Days end

What a sterling day we had here in Southeastern Pennsylvania. This morning dawned crisp and clear and I had a desire to don some warm socks. But then it passed. The desire, I mean.

When I got home, it was nice to sit and read in the sunshine rather than the shade and after dinner, I took a walk with the camera by myself. My husband had already taken George and they were off somewhere else on the property.

He went with the owner, her daughter and children today to pick up a mare and foal. I don't know what the whole story is, but it was boarding over at another farm about 8 miles or so away. The foal has had her coat shaved for something medical, I assume. But these aren't my horses, so it's best to stay out of it. I haven't asked the owner for permission to show any of her horses on my blog because I really don't want to even tell them I have a blog. It's my business. But if I'm posting pictures of other people's horses, I somehow don't feel right about that.

At the farm we lived prior to this, none of the horses belonged to the farm owners. They were all boarders and came to be bred, foaled out and then bred back. I didn't feel so bad posting pictures as long as I never mentioned the farm's name or its location, which I did not.

But this, in my opinion, is different, and I'd actually like to hear your take on it. For these pictures, I tried something I learned today on PW's Photography site. I used her Vintage action, then lowered the opacity to about 50-60% then flattened and used fresh & colorful on top of it, adjusting until I liked it. I think my favorite is the top photo.

I posted a fun pic over at Paintbox Pictures tonight, too. It's called I love New York.

Well, my husband's got that dog show on the TV. It's pretty funny, and of course we're routing for the border collie. It's called America's Greatest Dog. I only half watch it. If it was Project Runway, I'd be glued to the set.

Well, until tomorrow, my friends.

More rain a-comin'

I didn't need the weatherman to tell me it was going to rain today. All I had to do was to take a look at all the horses lying down in the field this morning and I knew. My husband told me a long time ago that when you see cattle or horses lying down in the field, it's usually a good indication that rain is coming. And this afternoon, it did rain; so this theory was correct for today.

These horses in the photo above are from the farm across the pond. And the foals below are from our farm. Well, it's not really 'our' farm. It's the farm on which we live, and on which my husband is employed. I took these pictures earlier this week. They're not lying down because of anything other than just tiredness. You try running at full gallop in a field all morning and then see how tired you can get!

I've got a great big cowlick right in the center of my forehead.

I just thought I should tell you that.

I'm getting up. Really, I am. In just a moment.

I'm not getting up. I'm just not.

I'm awake!

But my eyelids are getting very heavy . . .

Have a wonderful Monday, everyone.

Ode to simple needs

This is the most peaceful time I know.

Paced by clover-scented,

rhythmic chewing,

Content with present abundance

I slow the natural pulse

Of earth and sky

To simple needs-

Warm breath on hand,

Comfortable intimacy in serene eyes.

For it is the horse's gift

To connect us with heaven

And our own footsteps.

~ Excerpt from GRACE, by Ronni Sweet

I love taking afternoon walks with George. He is such a creature of habit and looks forward to me coming home and getting changed into my walking clothes and then out we go. Today it rained intermittently all day but lessened up by late afternoon.

This grey mare was swishing her tail back and forth and chewing her snack and she just looked so pretty standing there with her baby. Did you know that this horse isn't white? It's a grey. And when she was born, she was black. The black wore off, and then she was a nice silver, getting lighter as she aged. Just telling you like it is.

Oh, and the fast-internet connection is on hold for now! The installer called this afternoon and told me he couldn't be here until Monday. It turns out that tomorrow wasn't going to be very convenient for me after all, and I was thinking of calling them anyway. So it was serendipitous that he was on the phone because now I was able to pin him down to an exact time on Monday, rather than the usual 6-hour window they give you. I can be a very demanding customer sometimes. And such a drama queen. I think I scared him!

Not really. Did you really believe that? I guess I must have sounded surprised, because he asked when the best time was for me on Monday. This will work out so much better for me to have him here as soon as I get home from work. So I think I can handle another weekend of dial-up.

Photo of the Month contest will be posted today over at Kacey's blog, Wine On the Keyboard! Check it out and vote for your favorite photo. I've got one in there, but honestly, I am not asking you to vote for mine. Kacey says she's got a lot of entries this month and I'd like to direct all of you who are interested in photography to Kacey's place and check it out. Have fun with it!

Welcome to Shangri-La

Today dawned cold and damp in Maryland. Later this afternoon, however, the sun came out and by the time I got home from work, the sky had become a beautiful blue with puffy clouds and the grass had turned a luscious green from all the rain we've had for the past several days.

So I grabbed the camera and George and I headed out.

As I walked, I remembered what a reader said to me recently in a comment. She said that it looked like a live in a Shangri-La of sorts. And today, when I looked in the viewfinder of my camera, I thought the same thing. George is way up this fenceline, almost to the barn.

You see, I see these fields and this driveway, and the horses, and the whole picture every single day. It doesn't always look wonderful, but some days it's downright picturesque. And when you look through the viewfinder at the little bits and pieces that I've captured today, it truly does look like heaven on earth. To me, it does.

That's George standing on the loading berm on the main farm driveway. Horse vans pull up to this little loading dock of sorts and it makes it easier to load and unload the horses. This is right in front of the breeding shed. George probably likes the view the added height affords him. Don't the trees look almost ethereal?

And here's what it looks like to stand under one of the ornamental cherry trees. This is someone's front lawn, and when we used to live along this driveway, years ago, we had these same cherry trees in our yard. My youngest son loved the 'pink snow'.

I used Pioneer Woman's actions on a few of these pictures, either Lovely & Ethereal or Boost. But what I was most excited about was the cloud trick I learned in this month's Popular Photography magazine. It looked a little complicated at first, but after practicing it several times, it's actually a breeze. Oh, get it? A breeze!

I used the cloud trick on the 1st and 2nd photos of this post. The trick involves a total of about 8 different steps with a layer mask and use of the multiply blending mode and so on and so on and blah blah blah. Like you really want to hear all about that!

Well, that's my walk with George. I know that when I get home, the house will smell really good and it will feel wonderful to be there. And it's not that I really really hate to cook. It's, well, it's one thing that my husband really seems to enjoy doing and providing for me. And I think it's really nice of me (don't you?) to let him do it. Um, yeah. That's it.

UPDATE: About that cloud trick, I need to tell you that these are REAL clouds. All I did was boost them to make them look what they looked like to me. I did NOT put fake clouds in there! Thanks to those who contacted me to ask.

Feeling a little vintage today

Sometimes I feel my age. I was kidding today around with a couple of the 8th grade girls, telling them I'd keep something they told me "on the Q.T." to which they replied, giggling, that they'd rather I kept it on the "down low". I laughed too, but then realized that I really show my age sometimes.

I got over the vintage feeling after I left work, though. I had to drop off some pictures at the local newspaper in a nearby town and as I was walking down the street, I got honked and whistled at by a truck full of workmen. At first, I thought it was someone I knew when I heard the honking, but when I looked up and realized that it was three men in a gigantic utility vehicle, I laughed to myself. In my younger days, I would have gotten angry and annoyed at people who did that, but when it happens now, it simply surprises the heck out of me.

Yeah, so maybe I'm not so vintage after all. It's all relative, anyway.

So, perhaps it's because I was feeling a bit old-fashioned today that I used Pioneer Woman's photoshop actions again, choosing the "Vintage" look for the mares and foals pictured here.

Don't they look like they're from an era long-ago?

It was another beautiful day in Maryland. I took George on a walk down to the tree my husband had told me about yesterday. He took pictures of it to show me what the flowers looked like. It's not a white flower like he told me it was and that's why I couldn't find the tree yesterday when I went looking for it. It's actually a string of seed pods hanging down. I took the macro lens and got some interesting shots that I'll post tomorrow.

Tonight at 6 PM is the Weekend Guessing Game. I hope that I remember this week.

The new kids in town

I didn't go far today because I just didn't have it in me. Lately it's been two steps forward, one step back and today felt like a step back kinda day. It's ok, though. I'm not down about it or anything, so no worries.

After work, George and I took a very small walk to the barn I can see from my house. It's really not far and I needed somewhere close as a goal. On our way back, I stopped to take these pictures of the mares and foals who were being quite docile after their supper this afternoon.

The first picture is a foal and was it taken very close to his head. He was very unafraid, and the only one in this new group to be so. Usually the sound of the shutter scares the little ones, but not this guy.

The second picture is a close-up of his mother, who enjoyed her modeling debut. Perhaps she's passed her quiet temperament on to her offspring.

I think I've mentioned that True Grit and the rest of that herd have all moved into paddocks further out and these new youngsters showed up late last week.

All my adult life, I've lived near horses. I don't think I ever want to live where they are not.

As an aside, I'm looking forward to the weekend because my eldest son is visiting from the Big City! I love my sons. M's coming down to attend the Alumni Banquet on Saturday night with some of his classmates, and his favorite teacher (my friend, Margie) is also attending. I'm going as well because I've been invited as a member of the faculty. I haven't been to one of these affairs in about three years and find myself actually looking forward to it.

Do you have a teacher that you remember who influenced you in a positive way? We have so many teachers at our school who fit this bill. It's such a wonderful school. But I promised myself not to post about my work. I learned that from Heather B. Armstrong of Dooce.com fame.

I secretly love it when Josie does it, though. I enjoy her stories about the Black Widow Spider!

My friends, Karen and Adrienne, were planning on coming out this weekend, but something came up and we've postponed it until next month. Maybe then we'll be able to set up the tent in the backyard. They're camping kind of girls. We can have the campfire out there and it will be fun. Something to look forward to.We have a walk-in tent that we'll use. We also own a tent for backpacking that's really lightweight. My husband and I used to backpack a lot. We took our sons when they were younger, too. But carrying 70 pounds on my back with my knees the way they are isn't something I consider healthy right now.

This last photo is a section of the herd I call the new kids in town. They're all still hanging pretty close to their mothers for now. I love Spring, don't you?

Are you my mother?

After yesterday's near-disaster with the couch, I took George on a walk past the paddocks that hold the mares and foals. There's one huge paddock and several smaller ones. The smaller ones are for the most recent-born foals. Since George knew I had been mad at him, he was on his best behavior and I only had to leash him once. When I told him to sit and stay, he did. He also heels when told. So I didn't have any qualms about walking him through there.

I took a lot of pictures yesterday and am only posting a few this morning. It's always nice to get a couple of babies who are having a nice nourishing drink from their mother. And, if you look closely, you'll see that the mare in the first photo has a bird sitting on her back. It's a starling.

When I was working on the pictures last night, I showed that one to my husband. I was really surprised, but he said those darn starlings are always doing that. I saw him coming down the road with his farm truck and I took a picture of him, but he gave me a hard time of it last night, saying that he didn't want me taking pictures of him all the time and putting them "out there". "But I always ask permission", I told him. And really, I wouldn't put a bad photo of him up.

But still, if it makes him uncomfortable, then I won't. I told him that not many people read this anyway, but he pointed to the counter gage at the bottom and proved to me that wasn't true anymore.

Back to the horses, now.

While I was out there taking pictures, I was constantly hearing the whinnying of youngsters who had just woken up and couldn't find their mother. The mothers usually don't wander off too far when their young one is taking a nap in the grass in the sunshine. It's always sweet to see the little reunion, just after a nap, between the mother and her newborn.

The very last photo here is of the newest newborn. I only know this because of the little paddock they were in. Enjoy! And have a wonderful day.

I'll post the winner, if we have one, of WGG#10 tonight by 6 PM. Maybe we already have a winner. I'm not telling.

I take a walk on the wild side

This is the next farm over from where we live and these are the colts who live in this paddock. They're always interested in whomever is out and about and today they were especially intrigued by the small sound my camera makes. I have it set to continuous shutter, so as it clicks away, it makes an interesting little noise. So you can see, this is not really the wild side; it's just a different farm from where we live.

These guys are all yearlings and I can't say much else about them because I really don't know them very well. I do know that they are beautiful (well, I think they are) and they all stick together in their herd. Some are more bold and daring than the rest and one even has what looks like a reverse question mark on his face.

George was crouched down, doing his herding thing. He's not permitted to go into the paddocks. Not only is it dangerous, it's rude. The paddocks are for the horses. If he goes in there and gets them stirred up, they could possibly injure themselves from running about and we can't have that. Plus he could get really hurt.

Actually, George is looking pretty clean in these pictures. It wasn't so this morning. When they returned from their morning walk, I heard my husband asking the dog where he got so dirty. The dog did not answer him.

By the time I came downstairs, they were mad at each other and George was outside sulking. I took George into the laundry room and looked at the filthy mess he'd made of himself. He had rubbed his neck all over something that was disgusting and stunk so I had to clean him up before I left for work.

He was very sheepish when I left this morning and I could tell my husband was still mad at him when I came home. So George was pretty glad to see his mother and really happy to be going out for a walk with me. Hope you enjoyed your walk on the wild side with me today!