Odd one out

If you ever feel sorry for the odd one out, then spare a thought for our feathered friends – by that I mean our little white duck. We were so excited in the spring to welcome the first few batches of the ducklings, all cute and fluffy. At the time I thought my eyes were deceiving me – but when I walked down today, there it was again – the same little flock of mallards, all grown up – and in their midst one very bright, white duck! Apparently it's a genetic throwback, the gene for the white duck lurks around in the gene pool until by chance it pops back up again. I wonder if there's a similar principle which can be applied as to why my two daughters are so completely different. One loves being at the marina and can't wait for a chance to flex her muscles using the till EPOS system, whereas the other would much rather be out and about with the cattle and the horses. That said we all share the same delight in the many events the wonderful village of Audlem puts on. One of our favourites has just taken place -the Festival of Transport and Historic Boat Gathering, although it has to be said I do rather embarrass the kids by waving a flag and peeping the car horn as they process past the end of our drive and into Audlem. The girls are also really looking forward to our RNLI Festival on 3rd and 4th September with daughter No.2 busily training the farm collie on all kinds of tricks for "Best Trick" in the dog show and daughter No.1 helping with the Donkey Derby (still looking for jockeys if you know anyone small enough, although daughter No.1 has already declared that "it'll be carnage"!!). Between now and then I'm hoping this glorious weather will hold out and I'm spending my time juggling children, work and horses, oh and I'm also keeping my eye out for that white duck – just to prove to everyone that I'm not going mad – it really does exist!