Category: Living life

Weekend Coffee Share; March Is Here!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share19 Comments

Welcome to my coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I also have apple juice or cranrasberry juice if you prefer. I have so much to share as its been a few weeks and so much is happening in our lives. We made it to Arizona last weekend for my grandson’s birthday and we celebrated and made it special for him. I am also thankful that my family wasn’t planning a very big party (so very thankful) because my grandson ended up with a fever on his birthday so we had to cancel the event. We were to drive to my daughter-in-laws aunt’s house about an hour away to celebrate. It turns out my little grandson had a mild case of hand, foot and mouth virus which we found out he was exposed this last week when he was brought back to day care. That was why he had a fever, and we made his birthday a fun day none the less and celebrated at his home. ❤

We baked him a smash cake and the cupcakes with a Mickey Mouse Funhouse theme!
Me and my selfies that I so enjoy taking! He doesn’t know “smile” yet, and my granddaughter likes to make silly faces which makes me giggle! She has a beanie baby octopus in her hand!

My hubby and I enjoyed visiting and we did not catch any sickness which I told my family I don’t care, I would have come anyways. Unfortunately, my son caught the hand, foot and mouth virus as he came down with a fever at the end of this last week and he has nasty rashes on his hands and feet! Hence the name, and he says these rashes burn and are very painful. I feel so badly for him as he is the only adult that caught it from my grandson. My granddaughter and my daughter-in-law are fine. I am praying for my son to recover quickly. He is out of time off at work, so he can be out sick but can’t get paid since this has been a rough couple of months for illness for my little family. They all had Covid at the beginning of January and it has been one virus after another the last 2 months. Please say a prayer or send good thoughts their way, they sure could use a break right about now. This is SO HARD being so far from them so that I could help. But it is what it is, and all I can do is be supportive from afar. I Love them so much!

Ugh, there are lots of sad things happening in the world today and everyone has their own set of problems and/or issues to deal with. I certainly do not want to add to any of that and as you know I am usually full of optimism and positivity, but I will say even I can struggle with that from time to time. I am thinking if I share what makes me smile and brings me to a special place where I can forget all the scary sad stuff then maybe if I share it will bring a smile and a bit of positivity your way as well. I decided that is one reason why I like to share here on this blog. I have been questioning why I blog lately, and so I am only blogging when I have a collection of fun and enjoyable shareable things that not only make me smile and feel good, I hope you can enjoy and smile too! It’s my contribution to keeping my mental health happy, and in turn I hope it can do that for someone else too! I don’t even know if I am making any sense, but these are my thoughts today. 😀

These blooms in my garden sure make me smile! Spring is in the air!

My Iris plants have multiplied since last year. They are in a container and I am thinking I should thin them out this year. I am not sure what to do with the extra plants? I guess I can start another container and have more Iris plants! Haha, I do much better growing flowering plants then vegetables. Since I am not sharing daily or weekly posts I have accumulated lots of pony photos and fun videos that I wanted to share. 😀 As you all know this is my happy place, the stables or barn where I board my horses and the horses are what fill my heart and help me with my mental health. They bring me so much joy, so let’s get started with what I have to share.

Miss Chloe with a big bouncy ball to play with only she isn’t very interested!

My girlfriend at the stables (we call each other pony sister’s) brought the bouncy ball and let us all take turns using it in the arena with our horses. It is fun for them to see something different, it helps desensitize them and get use to different objects. We have horses that love playing with the ball. It is very bouncy and soft. They can bite it and throw it around with their teeth. It is so fun to watch them play! Chloe just stares at it but didn’t move as it headed towards her and then walked away, haha, and she did go up to it and push it once but I didn’t make a video of that. She just isn’t interested in playing like the geldings, especially the younger horses!

Murphy with the bouncy ball. He licked it and tried to bite it and will need time to learn to play with it!

Murphy was really afraid of the ball at first. I carried it into the arena and walked up to him holding it and he stood still and I let him reach out to touch it with his nose. I will say that for Chloe I knew it was not her first time with the bouncy ball as I have had it in the arena with her and my other horse Zack some years ago before he passed away. So that is why I was not worried about her reaction when I kicked it towards her. I knew Murphy has never seen the ball, so I introduced it carefully. I decided to let him check it out by himself and left the arena at which time I could take the video above. 😀 I know he isn’t doing much with it but he is very brave and is a good boy!

I had time this weekend to shorten their manes. It is good for them to learn to stand still as it takes a good half an hour or so to get this completed.

As I am sharing my horsey photos I am realizing that this could be a very long post. I am thinking I will save some of them and write another post soon. Either a Smile post or horsey post of some sort. I’ve been wanting to shorten their manes. I like to keep them tidy and they were getting pretty long especially Murphy’s mane. He got tired of me messing with him and when he gets antsy he starts to paw at the ground. He does not really enjoy being pampered and groomed. Unfortunately for him, I’m the type of owner that loves to brush and groom them. I do not overdue it and ask for his patience kindly and I don’t groom him every day because when it’s his day off of riding he just gets turned out and then I put him back in his stall. I am being gentle with him and give him days off from grooming since he doesn’t enjoy it that much. I’m hoping when he gets older he will enjoy being groomed, hopefully. 😀

Murphy is the second horse on the left. I just love this photo of the paddock row with the beautiful clouds!

We have been getting some weather which is always something exciting for us here in sunny CA. I just love the clouds and we got a little bit of rain. It has been chilly and cold a few days this last week. The sun was out today and that’s when I trimmed up their manes. I also had a nice trail ride. Saturday was fun with the bouncy ball day and I am hoping to ride Murphy tomorrow. I usually take turns riding one horse one day ~ the other the next day. It works out good for all of us! I’m going to end with this pretty photo which was taken by my pony sister who brought the bouncy ball! Thank you Jane! ❤

Murphy standing tall near the back of arena! Such a pretty photo! I hope you all are doing good and thank you for visiting and having coffee with me this weekend. I am so happy I shared and I will try and write and share again soon. Have a wonderful week!

Loving Grandma, Loving Horses!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; My Heart Is Full

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share25 Comments
Welcome to my weekend coffee share! How are you today?

Welcome and how are you doing? Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am doing great and am so excited because next weekend is my grandson’s second birthday. I can’t believe he will be 2 they grow so fast! My hubby and I will be traveling to Arizona so we can spend some fun family time with not only our grandson but with our granddaughter and my son and daughter-in-law! I pray that someday we won’t all be living so far apart and am thankful they are a short flight away and its not a bad drive. We will be driving there and my daughter will be joining us flying in Friday evening. 😀

They are so adorable! My granddaughter is 6 1/2 and my grandson will be 2 at end of Feb. ❤

Boy, just looking at this photo fills my heart with so much love for them. I could just stare at it all day as I miss them so very much. We do video chat, sometimes I wish we could more often but they are really busy and I will keep hoping that someday they will move closer to us, or vice versa. My son has been applying for a new job and has even mentioned maybe moving back to CA. Oh my, that would be so GRAND! But I should not get my hopes up too high as who knows where is next job will land them. He has been applying all over the Pacific Northwest.

As I am getting excited about my upcoming little vacation next weekend I wanted to share this last weekend and the fun I had with my ponies. I have been struggling a little bit with Murphy and getting him to participate more willingly in our rides. He has a bit of a stubborn streak in him, and I have been gently working with him in a positive way to keep his feet moving. I have to say my eyes opened up yesterday when I was reading Anne’s blog (HorseAddict) she shared a lesson with her trainer (her trainer is an Olympian!) She rides dressage and at the highest levels and I am just trying to get a nice walk, trot and canter in the arena.

Murphy is so young I am teaching him the basics but he would rather just stop and stand. So I asked Anne a question after watching her video and I asked her about riding with the dressage crop or whip that she carries while riding. I have one to use but it has been so long in using it I wanted to ask an expert and she gave me great advice about tapping Murphy with the whip near my leg when I cue him if he doesn’t respond immediately and it worked GREAT! I only had to use it on two different occasions, once to trot and once at a halt I asked him to walk. I barely touched his side, it seemed more like a tickle but he is sensitive enough it motivated him perfectly! I have to give her credit as it definitely helped him keep his feet moving which made my job riding him so much easier. I wasn’t so exhausted trying to push him forward. I am so excited! Thank you Anne!! Here are some photos from my weekend.

Before my rides I always get him warmed up by trotting and cantering in the arena!
I set up some trot poles that you can see in one of the photos. He did great trotting over them today!

He was such a good boy today as I was able to get him to move forward and into the bit with him being supple in his neck and he does this best at the walk. I am working on him to stay supple at the trot and having the dressage whip helps immensely and he is much better going to the right, I need to strengthen my left leg when we go to the left as he is a bit stiff. It is all a work in progress and I need to take one day at a time. But I was so impressed as he had a good attitude and moved forward more easily! YAY!

I also rode Miss Chloe today out on the trail. Her and I had a great ride!

I can’t leave out Miss Chloe. She can’t trot and canter any more with me riding her as she has a bad back leg that does fine at the walk but not so good at the faster gaits. She has an old injury in her stifle which is like our knee. She can run around free in arena with no problems but with the weight of saddle and rider it just isn’t a good idea and would put more pressure on that old injury. She does great on our trail rides! Walking is motion lotion!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I know some are still really cold and living where they may even have snow on the ground. I know others across the world are still in Summer probably heading into Fall. It is fun to share my rides and my adventures with my horses. I am having to reach far back in my memory in riding now that I am starting out a young horse. He is very, very calm and doesn’t get rattled very easily. He is smart (sometimes too smart) and forgiving as I am getting in shape just as much as he is with our training. I will end with a pretty photo of Chloe as she is shedding out her winter coat and getting a nice shiny one as we get closer to Spring!

Miss Chloe looking very pretty! My heart is full!

Have a wonderful week ahead!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; February Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share18 Comments
My roses are blooming!

Welcome to my weekend coffee share and instead of my coffee mug I wanted to share my pretty roses as they are starting to bloom. I can still get you a cup of coffee or tea if you prefer as we sit and chat about the happenings here. We are in a mini heat wave, feels like summer has come really early! But this heat shouldn’t last too long and we are expecting some rain this coming week. It was almost 90F (32C) this whole weekend. I am praying for the rain as we never really get enough here in Southern Cali. I am thankful the winds seem to have stopped for now. We can really get some howling winds and these winds have been relentless the last few weeks. 😦

I am really late writing my coffee share this weekend and I know I’ll get late responses and I don’t mind at all. Today is Super Bowl Sunday and so I am expecting most everyone is watching. I am not a big sports nut (just a big horse sports nut! Haha) and so I have the Super Bowl on as I am writing this and I was telling my daughter that I don’t think I have ever been to a Super Bowl party, nope. My hubby is not a sports nut either, he watches and keeps track of things but we do not have party’s and I can’t remember if I’ve ever been invited to one. Maybe I have gone to my sister’s when they lived nearby many years ago, so maybe family party’s. Clearly they didn’t leave an impression because I can honestly say I can’t remember.

I asked a friend to take some photos of me and Murphy!

I have some photos to share and I zoomed in on the one above and you can see Murphy is sticking his tongue out! Haha, he is such a silly boy. Here are a few more, from afar and then I zoomed in close up!

Aww, I love this photo and the ones above. I’m not in many with Murphy!

Murphy is so much FUN! He is so tall that I can’t see over his neck, shoulders or back or rear end for that matter! 😀 He will be 4 years old this coming May 1st and he is not done growing. He has such a personality and is what I like to call a gentle giant. I am so use to handling him now that I forget how big he is (I guess I don’t forget but am use to him) I am always mindful of his size and we have a good respect for each other and our space between us. I make sure he understands what I want when I groom him and when I need to pick out his hoofs. His legs are so long and when I see others work on him I notice his hugeness. My farrier was out this weekend and he was such a good boy and when the farrier picked up his front legs with his knees bent I just stared at this huge knee! I’m in awe as I’ve never owned a horse so big!

Since I am on the subject of the farrier, I thought I would share how smart Murphy is and how with his behavior we solved a mystery. Horses love routine and with what ever routine you develop they can anticipate and start to do what you may ask them to do next. Because he is so big and so young I needed to have him be comfortable with me picking up his hoofs and holding them so that I can get the dirt out of the bottom of his hoofs. This is called hoof picking and when Murphy arrived he was a bit antsy about being groomed and getting his hoofs picked out. So I kept the same routine starting with his left front hoof working my way around counter clockwise to the back left, then back right and front right hoof.

When the farrier comes he just starts wherever usually trims the front hoofs and then finishes up with the back hoofs. He has been very good with the farrier, never tries to kick but a couple of months ago Murphy was very confused as he picked up one back hoof, then the other, and wanting to take his leg away as he wanted to pick up the opposite hoof. The farrier said maybe he is in pain? Look how every time I pick up this left back foot he picks up the right back! Something must hurt. Gosh, I know its possible but he is only 3 yrs old and it got me thinking about how horses think. That’s when I figured out the mystery. Murphy is use to my routine and so now I have asked my farrier to please trim his hoofs counter clockwise and guess what? Murphy is perfect! He has the next leg sometimes lifted waiting for the farrier. Smarty pants!! ❤ He’s my counter clockwise horse! Haha! 😀

Miss Chloe out for a run in the arena and eating her grain back at her stall! I Love her so much!

I have shared a lot about Murphy! I had some friends on Facebook ask about Miss Chloe since I’ve been sharing more Murphy photos than Chloe photos. I will try and be more mindful to share both. She has my heart too, so much so it is really good to love on another as she ages. She is doing good and I can still ride her on the trails and I ride her out with my girlfriends at the barn. I know all of you who have animals knows how hard it is when they age, and I am getting to the point with Chloe that I want to be careful and stop riding when she can no longer carry me. I will ease her in to retirement when the time is right. Having Murphy is a great distraction and my heart won’t ache quite so bad when I use her less. She is so LOVED. ❤

Thank you for sharing coffee with me as I chat away! I know I am so late in putting this together. My weekend was busy, my daughter drove home and so my Saturday was busy. I so enjoy having her home to visit and she visited her best friend here in town as well. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead! And thank you Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare. 😀

Happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow! ❤ ❤ ❤

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Jan. 22, 2022

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share31 Comments
Welcome, can I get you a hot cup of coffee or tea?

How are you today? I know for some it is summer and so maybe a cold brew is in order! I do know that there is plenty of cold out there as I have been visiting other coffee shares and brrr…. it is cold in the north! I can’t believe it is Jan. 22 and with it being 2022 that is a lot of 2’s. I am not a numerologist but I like numbers. I am more of an astrology gal, as I love all things astrology and find all the charts and signs fascinating! Okay, I am going down a rabbit hole and wonder where my mind is going. When I am here writing and sharing I usually have a bit of a plan on what I want to share and to be honest if I don’t have a plan, then I just don’t share anything. Hence why I skip some weeks, I only share when I feel inspired and everything I have written so far is literally just thoughts flying out and so let me hone in my thoughts!

I want to share that I enjoy blogging very much and I have found that my blog revolves around my life as stated but I enjoy sharing that with photos. That is my inspiration is being able to take photos of things that inspire me and so in turn I hope they somehow inspire you! And with that, what inspires you? I find as I am taking photos thoughts of a smile post, a horse trail post or a weekend coffee share starts to form and so I take my photos and plan out my post. I have so much fun thinking of how I will share and inspire! 😀

I found my browband from my show bridle from 40+ years ago! I just finished polishing it as it was very tarnished after all these years!

I am giggling here as guess what we didn’t have back in the 70’s! Spell check! Hahaha, I have spelled Norwegian Wood wrong! And I just discovered this as I am typing in 2022! Oh my goodness, all this time I had it wrong. What is that called, literary license? Sort of? Holy smokes, I should have looked at the Beatles album more closely as that is the song I named my horse after! This piece of leather with the silver name plate I used on my show bridle when I showed my Hunter, who’s barn name was Chester in the 70’s. I found most of the bridle today when I was rearranging my tack room area. I decided to go through some rubber tubs I have which is storing horse stuff and that’s when I found this brow band! I also found 7 bits, and I have more than that in another plastic container. I probably have over 15 bits, maybe more! I really need to go through my stuff!

This is Murphy with a bridle like my show bridle. The arrow is pointing to the browband! Sharing for the non horsey folks out there! ❤
This is Norwegian Wood wearing his show bridle with me at a Santa Barbara Horse Show back in 1979 ❤

I have no idea where I am going with this post. I am a bit all over the place especially since I found out I don’t know how to SPELL! Thankfully, since it is a name I know lots of folks who don’t spell names correctly on purpose. So now that I’ve made a huge deal out of this I know no one would have ever noticed but me as I typed it into my computer and it was auto correcting my spelling. Okay, shake it off Diana! Haha, and I have to say I will use the browband in a shadow box or something of the sort as it doesn’t take up that much space to save this browband. 😀

Onward Diana! I wanted to share my cross-stitch I’ve been working on and I have one photo of my progress from some weeks ago and a new photo today of how far I’ve gotten on this project. I thought it would be fun to share as I enjoy sharing my crafts.

It’s really coming along nicely! This is Fall, part of a four season’s pattern book.

Once I get closer to being done I will take a better photo. What will be fun is when I use black to outline everything and then things will really pop. The people near the little building will be better defined and I will outline the wheels to the carriage and all the rigging for the horse. The barn will be outlined and will be so pretty. There is still a lot to fill in and stitch but I am more than half way done! I will share the two other seasons I have completed when I get close to completing this one. It is such a fun hobby!

Can I get you a refill? As I segue back to the horses I have a video of Murphy lose in the arena. I took the video last weekend and wanted to share it with you all. My other Murphy news is that I took my first lesson on him with a trainer that comes to our barn for other riders. I knew I would be asking her for help as I have gotten so far and I knew I wasn’t connecting the dots as it were with his training and I needed another eye to see what I am or am not doing correctly. Remember, my original training was many years ago and so I am a bit rusty. Trail riding is not arena riding at all and so it was great fun to get this lesson!

Lisa is very kind and explains things extremely well. I need to focus more when riding, she has some helpful focusing points for example; ride to a post on the rail and look through your turn to another post and so on and so forth and when you focus on this it will help teach Murphy to focus and comply. I was so amazed on how much better he got in that lesson as we both walked with purpose from one side of the arena around the corners to the other end. I won’t get into all the details (as there is much more) but as she is reminding me of things, memories are rushing in and I can’t wait to continue on this journey. I will take a lesson every 2 weeks and work with him in between for the next few months or so and then see where we are at and if I need to continue. I am so thankful and grateful for her help! ❤

I Love watching him as he trots and canters around in the arena! He is such a character!

I know this has been kind of a crazy coffee share post. Haha, maybe I can blame it on the wind! Maybe the wind is making my thoughts all kind of crazy today. It is super duper windy here in southern California! It gets to be so darn windy we can’t ride. So I can’t practice, bummer. I was so looking forward to riding this weekend and it is suppose to be windy tomorrow too. Oh well, there will be plenty of good days to ride. I haven’t been able to ride Miss Chloe on the trails this last week because they have been working on the trails replacing all the wooden fencing with white vinyl fencing. They finally finished Friday!

I know I take so many photos it is hard to choose which one I like better!

Murphy is huge! He has a big head, big ears and a huge heart! He truly is so sweet, gentle and kind. I will end here and hope you all have a wonderful weekend and week ahead! If you would like to visit other coffee shares please click here ~ and I have to thank Natalie for hosting our #weekendcoffeeshares

Crazy spell checking horse Gal! 😀

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Winter in California And Horsey Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share40 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share. We have had lots of weather this winter. Last winter was very dry and we had hardly any rain. We made up for it this winter and this photo is of our local mountains after days of rain and snow. I love the lingering clouds in this photo and thought I’d share. Nature provides us with such beauty, I can’t get enough of the snow capped mountains! ❤

I am okay not living in the snow. I lived in the local mountains 20 years ago and the snow and icy roads were enough to drive us off the mountain back to moderate weather. My heart goes out to all that live in cold and frigid weather, battling the elements snow, ice and wind. Here, where we live it is so mild that the lows do not quite hit freezing. We had low’s in the high 30’sF (2-3C) at night and it rarely dips lower and even if it gets to freezing in the night it will only be for a few hours and it warms right back up again. During the coldest days its in the high 50’sF and for us Cali’s we think its soooo cold outside, brrr. Haha, we don’t know what cold really is as I know this is actually nice weather.

Oh how rude of me, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I forgot to offer as I ramble on about the weather. Hmm… I think that’s like an old person ramble isn’t it? haha, I know I am not that old yet, but I know my posts reach others all over the world. I know it’s summer in places as we are wintering! Just filling you all in on this beautiful Southern California weather! We made some decisions this last week and contacted the piano mover and person that came and took our piano for parts. It was a very old parlor grand piano in disrepair and in such bad shape it was not worth the money to repair it. I am happy it went where its parts can be used and now we have some extra room in our garden room. Here are some photos. 😀

In its day, this parlor grand piano had the most beautiful sound when it was opened in all its splendor!
You can see how the finish is flaking off, its very old and holds lots of memories. It’s time to say good-bye!

You can see the room is now empty. I actually shared about this about a year ago and we finally decided it was time and so I am focusing my energy and any extra money to save for a keyboard as they make some really nice ones and I really miss playing. I play mostly classical music with some of my favorite pieces from Chopin, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff to name a few composers. I’ve enjoyed playing Bach and Debussy as well. I miss playing so much as I’ve held on to this piano which has been so out of tune it truly is unplayable. I’m excited and hope I can get a new electronic piano sometime this year!

Can I get you a refill? I have some Swedish pancakes I made for dinner tonight. I wanted a light dinner and these crepe like pancakes were perfect filled with a little sour cream and raspberry jam. Yummy! I enjoyed them very much and I will eat light if I have a big lunch. My son told me my granddaughter lost her first tooth this last week! She is 6 and in kindergarten and doing great. I miss my grandkids and I will see if we can Facetime tomorrow. They live in Arizona for any new readers to my post. 😀

My horse Chloe and I riding around the block in my hometown of Norco. She is such a good girl!

My horsey fun throughout this last week was fun rides and turn outs as we dry out. As you can see the ground dries out really fast and we were able to ride a couple days after all the soaking rain. It rained for at least 2 weeks maybe 3 on and off sometimes for a few days straight. For us it was a lot of rain which in turns means a lot of snow pack for the mountain ranges all up and down the west. This will help with our droughts that plague our region. I have some more photos to share with my horse back riding fun and just photos of these pretty ponies!

My dusty boy after my ride! He rolls a lot in the muddy dirt but I cleaned him up!
Murphy all cleaned up and eating his lunch. He is doing really good and enjoys his new stall!

Murphy is doing great and has so much more room in his new stall. I am so happy that he is happy and he is really fun to work with each day. He and I are getting along famously and one of these days I will get a friend to video one of my rides in the arena on him.

Goofy photos of my sweet girl Miss Chloe! She let’s me kiss her nose for a treat! I taught her this, so she begs often and I was able to take these silly photos!

I like how she has one ear forward to hear if I am going to say something I think! She knows when we are done riding I will give her horse treats. It wasn’t too difficult to teach her kisses as I kiss her nose and give her a treat, now she pushes her nose at me like you see in the photos hoping I have a treat in my pocket. I keep them in the tack room where I have my saddles and bridles. She can smell them in my pocket, so I can’t keep them there as she is too smart! Haha, these horses are such characters!! I just love them so much! ❤ ❤ ❤

Me and Murphy’s eye and ear, haha! and Miss Chloe looking pretty!

My hubby bought me a selfie stick for Christmas and I haven’t taken it out of the package yet. I actually need to find it as I am not sure where it is after we cleaned all the Christmas stuff up and put everything away. So when I take selfies as I’ve shared before, my arms are not long enough to get all of their head in the shot. And Murphy being even bigger than Chloe it’s twice as hard! Hahaha, I still like taking them!

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend and I thank you for stopping by for coffee. It’s been fun filling you in on the happenings around here. I want to say that I am truly thankful I can ride all year round here in California as I know there are so many that can’t ride in the winter. I also am thankful for all of you blogging friends and family who take the time to stop by and read my blog. I thank you too for your wonderful comments! I have to thank Natalie who hosts the weekend coffee share and you can visit hers and others by clicking here.

Enjoying Winter Horse Gal,

~Diana ❤

Happy New Year! I Can’t Believe It’s 2022!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life, Memories25 Comments
Christmas in Solvang!

Happy New Year to all! As my title states, I can’t believe it is 2022. I made it through Christmas as I accidentally stressed myself out a bit by not being better prepared. There were so many things I wanted to do that I didn’t get too. I wanted to do more baking which I mentioned in my last post. I ended up not baking like I wanted and making all those goodies I usually make during the holidays. The time just got away from me! I did leave the day after Christmas to visit my daughter who lives 3.5 hours north and we had a great time together!

My first photo is a pretty Christmas tree in Solvang, CA. We had so much fun visiting there even though it was raining. We have been getting a lot of weather this last month which we need. Tons of rain and snow in the local mountains. As we walked around Solvang with our umbrellas visiting bookstores I bought a Swedish cookbook and can’t wait to make a thing or two. We visited a few other stores as we meandered around. Here are a few photos I took while there! 😀

I just love the Danish architecture, love the photo of my daughter and her girlfriend and my Swedish FIKA book!

What fun I had getting to know my daughter’s girlfriend. We also exchanged gifts while visiting. On Christmas day we zoomed with family as we did a secret Santa exchange with the Elfster app. We have been using this app for about 4 years now and it is nice because it picks the name for us and then we can put items on our wish list which makes shopping easier. Usually all the shopping is done online. It was great to zoom, it’s like we are all together! ❤

I returned home from my daughter’s and it was back to work until New Years. I took two days off so I only worked three days last week which was nice. My daughter drove down here for the New year and left this evening. It was great to see her again, and she helped with our New Year dinner. Traditionally, we have Turkey dinner with all the fixings on Thanksgiving, then for New Years I buy a honey baked spiral cut ham with all the fixings. We include black eyed peas for New Year’s day which is a southern tradition which my mother-in-law always made for us and so I am keeping this tradition going. Eating the black eyed peas is supposed to bring you good luck for the new year. I think we all need all the luck we can get, right? 😀

New Year’s dinner, and two very yummy dessert’s while visiting my daughter!

Oh I have so much to share and could probably break this down to a few posts instead of one very long post! My daughter made from scratch the homemade cheesecake. It was AMAZING and it was a recipe from Chef Tyler Florence. I will have to look it up and make it too as it just melts in your mouth. She happened to have a can of cherry pie filling which we put on top. The ham dinner was amazing as was the middle desserts made by my daughter’s girlfriend who has opened up her own bakery! She is a master baker from Italy and makes amazing chocolates and other baked goods. I had so much FUN! What a great holiday it turned out to be. I’m smiling! 😀

This is downtown SLO a fun college town and the Pacific ocean as we drive by Pismo beach!

We went to SLO (San Luis Obisbo) and we visited my daughter’s girlfriends bakery which is inside an Italian restaurant. It is small but we got to taste her wonderful baked goods. This is a good way for her to start her business as eventually she will get her own place as it grows. It was a beautiful day as we drove to Pismo beach to get those wonderful cinnamon rolls to bring home to my son and hubby! ❤ (They loved them!)

There’s no easy way to change the subject, so on to my other love, my horses! I will always try to put family first and they are part of my family as well so of course I just have to share. I am thinking ya’ll like to hear how things are going with my ponies as I love to call them. They are certainly far from being ponies, especially that big tall boy Murphy! I recently measured him and he stands at 17.2hh, very tall and as I work with him each day I make sure he respects me since he is so big. He does, it doesn’t take much at all but I need to always be aware of his size. I also never hand feed him any treats as he is rather food aggressive which just means he LOVES food. So it’s best if I want to give him a treat it goes in a bucket in his stall, not from my hands. He gets plenty of pats and loving scratches which he loves.

Murphy in his new stall. He is very happy and doing great in the outside paddocks!

I have some updates and fortunately for Murphy a couple of horses moved out and two stalls opened up at the barn where I board the horses. These stalls are out in the paddocks and are very big and wide. He is doing great and I can tell really enjoys all the room he has now. I took a little video I will share!

He is doing great in his new digs, Yay!

He is so cute and I wanted to tell you of a fun thing he enjoys. He will lick your hand and as he licks if you hang on to his tongue he will just stick out his tongue while you play with it! Hahaha, I know this sounds weird, but horses can do the funniest things. He is very gentle as he licks and he enjoys this interaction as one of the girls at the barn showed me this the other day. Hey, if it tickles his tongue or he likes the salts off your hand? I’m not sure but It is great fun to pet him and interact with him without any treats of any kind! He is so silly! 😀

I took this impromptu selfie this evening before dinner!

My daughter says to me as I bring over my camera “I don’t have any makeup on!” Haha, us horse girls rarely if ever wear makeup! What’s makeup anyways, hahaha!!! She is beautiful without makeup and of course is beautiful all made up too. I actually sat here thinking should I share this photo? Yes, I want to share and send out happy healthy thoughts your way and hope everyone has had a wonderful new year no matter if you celebrated or not. I wonder what 2022 will bring our way? We will see! I’ll end with this quote;

You can't go back and change the beginning,
but you can start where you are and change the ending.
C.S. Lewis

I think of my dad as he loved C.S Lewis. Love you Mom and Dad up in heaven! He passed on New Years day in 2003. ❤ ❤ ❤

Grateful, thankful and feeling blessed,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; December Fun, in 2021!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share48 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share! The last coffee share for this year to share with our coffee share group hosted by Natalie! Her blog is so fun, positivity flows and her photos she shares are so beautiful. She hosts our group #weekendcoffeeshares and you can click here to visit hers and others if you are interested as there are wonderful bloggers out there and I love our coffee share group! We will be breaking for the holidays. Can I get you a hot cup of coffee or tea? Or maybe a glass of milk to go with the sugar cookies I baked. I actually made them last weekend and they are almost gone. 😀 I am planning on baking more this weekend. I also want to make ginger molasses cookies, maybe some magic cookie bars, fudge and I am not sure what else as I will look through my cookie recipes and see what jumps out at me to bake!

I had to use my horse head sugar cookie cutter with the gingerbread man!

Sugar cookies are so messy but hey, you have to make a mess sometimes! I had a ton of fun baking last weekend. It always feels more like the holidays when I bake cookies. It is a fun tradition and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I am hoping to bake enough to be able to make some gift bags that I can give some baked goods away. I also need to figure out Christmas dinner for next week. I am not sure what I will make but I work all week including half the day on Christmas Eve. We still need to work to run the blood work for those sick animals heading to the vet on that day. It will hopefully be light, as most likely it will be mostly emergency vet visits and we are closed Christmas day.

I finished my cup of coffee as I love coffee with my cookies. I got myself a refill, can I get you one too? Winter is here in Southern California and we got a lot of rain this last week. We are in a drought so the rain is welcome. I wish it would rain more often and not all at once for hours at a time, but we can’t control the weather so it is what it is. It rained closed to 12 hours straight I think and when we get that much rain, it floods at the barn. The horses do fine in their stalls and stay under shelters or in the barn. Our arena has a low spot and always puddles, or to be honest it is like a huge pond. It is now almost dry as a trench is dug along the fence line to drain the water out of the arena. I have shared over the years my photos of Zack and Chloe out in the water and now it’s Murphy’s turn with his first winter here!

Murphy having fun in the water on this beautiful day after the rain storm!

He was so cute walking around and pawing which is their way of playing in the water. I thought maybe he would roll but the video was getting kind of long so I ended by showing the snow on the mountains. When I left him alone in the arena I looked over and there he goes, down in the water!! As he rolled his head went into the water and he got water in his ear as he shook his head and promptly stood up. Haha, I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough to catch him rolling darn it all….. But I took another short video of him all wet. Silly guy had a lot of fun turned out that day!!

Silly guy is soaking wet! I wonder if he will ever roll in it again?

I wonder if he will roll again in the water if I give him the chance. I ended up working him and not turning him out again with all the water which is now almost gone. We are expecting more rain next week and I am sure it will pool up again and I am also sure I will turn him out again, but he may be done rolling in the water. Haha, I wonder though?

Here is Miss Chloe in the water. I didn’t take a video, but she pawed but did not roll in it on this day. She has rolled in the water before but now that she is older, she rarely even rolls at all let alone in water. She is so sweet and had fun being out on this day.

I forgot to mention that after Murphy rolled in the water he went ahead and rolled in the wet arena dirt. Oh boy, he was so dirty I ended up hosing him off to clean him up. Here is a photo of a very dirty Murph!

This is my December fun here riding my horses and trying to keep up when the weather turns. We are expecting a lot of rain next week and probably a wet Christmas. I can’t say white Christmas because it does not snow at our elevation which is basically sea level. Our local mountains do get tons of snow and as you have seen we have gorgeous views of wintery snow capped mountains. After the rains the air is so clean and crisp, our winters are beautiful in their own way. And in one day you can visit the ocean and smell that salt water, or surf if you are so inclined and in just over an hours drive away (without traffic) you could be sledding down a snowy mountainside. I am always grateful for our weather because I can ride my horses year round and I know there are many places in this world where that is not possible due to inclimate weather. ❤

Miss Chloe dry and happy under her shelter in her stall. She is so beautiful and I Love her so much!

I have been struggling a tiny bit with Christmas time as there is always a certain amount of stress that I think we all do to ourselves and it is mostly stress in planning stuff. That is what I do to myself. I have my own personal plans as you can see and read here which is doing all the things Diana loves. Which is tending and riding my horses! Haha, and when home I will do house chore’s and take care of my home animals, our dog and cats but then I sit down and cross-stitch or crochet while watching cooking shows or sometimes a movie! It’s all wonderful with the exercise of horse care and horse back riding, and relaxing while creating. BUT what about getting some gifts or planning some dinners!! Hahaha, I do and can make myself get this stuff done, I just have to do it without stressing. Thanks for listening as I am motivating myself by writing this. 😀

I am sure some of you are great planners! or are you like me with a middle name of procrastinator? I will give myself a break because I do work full-time, 40 hours a week so for me there is a lot to fit into each day. I rarely do my crafts during the week as I just don’t have time so there is even more I want to fit into my weekends. I am sitting here writing this thinking I can’t believe there is only 2 more weeks left of 2021. As there are things in the news that are sad, in my bubble I am going to try and enjoy the end of December with as much FUN as I can fit into it and stay safe at the same time, I hope! 😀

As I think of the holidays I am missing my family and I am so thankful for technology and video chats. I had so much fun as we have been video chatting each weekend with my grandkids in AZ. Oh my, they are just so cute and I have so much fun with them. They melt my heart and we have done a gift exchange and will Zoom on Christmas day as we each open the gifts together. It’s so fun having them on our TV set! Speaking of my son and family, he continues to send photos of his kitties cuddling!! CUTENESS!!

My son’s cat’s, the brothers Wolfie and Dublin! I share frequently the photos he sends to me!

The above photo is how I feel sending warm hugs to everyone! These brothers do not disappoint and cuddle each other often. I just love when they send me these wonderful photos and since they are such a handsome pair I can’t resist and need to share! I hope and pray for everyone affected by this virus and pray for our country and mankind. These are crazy times but I can remember growing up having other things that made our world feel crazy, for us old folks out there I am sure you remember too! Let’s take in the beauty and keep smiling for all the good out there and so I will end with this beautiful photo my daughter-in-law took and shared. Let’s enjoy this season to it’s fullest and remember what Christmas is all about. I hope your holidays are filled with peace, joy and happiness! ❤

With Love to all and thank you so much for sharing coffee with me today!

Happy Horse Crazy Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; December Already?

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share27 Comments
Beautiful pink roses that smell heavenly!

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I decided to share these pretty roses that were blooming last month at the barn where I board my horses. Not only did they catch my eye but caught my nose as well, such beautiful rose smell. Oh how I LOVE the smell of roses! Can you believe it’s December? It is hard to believe it is almost 2022! This week was decoration time and my plan tomorrow is to go through my decorations left in boxes and get rid of all old and not used decorations that I have collected over the years. Our house is decorated inside which I finished today. Can I get you some cookies to go with your beverage? I have some chocolate chip cookies! YUM!

As I finished up my decorating I was rather proud of myself as I was going to toss out a bunch of bows I made from a big roll of green and red ribbon I had bought from Costco some years ago. I made these bows huge because I wanted them to drape down on the tree and our old tree was very big. We had it for almost 20 years and we finally decided to get a new tree, and we decided to get a much smaller tree. It is pre-lit so no more stringing the lights. YAY! I’m not so sure I like the beads I put on it but I Love the smaller bows.

I made these huge bows smaller!
The tree is complete and I think is pretty!

The only thing about pulling the bows tighter and smaller is they are a bit wrinkled, but that’s okay. Hanging on the tree you can’t really tell and I think it finishes it nicely. I want to buy some new bulbs, maybe after Christmas sales I will see what they have and I can purchase for next years tree. I also want to get some hooks for the bows. I just fashioned them in the branches and they will stay but are not attached to the tree at all. I’ll have to see what’s available for hooks when I shop for the sales after Christmas. I didn’t think about that before, but I know they would hang better if I attached hooks.

How are you doing, do you need a refill? We have had some warm weather with it being extremely windy through Thanksgiving. These winds are really warm and are called the Santa Ana winds which come in the fall and winter months. These winds also contribute to our fire season since it is typically so dry in California. We just do not get a lot of moisture here, although the forecast is for rain this next week which we desperately need. Since it does not snow or freeze here, I can ride year round. 😀

Miss Chloe and I are out on the trail. One of many rides the last few weeks! 😀

I do not take it for granted that we have such great weather. This weekend has been really cool and very foggy. I can’t complain and am welcoming the coolness of the season. With the great weather comes traffic because there is a ton of people who love to live here too! So our freeways are huge and very busy! I’m thankful I live in a small town so the only time I have to deal with the traffic is commuting to work each day. It is so relaxing being at the stables and enjoying my horses, they help keep me centered.

I do have some Murphy news as I had some blood work done when I had the vet out for his winter vaccines. We did a blood test for EPM (Equine protozoa myeloencephalitis). This protozoa crosses the blood brain barrier and lives in the cerebral spinal fluid and the brain. After I adopted him the trainer who I follow talks a lot about EPM and how prevalent it is in the mid-west which is where Murphy is from and so I talked with my vet and he said we should test him. He tested positive for the antibodies and he is not showing any clinical signs and is not considered an active case of EPM which is good. My vet suggests we treat him as there are good medications out there for this disease. He possibly could be completely cured but more importantly since he is only 3 years old this will set him up for a healthy long life. I’m so glad I had him tested.

My horse Zack had EPM so I am no stranger to this with horses. The difference though is Zack was not diagnosed until he was active displaying clinical signs which included tripping and having trouble picking up his front right leg. The protozoa once in the brain when the horse is stressed it can multiply and destroy brain cells. Depending on the area affected they could have vision issues and its why they display problems like tripping, or not being able to pick up a hoof. You can sometimes pull their tail and they will cross their legs which normally they don’t if they don’t have EPM. They have done plenty of studies on this disease and improving the drugs they use to combat it and so I feel like this is going to be good for Murphy.

It’s ironic that he has some leg issues that were vetted before I adopted him. X-rays were taken and none of the issues were going to be a problem, mostly an ugly scar and a splint that is now completely healed so he has a bump on his leg that has calcified. I didn’t think to have his blood tested. Would I have still adopted him if I had known? I’m not really sure. But I have him now and I do love him and he is everything I thought he would be and so onward we go. I’m super happy and so proud of him.

After my ride the other day. Such a handsome boy! ❤ ❤ ❤

I’m so happy you could join me for my weekend coffee share! ❤ It is fun to share my festive weekend as we are all ready for the holidays. I haven’t done any shopping, something I will do this coming week I hope. Do you buy gifts early before the holidays? We have done this when the kids were little, but don’t do this any more. I have made small gifts before, something you have to plan very early in the year. I have to thank Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare and if you would like to visit other coffee shares click here . She has done an awesome job and I can’t believe this year is almost over! Have a wonderful weekend!

Festive Feeling Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Nov. 20 ~Horsey Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share37 Comments

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! ❤

Today I rode in the arena on Murphy (stinker grabbed my rein you can see in the photo, but I wanted to take a photo of his head. He tries to put everything in his mouth!) and another friend on her horse Fashion!

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!

Murphy after my ride today! I just Love him so much!
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!

I sometimes pinch myself, did I just buy a racehorse? CRAZY! ❤ ❤ ❤

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!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekly smile21 Comments
  • Pismo beach, California!

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.

I took this through the front window of the car when we came up on the light at this intersection! I thought it so cool!
My son meets Evie, my daughter’s kitty!

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.

I’m so proud of my daughter and the teacher is nearby to turn the page for her so she doesn’t have to stop playing the piece.

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! 😀

I started a new project, cross-stitch which I haven’t done in some years! Can you guess what I am making?

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?

The sunset from last night! We didn’t stop and I just took a quick photo and I thought it’s worth sharing.

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 ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; October 24, 2021

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share47 Comments
Welcome! My sister and my best friend went in together to buy me this cool mug for my birthday! I LOVE IT!

Howdy! How are you doing, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? It’s very gloomy outside but it’s a good gloomy because we have lots of clouds and are expecting some much needed rain! Tomorrow it is to rain almost all day and we really need the rain in our dry climate here in California. I have some small cupcakes for a snack to go with the coffee, can I get you one? I didn’t make them but they are really good. It was my birthday this last week and my hubby picked up the cupcakes so I didn’t have to bake for myself. I’m the only baker at home. 😀

I can’t believe there is only one more week left of October, but it’s been a very fun month. A couple weeks ago I went to Arizona to see my son and his family and I was there with my daughter who bought tickets to a comedy show. I went to babysit for that evening and it was so fun watching movies with my grand daughter and grand son. Well, my grand son went to bed and was super easy to put down which I was thankful for since he’s 19 months old and I know at that age they can be a handful. But they have a wonderful routine and that helps so much with young children. I had a blast and I’ll share a few photos.

My daughter enjoying Wolfie kitty who use to be her kitty, but now lives with my son. And a blurry selfie! Kids just don’t sit still!

Wolfie remembers my daughter!! He slept with her while we stayed the two nights for our weekend visit. For those of you who follow me will remember Wolfie’s brother Dublin is my son and daughter-in-laws kitty. My daughter tried to have Wolfie live with her but he was a handful and actually was eating her guinea pig hay and there were other problems and so we did some kitty swapping. I took 2 cat’s my son had (two sisters) and Wolfie was brought to live with his brother in AZ. Now my daughter adopted a beautiful black kitty she named Evie. We are all happy and the cats are all happy too! Thought I’d fill ya’ll in again and for any new followers. Haha, it was a bit of kitty drama at the time when we went through the exchanges!!

These brothers still lay together all the time! This is my photo of them sleeping on my bed when I visited AZ! Adorable!

I had such a nice weekend and when I returned home my sister from Idaho came back to town with her husband because it was her husbands 40th High School reunion. It was so fun because this is my sister who also rides horses and who is the sister I adopted my horse Zack. She couldn’t take him to Idaho, so I kept him and had him until earlier this year when he passed. Now, her and I are having fun with my new horse Murphy! Together she is reminding me about bringing along a young horse. Since he is almost 3 1/2 years old now, he is learning so much every time I ride. He is like a sponge, soaking up all that he is learning. I was able to take some photos when Sharon rode and I will share a video I took as well. We had so much fun as we also took him out on some trail rides too!

My sister riding Murphy! She and I ride alike and he was such a good boy for her. He is so relaxed and calm. He is a joy to ride!

Can I get you a refill on your coffee or tea? We have some Halloween candy too. We do not have Trick or Treaters in our neighborhood because it is considered a rural area. We do not have any street lights and the houses are a bit far apart so we do not have any kids that walk any of the neighborhoods in this area. They all usually drive to local residential areas to Trick or Treat. So we usually buy ourselves a couple of small bags of candy and we buy our favorites! Usually they are chocolates of some kind. YUMMY!

Back to the horses, sorry I got off on a tangent but you know, candy is always worth talking about and more importantly consuming! Haha! I was so happy I took my phone with me into the arena when I asked my sister if she wanted to ride Murphy. That’s when I was able to take these photos and the video I will share. After the arena we went out on a short trail ride and I was able to take a couple of photos out there as well. I am so proud of him and I thanked my sister so much for all her help and encouragement as he is coming along nicely.

My sister riding Murphy and he is so relaxed and now I have him on video cantering to the right. He is doing great!

I am so enjoying my time here with you and I am also enjoying celebrating my birthday this last week. My family in Arizona sent me a bouquet of flowers, they are so beautiful and smell wonderful! They arrived Saturday and my daughter sent me some fun Star Wars things as I Love all things Star Wars! Including a coloring book, The Princess Diaries by Carrie Fisher to read and these cool light saber earrings! Yes, I am a geek when it comes to Star Wars!! My hubby got me a cool Disney cookbook. I have a small collection of specialty cookbooks so this is a nice addition. I will finish up with these last photos.

I am a happy Grandma, Mom, wife and horse crazy gal! Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare! I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead and thank you for visiting with me today. 😀

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; It’s October, My Favorite Month!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments
Beautiful wild flowers blooming at my friends house in Kentucky! She is so kind and sends me photos!

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am remembering summer as I share these wild flowers from my girlfriend. She has shared with me some beautiful photos of her flowers in bloom. She knows I have a LOVE for all flower photos, I could actually have a separate blog just for flowers except then I would have trouble keeping up so I’ll just share them from time to time here on this blog, my one and only blog. Can you believe it’s October? I can’t believe it as September just zipped by and here we are starting a new month. I have had Murphy for over 4 months now and he is learning and growing and is so much FUN! 😀

When Murphy arrived I took my time getting to know him as he got to know me and remember, he needed time to heal up a splint bone fracture. It is completely healed and he is perfectly sound and it is a non issue. But that time was well spent as he learned our routine. I could have done this earlier but never seemed to have enough time in my day to do some extra trimming and this weekend I was able to trim up his mane. Some people leave their manes natural and let it grow long. I prefer to have it shortened and an even length across his neck. I think it could be even shorter but that would have taken me longer and he stood so well while I spent the 30 to 40 minutes it took me to shorten his mane. When he first arrived, he did not stand still very long and was restless as he got to know our routine. Now he has gained great patience, I am very proud of him!

  • Before I trimmed his mane, it’s pretty but very long!
  • After I trimmed his mane. I love it shorter. He is so shiny too!

As I share my horsey stuff which includes riding Murphy in the arena and Miss Chloe on the trails, I am looking forward to a visit to Arizona to see my family. My daughter bought tickets to a comedian show in Arizona and is treating her brother and his wife. I asked if they needed a babysitter and they said Yes! So we will head out to AZ this coming Thursday and spend the weekend until Sunday. My son has some new games that we all can play together and Alice can join us playing some of these games too. I am looking forward to a fun game night with our visit. My son found a fun small water park for the kids and I look forward to taking them there as well. My son sent me this photo of them just the other day and I thought I would share. 😀

They are so adorable! I know they are my grandkids, but they are so darn cute ~ how can you not smile! ❤

Oh how they melt my heart! I have the hugest smile on my face right now! I have to say they are two such different children which makes sense. Alice is so sweet and cuddly. Loves hugs and attention. Teddy is very much the opposite, as independent as they come getting into everything and is not cuddly, so curious and very busy. Of course, he doesn’t know me as well as Alice got to know me at his age but he is all boy. Climbs up on everything and is as smart as they come. He will push chairs over to climb up on the countertop, he is such a handful and then some!! He is not even 2 yrs old yet and I would say has already had a few of those terrible twos temper tantrums. He will turn 2 in February. My goodness, they grow up fast! ❤

Thank you for visiting with me today and I so enjoyed your company. Do you have any travel plans? I am enjoying being able to have these long weekend get-a-way’s. I also am looking forward to my sister who lives in Idaho to visit again in a couple weeks. She is my horsey sister so we will have fun riding together again! Her husband is coming with her this time as he has a reunion to attend and she decided to come and visit too.

I want to thank Natalie for hosting our #weekendcoffeeshare link up and if you want to visit her blog or other weekend coffee shares I’ll add a link here. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will see you again in two weeks time since I will be traveling this next weekend. Take care and stay safe out there!

Horse Crazy Grandma,

~Diana ❤