendell, as I imagined her from the books. The tiny leaves of this herb can also be eaten in salads, their taste fresh and spicy, French mustard, watercress and may be a touch of Granny Smith. Oxalis acetosella is also blooming, as delicate as fine lace, its delicious, refreshing, heart shaped leaves the most fresh lime green, the flowers of a white so thin as to be almost transparent.

Why can't it never go smooth?!

I don't know if I had mentioned that departure was fixed for the 2nd of April, but as a matter of fact, despite the superb weather of the last ten days, here we are, still in our, let's say it, former home, delayed not by TomBoy antics, not by missing equipment but by sheer bad luck. We had moved out every single piece of furniture, every last box, pack, bag and basket, and relocated the whole bunch in Tanja's hayloft when, with the assistance of an unusually froward mattress, I lost my balance on top of a narrow staircase, toppled over and gained the lower floor in one go, shattering my right arm and all our chances to leave on schedule, despite all our efforts in the last two months.

I would be furious if I were not conscious of my luck. I could have broken my neck, or crumbled my hand to bits; as it is I have a spectacular but all in all uncomplicated fracture, and we stand a good chance to leave at the beginning of May. Very good doctors took excellent care of my arm, and I am tolerably selfsufficient. I can lead Kaylee with my left hand quite reliably. And life goes on.

This strange forced pause may not be entirely negative either, albeit bought with great personal discomfort (two chunks of titanium in my forearm, 16 screws and 35 staples, but, luckily, no cast). We are stuck in the house with nothing but our camping equipment, and it is a great chance to test everything out before going, a course of action that seems very appropriate now. We cook on our firebox, hobo stove and dutch oven every day, and we have plenty of time to fidget with the cart loading details.

I am not saying that it was worth breaking two bones for it. But I try to make the best of the situation, and see the bright side of things.

Back on track

Very well, after some of the most stressful weeks I can ever remember, the project is back on track, with some adjustments but no essential changes. TomBoy is still with us, despite the trainer advice to change him for a more experienced horse. While training him in time proved impossible, also with the help of a trainer, he is finally improving both in his general attitude and in accepting the various props of the cart horse business. He is not scared of the cart any more, and he is less spooky and flighty by far in general.
Kaylee proved tha she can draw both our carts alone, but Tom is now helping her, drawing in a curious "double tandem configuration" (horse-horse-cart-cart) that is not elegant, and is about as long as the Eurostar, but that will at least get us (all 6 of us) on the way in the scheduled time. As I said,it ain't pretty,but it is an incredibly practical way to put TomBoy muscles to work without him being yet bodily attached to a cart, and this gives us time and freedom to keep training him without so much pressure.

As for the other preparations they have almost come to their incredibly busy and squalid conclusion: the house is almost emptied of all that made it our home, almost all our furniture and beautiful things have gone into hiding at a friend's place, all our camping bags and packs and tarps and sacks are standing in the ways everywhere waiting fo the big day, that is now really really close, and dust is everywhere,asalways when you move house. A trial packaging some weeks ago proved that we will indeed be able to load all of out travelling home on our two small carts, thanks to all kind of adaptions and a inordinate number of metal hooks.

I keep trying to take pictures of the kitchen box: one of these days I may even manage!

We have a trainer for TomBoy (and us)! Friday afternoon we begin trying to put some sense into our big boy's brain. Let's hope for the best!
In the meantime we did the firtst walk with Kaylee and her cart and she behaved really well, like she nevered did anything else in her life that drawing a swiss infantry cart up and down hills. While some minor points of discipline still need to be refined, and she needs to gain some condition in the next two months, she gives me no real worries and it is very conforting to know that at least one of our Blondies is ready for our project!

A trainer, a trainer, my kingdom for a trainer!

Looking for an expert trainer to take up TomBoy's education... let's hope he is not a desperate case of cronic spookiness, and the fault lies in our approach to the training, and not in him!

Disaster

Our project received the first serious blow yesterday: we have to face the fact that TomBoy is beyond our training ability. While Kaylee got hitched to the cart in a matter of days, without any problem whatsoever, we are not making any real headway with TomBoy. It looked like progress was achieved, but after a remarkably scary accident yesterday we decided to seek professional help. The possibility of getting an easier horse was also considered, but only as an extreme measure. TomBoy has the ability to steal your heart in the sweetest way and the thought of letting him go is unbearable.
But the problem of his explosive spookiness whenever he is faced with any cart related object, is serious, and a solution must be found.