Tag: #photographylove

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 ❤

As Odd As It Gets; Square Odd Challenge

On By DianaIn square challenges16 Comments
Three pretty roses from my garden!

Welcome to my challenge post where I am sharing all things odd. That’s right! Becky B’s square photo challenge for the month of February is in full swing and I thought I would join with some photo’s that I am deeming odd. It can be an odd number which is how I started this post with three roses, or what ever we see that we think is odd, as like beauty is in the eye’s of the beholder. Let’s see what else I can find to share and that I find is odd. 😀

My creativity for odd so far is three’s as there is three family members here at Pismo Beach!

I have to admit that I am finding this challenge, challenging. What exactly is odd? I am enjoying going through my archive of photos and the photo above is great memories when we went up north to visit my daughter and visited Pismo Beach. They have the best cinnamon rolls which is what we ate before we took this photo. I have a lot of photo’s of three people since I am usually the one taking the photograph. I won’t cheat and share too many of these. Haha, not that it’s cheating but I am trying to be creative here!

That’s odd, the fence is only posts and I counted there are 11 posts in this group! (Did you count them too?)

We got new fencing on our trails in town. Out with the old wooden post fencing and in with the new white vinyl fencing. I thought it would be fun to share the oddness of the fence as it is erected with the posts first. I took this photo a couple weeks ago knowing I could use it for this challenge. It’s fun to look for things that may be odd.

Since I am outside the stables in the photo above I figured why not share a photo of Chloe napping!

You know I always go there and yes, I thought this the perfect photo for this challenge because I try to take photos of my horses looking at me with their ears forward and those beautiful eyes staring my way. As I was getting Miss Chloe ready for a trail ride I hung her bridle on the horn of my saddle so I could go use the restroom and when I came back she was just napping away in the warm sun. What a sweet girl, and so I had to take this photo. I think it is an odd horsey photo and fits perfect here! Don’t you think?

And this is the end! And I’m thinking isn’t this an odd photo too? I deem it odd! Haha 😀

Like poetic license I am thinking that Murphy’s photo is odd, what are you looking at Murphy? He stood there for quite some time staring at the neighbors coming and goings or whatever he saw next door. He is so tall and all legs! And he is still a growing boy!! Thank you for visiting my #squareoddchallenge and I hope you enjoyed all my odd photo’s.

I enjoyed this challenge, as odd as it gets!

~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; 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 ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Last Week of July!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share16 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share!

I can’t believe July is almost over and oh my, did it fly by fast. I have been having fun in the sun, in sunny Southern California! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am going to get iced coffee today as I share my weekend and accomplishments of the month. It was a crazy week but as this weekend comes to an end I am home relaxing and enjoying the Olympics that are on in the background as I type away!

  • My daughter’s guinea pigs are here visiting. I am cleaning their cage and this is their turn out cage while I clean!

The happy guinea pigs are here as I am babysitting them as my daughter was to be away for training for three weeks. Unfortunately, it all got canceled for her but I had already picked up the piggies and she will be taking them home in two weeks. They are so adorable and I enjoy them immensely. I think they are so cute out and about in this temporary cage while I clean their home cage. I just had to share!

My hubby was able to complete the retaining wall and I thought I would share a couple of photos. What a job. The bricks weigh 55lbs each and he moved them all into place mostly by himself. He had a few hiccups, lining things up and had to tear down and rebuild at least twice in different sections. Oh dear, he definitely was outside working out as I call it in his make shift gym (as it were) lifting and moving all the bricks. He then filled in the back of the wall with back fill dirt, and he did get some help from a friend with that part. I told him to hire help, but he can be pretty stubborn wanting to save that money for something else. It was just all physical labor which he completed. I am very proud of him actually!

Its a very long wall turning in the corner of the backyard. The photo on the left is from the corner of the right photo.

In and done. The wall is done which is FANTASTIC, but we have a lot more work needing to be done to complete the whole yard. It’s all a work in progress in actuality, but the wall was the biggest project for sure! He actually worked fairly quickly and completed it before the end of July. I know he is so done moving bricks! Haha, I would be too!

On to other things to reflect upon for this month. I have now had my new horse Murphy for two months. He has been doing well. He was laid up for one month when I got him because he had a splint bone fracture which is completely healed. He then had his shoes replaced which we do every six weeks or so and after this was done he lost one shoe and after that was replaced he then lost the other front shoe. He only had shoes on his front hoofs. I made a decision with my farriers help and advice to try letting him be barefoot with no shoes. He has great hoofs, and he is very healthy and at three years old we can always go back to putting on shoes if needed in the future. I also may just buy trail boots for him as I think he will be fine in the arena, but the trails may be too hard for his hoofs.

Playing with the hose as I filled up the bucket of water! Silly boy!
These were taken this weekend. He is happy, shiny and doing great. I can’t wait to ride this week and working with him is such a joy.

Murphy is very smart and loveable. He is very lazy but tries and is so fun to work with and what a personality! With his size came some apprehension from me but thankfully as I’ve been working with him his size disappears. I now look at him as my loveable boy and I am so use to his size I don’t blink an eye. Of course, I know to be safe and kind. I think about my actions before I do them to keep him safe and keep myself safe. You can get lax around horses, especially the ones you know well. It is always smart to be smart, alert, very calm and very clear with your actions. This brings peace and calmness, everything they are looking for so they know they are safe. I just love interacting with these giant beasts. They are truly magical in so many ways! ❤

Murphy has a friend! This young chicken has been roosting on his back and a friend was able to take these photos! 😀

Haha, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen photos of chickens on a horses back, but my horse? I’ve never seen this before. Chloe would not put up with a chicken on her back, no way! But he doesn’t care at all! What a chill dude, exactly what I was looking for in my next horse! Murphy, you are just ADORABLE!!

Thank you for visiting my coffee share and having a cup with me today. I am late in posting but really wanted to join this weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Happy, busy, but a good busy cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Tree Square Challenge; The Sky and Trees!

On By DianaIn square challenges, TreeSquare19 Comments

Trees! How can you not Love trees? I suppose many take trees for granted. I just love trees and everything trees bring to our lives. They sure can help a sunset right? Look how much prettier this sunset is by having the trees in the foreground. I like the line of mountains too but I need to keep the focus on the trees as this is a tree challenge after all. I am sharing all things trees for BeckyB’s #Treesquare challenge and I am sharing photos I have in my archives. It’s been fun going back through and am hoping what I share today shows a theme. 😀

I have little stories to tell as we go through the photos. I hope you don’t mind a little reflection of my week last week. Sunday was a wonderful day until the afternoon when my new horse Murphy got sick. I am so grateful and thankful for a stable friend who saw him rolling and pawing and realizing this is not normal and he had a bad belly ache, it is called colic. He had a bad case of gas colic. He is doing fine now, but we had to call the vet out for an emergency vet call (it seems to happen on Sundays, this costs even more than a weekday call) but worth every penny spent. She treated him for the belly ache and I can report he is doing great. I now will keep some meds on hand to manage the pain that can come with gas colic. Murphy is so loved by all at the barn, and I love him too! ❤

Haha, as I chose the photos and placed them I realize I have the first 2 photos out of order. But instead of changing it let’s say I went to bed and saw the sunset and then the next morning I got up early for the sunrise! Here is a beautiful sunrise as I walk around the block and the sun is rising to a beautiful morning.

Day 2 of last week brought a power outage at our house. I tended to the horses which included a mash for Murphy with electrolytes in it for his tummy and then headed to work. I got the call at work all the power went out in our house except for our enclosed garden room. At first my hubby called an electrician which he promptly canceled after going outside and talking to neighbors who all had some power outage at their houses as well. It turns out a neighbor across the street was having solar paneling installed on their roof, and the guys working on it blew a transformer on a telephone pole along the street which affected a bunch of houses. We were lucky SC-Edison restored power by 7pm. My hubby ran extension cords from back room to fridge and fans. On to day 3 of last week.

Looking up at the tops of the trees you can see all the birds. I don’t have a long lens so this is as close as I can get. I like that you can at least make out the birds with the beautiful blue sky as background! This is a late morning walk and the eucalyptus trees are so very tall!

Day 3 I woke up to make my breakfast when my hubby called me. He had gotten up early to go eat breakfast with a friend. He was at the gas station and after pumping gas his car would not start. Yup, dead battery. That makes number 3 and we have been fine after this event. I believe things happen in 3’s, which I know is silly and I know it is probably just all ironic, or coincidental. I had to drive there with jumper cables and after that I could get back to my day. He had to buy a new battery and it was just over 3 years old and in an older car we do not drive everyday. Glad last week is behind us to be honest! It was just one of those weeks. It started out very gloomy…….

This is a wonderful photo as what stands out in the fog? The trees of course with the lights confused and on this morning, I love how crisp the foreground is with the brown fencing seemlingly outlining the photo.

And the gloom and doom of the foggy morning makes me happy that things are not doom and gloom at all. And I wanted to share my week as I still wanted to smile and remember the bright side of life. I want you all to know that this blog brings me much pleasure to write and share all the things that happen. It’s all called life, and we have to take all the curve balls that are thrown our way and figure out a way to keep seeing through the fog! ❤

Weather is wonderful for trees as they get fed with precious water. Where are you rain? It was absent this year, a very dry year here where I live. This was one very wet year we had just about 2 years ago. You can see all the water as the ground is very saturated. I suppose I should have put this in my palm tree post that I already shared, but this fits my theme which is the sky. I suppose it could be weather too, but I have so many photos of the sunrise that I wanted to dedicate a whole post to sky, sun and trees! That is my theme today, with a few stories thrown in for good measure!

As much as we need rain, the sun just makes me smile. We make a big deal about weather here where we live because we have far more sunny days then we do cloudy rainy days. We can get some foggy mornings but the fog doesn’t last long.

The sun so bright its rays bringing warmth and growth to trees and plants alike. I just LOVE the glow of the sun in this photo with the eucalyptus standing so very tall next to the row of palm trees! I think it’s gorgeous.

As I passed my 3 day event mark and feeling like things had settled down I was able to share my previous post which I did a double tree square post with my weekly smile post. I said to myself, I just can’t smile about all the events that happened to us this last week. But I can certainly smile about trees, and so that’s how that post came to life. And as I close this post out I have to say I so loved this challenge and this will be my last #treesquare challenge share as this month is coming to an end soon. (I may do one more post if time permits, but am not sure) I hope you enjoyed my tree photos as much as I do by putting this altogether to share!

Looking between Chloe’s ears as I ride back in from trail looking at the big beautiful tree that is so tall I could not fit it all in the photo. It is a California Pepper Tree and it provides a ton of shade as you can see on the barn there which is our tack room and row of cross-ties where we groom and bathe our horses!

Sharing my trees all around my neighborhood has brought me great joy. I wanted you all to see what I see through the lens of my camera. Thank you for letting me share the happenings intertwined within this challenge. Living life, it’s what we do! Thank you BeckyB for a wonderful challenge for #Treesquares!

Loving Life with Sky and Trees!

~Diana ❤

TreeSquare Challenge; I Love Trees, Part 2

On By DianaIn square challenges, TreeSquare16 Comments
Trees provide us with so many things, most days it provides shade for Zack and my girl Chloe!

This photo is from my archive just over a year ago. Trees see so much and can be around for many, many years. Providing some shade and now memories as my boy Zack is now running free and it brings warm fuzzy feelings seeing him from time to time in my archives. This tree challenge is so much fun and I hope you enjoy my theme for this day, and I am sure you will have no trouble guessing what that is?

Miss Chloe and I out on the trail on a beautiful tree lined street!

Another from my archive and to be honest I may not be riding alone as my bestie girlfriend may be with me but I can’t remember. I go on so many rides! Which is my therapy, my Love, my horses. I will look for a photo with the two of us together. That would be fun to share too!

Here we are together with a huge giant California pepper tree in front of us on the trail! Chloe has an ear cocked back listening to me talk as we chat all the while when we ride. Love our trail rides together!

This is from last year and my girlfriend has since retired her chestnut mare, Gracie. She has bought a new horse to ride on the trails with Chloe and I, and Gracie is doing fine in retirement. 😀 Now on to my recent photos that I want to share as I got ready for this challenge there was some beautiful flowering jacaranda trees on the trails. I’ve shared some of these photo’s already, but saved a few that will be new!

Absolutely beautiful! Purple flowers and the best view ever between my horses ears!
She see’s someone across the street and with the jacaranda tree near her I had to take a photo! So pretty!

As we walked under the tree I looked up and took this photo! I thought it was cool! It may not be completely in focus as I didn’t stop, just clicked away. Can you tell my theme yet? The photo above is the only photo without one of my horses in it and so that is my tree theme today! Trees and my beautiful horses. Here are a few more photos, after all I do not want to leave anyone out!

My new horse Murphy with another shade tree at the barn!

I didn’t plan on using a photo of Murph and I like this photo except I cut off his nose. Haha, it’s eclectic and different is how I have to look at it and at least it has a decent tree shot included! Murphy is doing really well and I will share more of him in my coffee share this weekend. So if you follow me, you will see him in action as I have some video to share! (A good tease, don’t you think?) I would include a link but I haven’t written it yet. Maybe I will title it with “Murphy in Action” so it will be easy to find! 😉

One of my favorite tree photos! I saw her standing there and thought PERFECT for sharing! This just makes me SMILE!! ❤

And we have come full circle! I was sitting in a chair waiting for my farrier as Miss Chloe was standing under this shade tree. It is the same tree in the first photo with Zack and Chloe, just from a different angle. We have gone back a year, gone on some trail rides and finished up with some beautiful shade from a tree that isn’t all that big, but sure can provide some shade. There is some meaning in all of this somewhere, maybe it’s look back in your past with loving fond memories but also look forward as you never know what the future will hold. Here I am with a new horse Murphy, to be here as I Love and take care of my aging mare, Chloe. They all have my heart! I hope you all enjoyed my trees for today photos and thank you BeckyB for this wonderful challenge.

Tree Loving Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Bright Square Challenge ~ Fun in the Sun

On By DianaIn BrightSquare, square challenges14 Comments
  • Bright morning sun through the trees on a morning walk!

Welcome to my post to my interpretation of Bright, for The Life of B ~ Becky’s challenge for the month of April. The theme is in my title and what fun to share what brings some light and smiles in this wonderful month. The word “Bright” brings so much to mind and for me I am sharing what I found the last few weeks that inspired me to share. This photo I thought was perfect to start as on my walk the sun was shining so brightly coming up over our local hills on this sunny morning. So amazing how brightly it can shine up and around the tree tops!

There really is silver linings around the clouds as they shine so brightly in the sky! This just makes me smile!

To continue on the sky theme as I rode on this fun cloudy day I just could not believe the silvery clouds with the sun shining so perfectly around them in the sky. This just brings sparkling cheerful thoughts of enjoying nature and all the beautiful field flowers that will soak up the suns rays that push through the clouds. I just felt this was a glorious sight, look at that colorful yellow hue, it’s brilliant!

I could not help myself and took this photo driving home from Arizona (please don’t judge) I snapped it quickly!

I know, I know don’t use cell phone while driving. But I promise there wasn’t any cars anywhere near me only that one in front of me and I couldn’t help it, look at that beautiful sun setting! I even had a buggy windshield, it was worth the shot. I love how it glows above the mountain so magnificently! This just makes me smile brightly! 😀

When I arrived home it was a full moon! You can even see Venus, Wow! What a bright shining Moon! ❤

When I pulled into the driveway from my long drive home and after watching the setting sun I couldn’t believe it was a full moon. I had to try and take a photo! I thought this isn’t too bad considering I only have a cell phone for my photo taking. I feel as full as the moon after spending a weekend with my grandchildren. I hope you enjoyed my Bright, joyous, fun post full of what I interpret as Bright for this week. I plan on sharing weekly for the month of April. Becky’s wonderful challenge is so FUN and you can join daily, weekly or when ever you get the chance. You can find her here!

Smiling Brightly,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Taking a Short Break

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share17 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share. Can I get you a cup of Joe? or maybe some tea? Sigh, I have had a crazy couple of weeks and so I am going to take a break. I wanted to write one more coffee share this weekend and let everyone know I am doing okay. For those of you who may not have read my last post I had to euthanize one of my horses last weekend, I’ll offer you the link here. But I totally understand if this is something that may be hard to read and I respect any and all decisions. I wanted to write a respectful and thoughtful post for my sweet boy, and it has helped me process the whole event. Anyone who owns animals knows these times are difficult but happen. Now I have to take one of our dogs to the vet as she has a growth on her belly (near a mammary gland). I hope it isn’t cancer, but it is getting a little bigger and is bothering her and now has some swelling so off to the vet we go. She is a super sweet girl, so I am praying it will be benign. We have another older dog who is just about completely deaf, but doing good otherwise. It seems the circle of life continues and so I thought I would take a couple weeks off of blogging. I just want to be in a better place and so I think since I have to deal with my sweet girl, this would be a good idea to take a break.

The shep/mix is my girl which has the small growth. The border collie can’t hear so he won’t stay sitting for photos!

Haha, I caught her licking in the photo. They are the sweetest pups and Love my hubby! Not that they don’t love me too… They love my attention but the border collie is more attached to my hubby. It’s all good, it just is what it is. I can’t take dogs to the barn as they aren’t allowed. I know I don’t talk about my puppy dogs much, they are loving and are loved but you all know the center of my life is really the horses. I am surrounded by furry friends and love them all! ❤ ❤ ❤

I have been going to the stables every day to take care of Chloe. We have been going out on trail rides and I have to say she is super calm and seems very happy. Part of the reason why is because we don’t have Zack along as he was rather a bugger, nipping at her, he even use to bite my stirrup as we walked down the trail. It would be akin to an annoying brother or sister. You know, when you are young and they just don’t stop annoying or bothering you? That basically was Zack on every trail ride. I tried my best to get him to stop, but he never did and so Chloe would walk a little bit faster, sometimes moving over or nipping at him. You can totally tell how much at ease she is now. I have known this about the duo, but I couldn’t leave him at the barn alone with all his anxieties. As I write this I can say that I have felt guilty the last few days because there has been a sense of relief. I was always worried about Zack, now I don’t have to worry any more. Here is a cute photo of Zack I wanted to share!

My good friend sent me this photo. She gave us these treats that he is begging for, he was so adorable! This was some years ago.

It feels good to see him and I want to get some photos printed and framed. I may use this one but haven’t decided. Or I might just print up a photo book of all my photos of him. I think I would enjoy that too. I thought I would share some photos of Chloe and I on the trail this last week.

Me and my shadow and Miss Chloe!
Chloe has a bigger back paddock! And those are guinea hens that fly in and out of the stalls. I also am finding an egg being laid behind that black feeder in her box stall almost every day. That is from chickens, not guinea hens.
She has a double wide back paddock as you can see she can see out in two places now! She is much happier in this new stall!

I moved her over one box stall with the paddocks and Zack was to be right next to her. She has more room now and I can tell is much happier with the room and the look outs. She can see what is happening and is content. She and I are doing good, and I am so thankful I have her to focus my energy on and it has made the healing go faster. I have lost 2 horses while owning Chloe. I had a Morgan before Chloe and when Chloe was 6 years old (I bought her when she was 2 years old) my Morgan passed away. It was another rather tragic event, we found him very ill and he passed away before we could get a vet on sight. I have been told by my vet he probably had an internal rupture (a twisted gut) which can happen with these rather fragile equines. Sorry for talking about this sad stuff, obviously on my mind with all the recent events. Chloe and I moved on from that and then 5 years later adopted Zack. I don’t want another horse, it will just be Chloe and I for a long time.

I don’t know what I will do when she gets older or starts to develop medical issues. She is 17 this year. Hopefully, it will be many years before I have to worry about all of that and we can just enjoy the trails. I think for my mind, heart and soul a short break will do me some good. So I appreciate you all, I won’t be gone long and I will most likely continue to read other posts and comment when I can. I am so happy to have this lovely coffee share group of amazing people and all other blogging friends here on WordPress. Natalie is doing an awesome job hosting and I am so thankful she took on the coffee share!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and week ahead. Stay safe and healthy!

Love,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; End of January!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share34 Comments
  • Welcome to my coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? Let me tell you about my morning…..

As I left my house this morning for a walk I was looking down and was positioning my walking stick in one hand and opened my front gate with the other with the cool air on my face. It was a nice 44F degrees and the sun was up above our hills shining on my back. I haven’t been walking as much as I would like, something I need to fit into my schedule. I was feeling happy to be out and as I walked I thought to myself what always makes me smile is mother nature and her wonders. Isn’t it so wonderful to enjoy all she has to give to us? I stopped in my tracks, I looked up at the sun, and then I decided to turn around and as I turned this is what I saw. Wow, majestic! this view took my breath away!

I couldn’t believe my view as I turned around from my walk, WOW!

I wasn’t paying attention as I headed out the door and I turned right to walk down this road which is away from this mountain view. I was so happy I slowed down to stop as this was a great place for a photo. The blocks I walk I saw more wonderful views, but this one set me in a good mood as I took in a deep breath and went back to my walk. My walk was a bit slow as bones creaked a bit and as the sun was rising I decided to take another photo heading more along the path I was walking.

The sun rising above the hills. I felt like I was getting a sunrise hug!

As I finished up my walk I got to thinking about how fast this month flew by. I can’t believe in about a week it will be 3 months since I started my new job. I can tell you I have never felt better sleeping every single night. (For new followers, I use to work grave yard shift full-time and had been on that shift for over 30 years!) I think I feel 30 years younger! Except for my creaking bones, a bit of arthritis in my feet and with this cold weather my right arm that I broke some years ago which has a plate and screws will ache a bit. I found some wonderful cream that helps with pain in muscles and joints that I use. So I get some relief and go about my day not thinking about it again. But when I get up in the mornings, I am a little creaky! Haha! 😀

Can I get you a refill? As I am enjoying the rest of my coffee, I just can’t stop thinking about how I am so enamored by the great outdoors. As I sit here and write on my laptop I can look out my front window and this is what I see. I can honestly say that this house we have here has some pretty cool views. I thought I should try and take a photo. So here it is!

Haha. the view is through a screen on my front window. Not the best photo but I love the view.

With it being a sunny day the snow melts fast and within a few days these snow capped mountains will be no more. However, there is another storm coming this next Wednesday so the snow will return once again. I don’t think one will ever tire of the snowy mountain views! I use to live in the local mountains many moons ago. It was an experience, but am happy down in the valley with my horses.

I have been in a bit of a funk. That’s a strange word “funk” but its a good description. I am in between crochet projects and have been doing nothing but coloring. Yup, you heard me correctly ~ coloring in my adult coloring book! It is rather therapeutic to color, but it is not motivating me to start a new craft project. I’ve been wanting to make this shawl which I bought yarn to crochet but the pattern is a little complicated. I started it but got a little discouraged and stopped. I also could get back to making my crochet animals? I usually am not so distracted. I usually move from one project to another, I am hoping to find my focus soon.

This is the shawlette I am going to crochet. Power of positive thinking as I work out the instructions! Haha!
Maybe I should just make some ponies! Okay, they look so cute!

Maybe I should just make these really cute crochet ponies and they will help me with my funk. Aren’t they adorable? I think I will work on these and get back to the shawl at a later date. I will share what I make once I get some of them completed. There are a whole herd of horses to create in this book, 10 to be exact. I have to thank my daughter for buying me this crochet project book. I am getting excited writing and thinking about these crochet ponies. I find working on my crochet crafts brings me much comfort and I LOVE creating things with my hands. It is so rewarding and always makes me smile. I also find the more I crochet the better I get, and so I enjoy my projects even more! What do you do that stirs your creative juices? I am sure many of you bloggers enjoy writing! I also have friends and family that love to sew. My sister’s sew quilts, so talented!!

I am going to wrap up with some kitty photos just because they make me smile. 😀

These are my kitties who are sister’s. Duchess closest with Dinah behind her. They were fast asleep until I bothered them with a photo!
These are my sons cats, the brothers. I love this photo as they are shaped like a heart! One is Wolfie, the other Dublin but I don’t know who is who! Haha, they make me smile!

Thank you for joining me for coffee today. Sorry about being in a funk, haha, I had to use it again because it’s such a funny word. Makes me smile to think I’m in a funk! I also want to do some gardening but I want to educate myself about gardening. I have been bad about my teeny gardens which the last one was in containers. I am just winging it, buying some fertilizer and then some starters and all I do is water. I know I live in an area where I could grow some serious food if I put some effort into it, which means taking the time to read and learn how to really garden. I need to know how to take care of said garden, and be a more mindful educated gardener. Sounds great! Now just need to learn! I’ve enjoyed sharing the beautiful mountains and kitties. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Enjoying Mother Nature and furry friends!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Begin Anew

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments

Welcome to my coffee share and before I get started I want to thank our new host Natalie the Explorer for hosting our coffee share gatherings on WordPress. I share my blog posts on another social media so those people would not really know what I am talking about if I don’t explain that this is linked to other coffee shares within WP. Anyways, I am enjoying a nice cup of coffee can I get you a cup too? I bought a new cup at a small farm in San Luis Obispo, we call it SLO for short. It’s a neat little farm where you can buy lettuce to feed goats, and they have chickens a couple of cows and two ponies. They have a store where they have lots of fresh produce grown on the farm and fresh eggs, and lots of jarred items, jams, chutneys etc. It is fun to visit there and this time I decided to buy this coffee mug because it was so pretty. Can I get you a biscuit or english muffin with your coffee? I have hot tea and ice tea too!

As I write this I am thinking back and I wanted to write during the week this last week but it started out really busy. My work is extremely short handed as positive Covid cases has hit the night shift and in numbers. We have at least 8 positive cases and other’s out because they were near a positive person, a protocol our work has put in place to help stop the spread. Per state protocols the remaining employees are to be tested which my work set up this last week and we all were tested. My test came back negative. As they clean and we all take precautions they do have an action plan if the spread gets worse as we are dwindling in numbers. But as the weeks pass hopefully those sick will recover and return to work. I don’t talk much about the virus, but since it is spreading and reaching closer it is affecting my schedule and so I thought I would share. Last week I worked earlier 11a – 7:30p. I will work this schedule one more week and then hopefully go back to 2p – 10:30p.

Either way the earlier schedule isn’t all that bad as I am still able to go to the barn before work. I live so close to the barn (it’s just a mile away) that I can get there and ride and return home, change clothes and am off to work. I have some photos of my ride this week. I actually was able to ride 3 times but only took photos on one of my rides. What I noticed when I rode at 9:30am is the morning shadows as I rounded the block. So these are my shadow photos! I just LOVE them! 😀

As I rounded the turn in the block, I noticed these cool shadows! And Zack looks so handsome walking along side us too!
Me and my shadow pals!
These two shots are my favorite! Best view ever sitting up on your horse looking between those ears! ❤

The mornings have been crisp and cool. Usually in the 50’s(F) and beautiful sunshine. I finally got to my day off and it was super windy! Darn it all, it was too windy to ride. But I will be able to ride tomorrow and am hooking up with my best friend who is now leasing a horse at my stables. Tomorrow will be our first ride together on her leased horse which I am really looking forward too. We haven’t been able to visit as often and so we will be able to chat and catch up with our lives during our ride. It will be great FUN!

I wanted to look at this year anew, the dictionary describes anew ~ in a new or different and typically more positive way. I think we all need to look at this year we have started anew. My ideas are thinking positively towards the world and each other. I just need more positivity which I try and have each day as each of us take care of ourselves and our loved ones. I have furry loved ones as well that need my time and attention. So I am thinking my word for this year is ANEW ~ I do not usually have a word for the year, but I think I will have one for this year!

Thank you for visiting my coffee share. I hope you all are safe and sound and I enjoyed sharing with you my happenings. I wish you could go on the trail with me, as the weather here has been just fantastic this time of year (other than the wind). I have a kitty near me and was on my lap earlier so I will close with one of my pretty kitties. I hope you all have a great rest of the weekend and a good week ahead!

Shadow Loving Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Dec. 30, 2020

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile20 Comments
Happy Trails after a lot of rain!

Welcome to my weekly smile! I have a lot to smile about this week with the rain and my pretty ponies. We had some much needed rain which I have a love hate relationship with as I LOVE rain, but its aftermath not so much at the barn. My horses live in very nice accommodations now so I am not complaining as much any more. But the arena gets really wet but drains pretty fast after the sun comes out the next day. As long as the rain storms are spread apart, then its a beautiful thing. One of the most beautiful displays of the storms that come through here in winter, is all the snow that falls on our local mountains! It is just gorgeous and my camera probably doesn’t do it justice as the snow capped mountains are captivating! Here are a couple of photos, how can you not smile!

This is looking out from my front porch! I see this every day and am SMILING!
Beautiful snowy mountains on my trail ride yesterday!

The above photo was not easy to take as I was riding my horses, asking them to stand still “Whoa” I said, as they kept taking one or two steps on the trail. I have Zack’s lead rope, Chloe’s reins, haha, holding the phone I zoomed as much as I could and took this photo. I think it turned out pretty good considering all it took to take. I am a happy camper. The first photo I shared was just as difficult to take as all Chloe wanted to do is head home, and the barn is just past the tall palm tree on the left down the trail and as I tried to “Whoa” she wasn’t going to stop. She wasn’t bad but I thought I better snap a photo so the camera focused on her instead of the background which is a bit blurry but I thought a fun shot! I really like my shadow in that photo too. Photo Fun! 😀

You can see the standing water in the arena. This is rain day, raining on and off all day! And Zack is winking at you! Silly ponies! ❤
Enjoying each others company!
Hi Zack! He got body clipped as he grows a very long winter coat. This will be more comfortable for him.
Always looking for a treat! Haha, unfortunately I did not have one in my pocket but they beg anyways!

Can you believe it is December 30th? Just one more day of 2021 and even though this next year may be more of last year as I think it will take months if not longer to feel “normal” again, what ever normal is these days. But this year seemed very long and drawn out so it’s end is something I think we all long for….. I miss my family in Arizona, I pray for all affected by this pandemic, the lives that are loss and the loved ones sick. We all here are doing well and praying for this to all go away hopefully, eventually soon. I don’t want to pretend like I am not taking things seriously as we all are taking precautions and doing our part the best as we can. Hence why I like to share my smile posts. We all need some smiles, something to look forward to and something that makes us HAPPY! I will end with a photo that I took last week as I was challenged wearing my huge Christmas light bulb earrings with a mask. I have so many Christmas earrings and some are very large and putting on and taking off a mask was not easy. Luckily, once I put on the mask it stays on the whole time I am at work, until I eat lunch or go home! 😀 😀 😀

Have a wonderful, smiling New Year! Cheers to you and your families!

Love, Diana ❤