ROYAL GARDENS

Today I felt well enough to go sing with the chorus.  The audience at this Senior Living facility was very receptive and at the end of our presentation sang many Christmas songs with us.  It was well worth it!!!

ONE IN THE AFTERNOON

The weather is getting ready for the big change.

DONE FOR THE NIGHT...

Gary's at a meeting .... Phoebe and I are relaxing (as in not making a real dinner)!

THAT'S ALL FOLKS...

My pictures are a little backwards...not only was the sunrise beautiful, the sunset was too.

Over and out for today.

SOME GOOD FRESH AIR....

Phoebe has been staying pretty close to me since I have been feeling lousy, so today we went outside for awhile.  The sun was bright and it hit 40 degrees.  According to the weatherman, a cold front is moving in.

BUTTERFLIES ARE EVERYWHERE!

There has been some immediate paying it forward in the blogging community...

SOME OF THE BEST SO FAR....

Once again, I felt lousy last night and went to bed having coughing fits!  When I finally fell asleep, I slept like a rock and woke up at 7:20 instead of earlier  (as we have a chorus rehearsal and our first performance today and needed to be there by 10am).   I could not believe my eyes when I looked to the East and the South.  Can you believe that sky???

I passed on leaving the house to spread my germs and will once again go for some nap time.

INTERESTING SOLUTION.....

Darrin, the owner of Winnie, is an administrator at a school near Rochester, New York.  On Tuesday he came up with an idea that was so innovative!!!  While attending a meeting at one of the Elementary Schools, two teachers became ill and had to go home (probably the same bug I am still dealing with)....the Principal could not get subs and took one of the classes assigning Darrin to the other.  The kids were 4th and 5th graders and he had to cover language arts, math, science etc... What was he to do?  As a regular reader of my Journal, he thought of a perfect solution.  He got the laptop cart so each student would have a PC and had them go to skoogfarm.blogspot.com.  There was an intro on me and then he started asking the kids about some of the things I might do at the farm.  The kids broke into small groups to take a look at the blog and were asked to write a story about some part of it.  Some wrote about Winnie's move from her perspective, Justine's perspective and from my perspective.  Two girls were more interested in the Skoog Farm Workshop and wrote a story about being one of my art students. Two boys worked with Gary at SkoogWorks on a Pittsford Landmark project (the Flour Mill). They had to download pictures to illustrate their writing, however two had to be drawn (art).  Then the groups were put together, combining their story subject or perspective as one big illustrated story.  For Math and Science?  Hmmm...research what horses eat, how much grain does Mrs. Skoog need daily for 7 horses.  Then the manure discussion came up.  How much do they produce each day?  What does it weigh?  How many pounds are you lifting in the wheelbarrow? The kids wanted to know how the horses can create more waste weight than they take in.  Could it be the water they drink? Winnie likes to run.  Farmer McCracken gave Mrs. Skoog a plot of land to create a pasture.  Design it.  How far apart should the posts be?  How many are needed?  It went on and on.  Pretty creative, don't you think?

OUT OF GAS....

Yesterday, when my class started, I grabbed my camera to take photos and the battery was dead. This is the only photo that came out.  Tina was using watercolor pencils in her drawing and tried three different times to meet her goals.  Just when she was ready to give up, I suggested that she cut out two of the horses and combine them with the third.  It has developed into a very interesting piece.

TA DAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

This morning an award was bestowed on me from East Africa!  A big thank you to Lynda at Food, Fun and Farm Life.  Those of you who are hooked as I am, have learned so much from other people and their cultures... really like the personal point of view.  Ironically, I feel like I really know some of you, and hope the day will come when we can meet.  Living on a horse farm has limited my opportunity for travel, but believe me, I have seen so much of this world since I started doing this last February.

I have been asked to pass on this award...and here are the rules:

Put the logo on your blog

Add a link to the person who awarded you

Nominate 10 (or whatever number you choose) other blogs for this award

Add links to those blogs

Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool

I am going to pass this "Butterfly Award" along to the following blogs (all are in my links):

Fe at COYOTE ROAD who truly has a cool blog.  She can write, is tuned in, hip and compassionate.  You will never be disappointed.

Virginia at TEACHINGS OF THE HORSE.  She puts out some very informative and warm posts.

I can just feel her energy as she goes through her day to day challenges.

Rebecca at JUST A THOUGHT.  Here is another writer that can move you to tears.  She knows of what she writes, and she writes about many, many subjects.

EQUINE MINE, who posts a quote that I love..."Show me your horse and I will tell you who you are."  She gets it, and takes us along while she works with her horse Maddy.

THE BARB WIRE has some of the most dramatic horse photography I have seen...worth a look, not to mention a good read.

Esther at ISHTAR NEWS can take you to places you've never seen.  How many Swedes live in Niger?  Her work with the Eden Foundation makes a big difference to the human race.

DARK MORNING....

You never know what it is going to be....

MY PIGGIES....

Why do they have to roll in the mud????

SNOW TODAY, 45 TOMORROW...

I am still waiting for the ground to freeze so I can get some hay delivered.

SIGNS OF THE SEASON

Our good friends from Apple Creek Farm could not spend Thanksgiving with us this year, so they dropped off this beautiful wreath to be here in spirit.  (The door was open when I took this photo...don't you just love the clock peeking through)?

Every year I put this old wreath up on the barn.  My good friend Nancy (who now lives in Virginia) made it many years ago.

A mini painting of Pony.  We did these in class and found tiny frames on easels to put them in.

Abbe in the snow....

Little things....

BACK TO THE SUNRISE....

The morning was beautiful and the rest of the day was less than mediocre.  A little rain, muddy, grey... At least I feel a lot better than I did yesterday.

LOOK WHAT I GOT IN THE MAIL TODAY!!!!

All the way from Alaska!  Thank you Gayle!

CATALOGS....

Don't you just wonder how many trees it has taken to send each household about 30+ catalogs?