Sunflowers

There is a field of sunflowers that caught my attention.

I had to stop and take some pictures so I could smile then AND later

I love the depth of field I got on this one.

Pretty smiling faces

I loved the little one hiding behind the bigger ones

Such a happy scene!

Here's the Church, Here's the Steeple

I have been taking my camera every where with me lately.  The other day I was lucky enough to have the long lens with me and got these great shots.  The church across the street from my work was getting a new topper for their steeple.  It was a fascinating job to watch.  I've been told that a local artisan repaired the original topper so it could go back up and maintain the historical quality of the church.

Its a beautiful church that is directly across the street from my office.

They closed the street so it was safe to put the crane in the middle of the road.

Sent the platform skyward

Opened the deck

And settled in to work

And I went back the next day to get the finished pictures.

The steeple is so tall, I couldn't get the entire church and steeple in the picture.

All done!

Its BEAUTIFUL!

The Down and Out Horse Limbo Competition

 At the farm, the trainers are riders as well as trainers.  Ms. Tori has won at Devon previously.  She looks marvelous on a horse, any horse!  Some where along the trail to the Barn Show a challenge was issued.  The students could out jump the trainers.  Challenge Accepted.

In the Down and Out Competition, the bar is started low.  Each time you make the jump you proceed to the next higher level.  If you miss the bar, you're out.  Whoever jumps the highest and is still in, wins.

First up, at a low level was Emily.

Emily on Buttons. She has been riding for about a month.  On her first ride at the Farm, Buttons decided he wanted to go over a jump.  Emily stayed right with him and is HOOKED!

Next up was Ms. Tori.  She makes it look easy.

Here is Eva and Milkshake.  Shake is her favorite horse at the farm and they have a special bond.

They moved the bar up a little higher and Emily was out.  This left Ms. Tori (trainer) and Eva (Student)

Good clearance, Ms. Tori!

Fabulous Jump, Eva!

They moved the bar to the highest level.  Ms. Tori went first.

And she MISSED!  Ut oh! Now Eva has to make the jump to be declared the winner

And she clears it with space to spare.  And judging by Jakes reaction, you'd think he jumped it himself.

What a beautiful smile!  You did great today, Eva!

 Suzanne is a mom of Emily.  Suzanne loves to ride herself and has just started back in the saddle.  She wanted to participate in the Down and Out with Emily.  So she got her own category, Horse Limbo.

Suzanne all saddled up and ready to go.

Way to go Pumpkin!  Let's see how low you can go!

And that's just one of the many ways we have fun at the Farm.  There is always much laughter and love in this little corner of heaven on earth.  Jakes and I were truly blessed when we were sent here.

The Barn Show

There was a Barn Show at the Farm this past weekend.  Jakes worked the Farm and I took pictures. I ended up taking over 600 pictures!  Don't worry, I am only going to share a few of them.  ENJOY!

The Gear all lined up and ready for horses

Every Ride starts with a prayer.  Everyone grabs hands or horse

Eva and Freckles.  I love Eva's seat on any horse. She just melds with them.

Megan brings her dancers grace to the ring.  She is riding Hershey who is a throughbred and can be temperamental at times. Megan makes him mind and won't let him bully her.  They are a beautiful pair

Jakes worked the gate for the show and did a wonderful job

Megan and Hershey walking in the morning sunshine/fog

This is Ms. Jill. Trust me, she's under there.

Here are some of the Therapeutic Riders. Everyone gets a leader and a side walker. They do wonderful and fun things on the back of the horse.

They even ride backwards with no hands.  Its great for the balance and to strengthen the torso muscles.

Buttons had a crush on Ms. Erica, our judge.  Or was he just trying to get more points for his riders?

here are the littlest therapeutic riders.  They are so tiny and SO good at riding!  They get a leader and TWO side walkers.  Don't want anyone taking a header off the ponies.

Of course, I'd want to ride horses all the time if I got to play fun games like basketball!  That's TWO points for Juliana!

I mean, look at that face!  Riding is FUN, not therapy!

Tomorrow we'll talk about horse limbo and the Down and Out Competition.

Friday Fragments - Just Catching Up

Just to catch you up on things around my house.....

Jakes has spent a wonderful vacation with me last week and we start another one next week.  Poor kids' summer is almost over.  He starts school on August 14th.  Wasn't it just yesterday, he was graduating from 8th grade??

I have a couple of day trips planned for vacation next week with him. Can you say BEACH? And our county 4H fair is next week and he loves being able to watch the tractor pulls on Friday evening.  Can you guess where we'll be Friday?

Jakes hasn't gotten back on the horse since he was made an "authentic rider".  Ms. Eileen has plans to fix that this weekend!  Look out Jakes!

Dad has been to ER recently.  Once about 3 weeks ago after falling on his face, literally.  He tripped on a step and landed face first.  He broke his nose and had lots of scrapes and bruises.  They did a through check up of his entire body and seem to have found a mass in his stomach and some stuff on his liver.  We're waiting for a closer looksey by a specialist before we jump to conclusions.  More info as we get more info.....

I am working on mental health policies and procedures at work.  I also have to get creative and make a treatment plan form.  I'm just not feeling creative right now.  I also need to get the newsletter out before vacation starts today.  Again, the creativity is not there.  Any suggestions for getting it back?

My friend who sold me the new camera has another camera he is giving me.  Its a 14.1 mega-pixel camera!!!  I can't wait to catch up with him to get it and play with it!  Think of the PICTURES I can take with it!  droooool.............

I made an awesome pasta salad the other night!  Boiled the pasta, added a little Italian Dressing, a couple tablespoons of fresh basil and a fresh tomato.  The basil and tomato were picked minutes before being added to the pasta.  YUM!  I love summer vegetables!

I think that brings you up to date... fairly boring at my house!  Boring is good!

Hazards of the New Camera

I have been playing with my new camera. Exploring the area, new places and old places.  Changing lenses and practicing with settings and exposure levels. 

Last week, I stopped at a little cemetary off the main road that I've always wanted to explore. 

Cemetary

You can see its in the middle of nowhere and not really cared for. If you look in the background, you'll see nothing but nothing.....

Across the street from the cemetary
A Sod Farm

While I was exploring and taking pictures of some of the more interesting head stones I wasn't paying attention to what I was walking THROUGH. Poison Ivy.  All over my aknles and calves.



Yes, that's calamine lotion on my poison ivy



In addtion to learing about the camera and its settings, I've learned that you have to pay attention to what you are walking through.  Gotta go and scratch!

Smooth Swimming WW

More pictures with the new camera.

I love that I was able to get the reflection in the water.  This camera is AWESOME!

Playing with the New Camera - WW

Wandering the neigborhoods to try out the new camera has been fun! Now to work on my indoor shots....

Some wave action

Count the grains of sand......

New Camera

I'm having fun playing with my new camera
Lots of lunch hours outside checking settings and zooms.
Results soon......

Tuesday Tidbits

I missed all last week.  Where did it go?  So much happening!

AZ has finally made appointments with pain drs, dentist and the eye dr.  He says he's tired of being sick, feeling sick and sitting on the couch.  FINALLY!  He's been awake and participating in life around the house.  I'm happy but afraid to trust that it will stay this way.  Only time will tell.  In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy it.

Choir is done until the fall.  We had a wonderful spring concert and then sang for the local college graduation.  The place was PACKED and the ceremony was so boring.  I was able to read while they were calling the names.  Even our conductor was checking out a magazine.

Work is boring, as usual.  This is the slow time of the year for grant writing and contract making.  I'm working on researching foundations.  Boring work.  I want something challenging. 

Jakes is getting ready for 8th grade graduation.  He's excited for the end of the school year, but then what student or teacher isn't?  Now comes the fighting over the tickets for the ceremony with his father.  I hope he doesn't act like an ass for Jakes sake.

I'm getting a new camera.  A friend is letting me borrow it. I think he hopes that I will want to buy it from him.  He's probably right!  But its a VERY nice one with changeable lenses and filters and all that good stuff.  I hope he's going to include lessons with it.  But you will get to benefit from awesome pictures!  Stay tuned!