WELCOME TO A NEW FOLLOWER....

                                                 

Welcome Jennifer from The Mare's Tales.

(This is Babe's Opal, better known as Pony).  She was all duded up for our daughter's wedding a few years ago.  She is 1/2 Arab and the other half is Welsh and Morgan.  13 Hands and 29 years old.  She is in excellent shape, even tho she has started wadding her hay....loves hay cubes.

AND HOW CRISPY WAS IT AT YOUR HOUSE?

This palm plant sits out on our back porch where the temperature was 42 this morning!  What the heck????

It was bright and beautiful, but I needed to wear a jacket and a HAT when I went out to do chores.
The rain has caused all of our plants to double in size.
Today Gary finished planting the garden by the windmill and started weeding the garlic in another area.
The sky was spectacular and everything looked "picture perfect."


About 9am Gary and I took a ride down to the village and had breakfast at Java Junction.

Here are some of the cast members who go there every morning.




When we  got home I started mowing the lawn...of course I had my camera with and everytime I went past the horses, took pictures.  It's such a handsome herd of geriatrics (except for 10 year old Abbe of course).  Target and Berlin are above.
Berlin (24) the horse I ride 99% of the time.  3/4 Trakehner...shorty!!!
I took lots of pictures of Target today.  He is a 26 year old Thoroughbred and is mostly ridden by our daughter, Jennifer.

Here he is again....and again.
one more time....
This is the lane I was mowing.  It runs next to the outdoor ring and the back pasture.
Could the day be more gorgeous?

This is my favorite shot of Target.  What a handsome boy.

Berlin is looking out back for some deer.
Abbe is just looking for tasty clover blossoms.
Winnie is finally starting to put on a little more weight.
Abbe and Masterpiece are taking a break.
Are you horsed out yet?

OK...We have huge trees around our property, I can't imagine how old they are.
The iris are coming on strong now.
AND I FINALLY DID SOME LONG LINING WITH ABBE!  What a delinquent I have been.  The party is over and now I have to do it everyday.

After evening chores, I went down to the Welcome Center where Gary had Harbor Duty.  I picked up some New York Style PIZZA and Gucci, Phoebe and I joined him for dinner (if you want to call it that).  Now, I am going out to put my ponies in the barn.  Night all!

SUNDAY STILLS CHALLENGE - POWER LINES AND LANDSCAPES

The object is....how do powerlines interfere with what otherwise might be a great shot?

AVOIDANCE....

The sun was extremely bright this morning when I went out to the barn.  After chores I did a few things around the house and at 11:15 we took back the rental car and picked up Gary's Forrester.  Quite a different vehicle after having a truck for so many years.  We went out to lunch and back to the farm.
The grass had a chance to dry out so I decided to go down to Apple Creek Farm to mow the lawn.  YUCK!  It was so long from all the rain I had to go over most of it twice....that's a LOT of mowing.  Gucci and Phoebe went with me and waited in the car with a couple of walks in between.
Louise had many things blooming in her gardens.

The peonies were gorgeous.
I don't know what this is, but I love it.

On my way home I drove past Margay's house.  There is a tree full of blossoms out by the street.

Her house is spectacular inside and out.  Someday I will have to photograph her kitchen for all you cooks out there....it's the dream variety.

When I got home, we had a visitor.  Fritch has been a friend for almost 40 years, and she is a newly retired potter.  Checking on Gary.....
The morning was in the low 60s, but the temp went up in the late afternoon.  Very mellow horses.

Here is where the avoidance comes in....all week I have been trying to line drive Abbe. Everyday I have been booked...babysitting, chorus practice, insurance company calls, looking for a car for Gary, blah blah blah.  One excuse after another.  It's a good thing Andrea does not look at this Journal, as she would not be happy with me.  Tomorrow I promise that I will get into a groove and will post pictures to prove it.  Gary's accident has had quite an impact on our daily lives. 

So that's it for now.  More tomorrow.

HERE WE GO!!!!

This is what I went out to this morning.  Over the past 30 hours we had record breaking rain.
It made the grass grow...little white clover blossoms were popping up in all the pastures.
Made Joe happy....
They never came into the paddock today....(just for water).

Target is just about ready to get some dapples...a good sign.

The sky was so dark I thought we were going to get another bad storm.  
We hardly had a drop of rain tho.....
The clouds were flying by....

Now the wild yellow rose bush is jammed with buds and they should all be out in the next couple of days.

Every week Big Bird has a different kind of flower growing around him.
At 10:15am Jenny dropped off Cooper.  She and two friends were meeting  X Congressman John

LaFalce for lunch.  Of course Coop brought his own bagels.
By the time his Mom got back, the sky was beautiful.
I went out to drag the ring as Darrin was having a lesson.

Picture perfect.....

Jolene, the Instuctor, may be interested in buying my horse trailer.  Wouldn't that be nice???

We had to be down in the Village for our Concert by 5:30 so we could do a little rehearsing before it really started at 7:00.

Jim has been singing for as long as I can remember and is part of the Chorus and the Barbershop group.

40 people from Kendall, a neighboring village, joined us for a medley at the end of our program.  I love singing with over 80 people...such an amazing sound.

My friend Donna (in the red shirt) was there.  
Gary and the boys were waiting to get started.
Louise and Jack arrived early enough for him to get his camera set up.  He did a video of the entire program and picks up the sound so accurately.  Can't wait to see it.
When the concert was over, all were invited downstairs for goodies.  The place was packed.
This is Sharon...her Mom is in the chorus.  You can always tell when someone does not like having their picture taken.

Gary, on the other hand, totally enjoyed the scene and received a great deal of attention.

Everyone is so happy that he is alive and singing.

You have seen many photos of Carol...she is married to Topper.  For once he was not taking pictures of me taking pictures of him.
This is our good friend Joanne...

and there is Topper, making faces at me....


When the barbershop group sang, a woman in the chorus went into the audience and grabbed her husband (a Fonzerelli type) to dance.  It was a surprise, and we all loved it (of course). It is my humble opinion that we did a great job tonight....I think our director was pleased.  

Gary is already asleep and I have to get in some couch time.  Goodnight all!