Weekend Coffee Share; Nov. 20 ~Horsey Fun!

Welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee? I also have tea or cranrasberry juice if you prefer. I am enjoying this weekend and the nice cool weather that November brings. We live near the Santa Ana River and in our town we can get socked in with fog. This last week we have been having foggy nights as we wake to very cool mornings as the fog slowly burns off for the day. It’s been really nice Fall weather and I am enjoying it immensely!

I have been keeping busy and we are getting ready for Thanksgiving. Can you believe it’s next week? I can’t believe this year is just flying by and as I prepare for next week, we will be decorating for Christmas most likely next weekend. Oh my goodness, then it will be figuring out Christmas presents. We usually pick names in our family which works good, and there is only the 2 grandkids and of course we all get them gifts without them being in the name drawing. I can’t believe how high prices have gotten this year, and it’s getting worse. I’ll just stop on this subject but am hoping inflation doesn’t get any worse! It’s just insane!

On to another topic. Hmm, I wonder what that could be? Haha, it’s horses of course. I have been wanting to share a video I made this last August of a trail ride on my horse Chloe. I was riding alone around the block on a beautiful summer day. I get a little bit tongue tied not remembering what the cross-walk button is called. Haha, I almost wasn’t going to share as it is a bit long (just over 2 minutes) but you can see a good bit of our town and the trails. I love chatting on my video’s so I hope it’s enjoyable. Miss Chloe is such a good girl!

I will say that Miss Chloe and I have really good rides most of the time. But she is a horse that isn’t perfect always. We were out on a short ride recently by ourselves and she saw a horse way in front of her and then it disappeared around a corner! Wait what? Where did it go? Oh DEAR! That was it! She stopped in her tracks and I let her stand for a second and squeezed her forward with my legs and she turned to the left and wanted to turn around. I decided it wasn’t worth it to try and force her somewhere she wasn’t comfortable even though she has been down this trail thousands of times. We turned around and she was a little anxious but calmed down when she realized we were heading home. These kind of rides don’t happen often, but we as a pair need to be smart and take the not so good rides and do our best to make it home safely. We do just fine and almost every ride is just about perfect! ❤

I like to explain my approach to horses just so those of you out there that may have horses know that I don’t have the perfect horses, but I do use training techniques that promotes trust and a good bond between horse and rider. I listen to my horses and I try and make sure we both understand each other. When I work with them each day we are always working on this bond and it is a great joy and very rewarding working with these beautiful animals.

I wanted to share a video of Murphy who on this day felt really good. He usually takes a little bit to warm up and get his energy up enough to run, buck and play! This day last month, he was “feeling his oats” as we like to say! Haha, I hope you enjoy!

He is such a silly boy! Murphy doesn’t always run like this which I am thankful for as I want him to be calm and relaxed. He is definitely on the lazy side, which is what I like and I think will make for a nice trail horse when he gets older. I am mostly riding in the arena as there are many things for him to learn and for him and I to grow that bond together as we work together under saddle. He is so much FUN! ❤

Murphy and I had fun riding this weekend in the arena with my girlfriend on her horse Fashion. She is so beautiful and I recently clipped Fashion with a trace clip to help keep her cool. She grows a very thick winter coat because she has Cushing’s which is a disease that affects their pituitary gland. They often have long or thick coats and they don’t shed as readily. There are many other symptoms but she is on medication which helps her symptoms and she is doing great. She is 25 years old. My friend also rides her out on trail with me and Chloe. She isn’t very good at being a leader so I won’t ride out with her on Murphy. He needs much more arena riding anyways before I ride more out on trail. I am in no hurry with him, and if for some reason the trails are not a good fit for him we will just do arena riding. I am okay either way!

I had FUN making this video! He is so soft!!

I haven’t been sharing as often as I was and so I have all these video’s saved up. So it’s your lucky day and I have 3 video’s in one blog post. (I just can’t help myself making these video’s and sharing.) 😀 I am trying to find my groove with my blogging. I so enjoy my blog, and I also love to interact and read other’s blogs but that takes time. I do not always make it to everyone’s posts, I try my best and I am hoping to get into a better blogging rhythm. That might sound strange, but to me there is kind of an art to blogging and everyone needs to have their blog represent who and what they are passionate about. My favorite blog’s are the ones that their passion shines! ❤

I’ve been reflecting deeply about my blogging as I’ve been away and not sharing like I once did and some of my feelings are not really worth sharing here but for some personal reasons I have been in a really reflecting, deep feeling, maybe even searching my soul type of mood. Haha, call me crazy but I sometimes overthink things and I have finally decided to be me and not worry about “the deep meaning of life” which is part of what I was reflecting on. Oh gosh, I want to be carefree and HAPPY! So enough of all of that stuff, but it was part of the reason I had slowed down on my blogging. I sometimes think it helps to share even though I’m just touching on this subject. I will say I have questioned very deeply my decision to purchase Murphy, but in the end I realized I did the right thing as he brings me GREAT JOY! He will be here when my sweet Chloe won’t be, even though it could be some years from now before we say our goodbyes. I will end with this, as this is what makes me SMILE!

Thank you so much for visiting and sharing coffee with me today!

Loving My Horse Crazy Life,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Nov. 15, 2021 Family Fun!

Welcome to my weekly smile post. I am back from a super fun weekend visiting my daughter who lives 3 1/2 hours north in Orcutt, Ca. She is currently a Major in the Space Force and she is stationed at Vandenberg Space Force Base. They have officially changed the name of the base and so here is to a new era of a new branch of our military. We visited Pismo beach and had the best ever cinnamon rolls which I have shared before since we often go there when we visit. The place is called Old West Cinnamon Rolls and oh my, they are so delicious and every time we sit down at the pier to eat them I forget to take a photo of them. Haha, trust me, they are to die for!! 😀

We then went shopping at a local mall as it was recently my youngest sons birthday. Oh, I forgot to mention he came up with me to visit as he hasn’t seen my daughter’s house she is leasing and he hasn’t met her kitty, Evie! He is bad about shopping and buying himself clothes and so we went to Macy’s and they had great sale’s and he got the pants he needed and a new belt. I found a pair of shoes with memory foam that I was looking for at a great price and my daughter ended up buying 2 pair of shoes. A totally fun day! I am always smiling when I can spend time with my family.

Evie is such a friendly cat. I am so incredibly happy my daughter found her and was able to adopt her as she cuddles and plays. She is such a wonderful pet and friend for her and its so fun to visit as she sits on all of our laps and treats us like family! For those of you who don’t have cats, some cats can be really scared or do not like strangers. Then when you visit they just hide under the bed! Haha, we have 2 cats and one of them is like what I described. She will hide until the strange people have gone, but thankfully she will come out if you spend the night. Then she realizes she doesn’t need to be that scared. I just LOVE Evie! ❤

Funny story, my daughter is taking piano lessons. She took lessons as a youngster following in my footsteps as I took lessons for many years (which I followed in my father’s footsteps as he was almost a concert pianist!). I am so proud that she is back taking lessons again. She has a wonderful piano teacher who put together a recital with all of her students. I was so excited and told my daughter I wanted to attend. She said it is a Sunday night and that she didn’t really want me there because she thought that would make her even more nervous. It turns out our visit up there was from Saturday thru to Monday and what a coincidence the recital was this last Sunday evening! We were able to attend, she didn’t mind and even though she was nervous she performed well. Here is a half a minute snippet and a photo at the recital. She played a Chopin Nocturne, one I was not familiar with but it is beautiful.

This teacher explained how this was a casual recital and that it is good to have casual performances to work out the nerves and to have fun with the pieces you play. We are all so hard on ourselves when we perform and I was so pleased to see how encouraging this piano teacher was with all her students. There were many children, I think more boys than girls playing and a handful of adults as well. It was such a joy to see and hear them all! I am SMILING! 😀

This is just a 30 second snippet. I thought it was a beautiful piece but then I just LOVE Chopin and can play many Nocturnes and Preludes. She is doing great and I’ve already said but will say it again, I am so proud of her and for her getting out there and performing this piece. She struggles fitting in all the practice needed since she does work full-time.

I wanted to mention that the gentlemen you can see his head in the video brought the really nice camera and recorded the whole recital. He also played in the recital and takes lessons with his very young son and daughter. They will edit the video and then send to all the students. I think that is so COOL!! Another huge smile on my face today! 😀

On to my last subject, my new craft project. You know I share my crochet projects and I make a ton of crochet things from blankets to crochet animals. After I finished the baby blanket and mailed it off to the Mom who absolutely loved it thankfully, I decided to pick up my cross-stitch. This piece I am working on is the third project in a book of four. They are called Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. I am working on Fall, and you can just make out the beginnings of a barn! I will share photos as I go, and my next blog post I will share the other ones I have completed. I wanted to end with this sunset photo and ask you, what makes you smile?

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just over a week away! The time just flies by but I am enjoying each day to it’s fullest. Keep smiling! 😀

Happy Smiling Mom,

~Diana ❤