Dave's catte from a visit in 2004

Dave's catte from a visit in 2004

This is a bit of a departure for me on the blog. I have been a vegetarian since 1983, but I fully support what Dave Reynolds is doing with his cattle business. I have met Dave. Besides raising longhorn cattle, he also breeds and trains Spanish Mustangs. He is good at both of these things. If I still ate meat, I would certainly be buying shares of Dave’s cattle.


Lovely, tasty, little blueberries

Lovely, tasty, little blueberries

We have participated in a CSA for produce several times. It was great! Once a week, during the growing season, we would pick up our box from someone’s garage. It was a lot of fun to see what each week brought. Some things were unusual and made us consider what to do with them, like jiquama. And I ended up eating more produce, as I didn’t have to think about what to buy or even go to the store. It was right there.


We no longer participate in a CSA, as we are expanding our backyard garden. We live in town on an 80′ x 80′ postage stamp lot. Yet our backyard garden of a few raised beds provided us with a lot of produce this year. Next year, it will be even more, as we remove more of the old, weedy lawn and convert that to vegetable beds. We had the ubiquitous zucchini, along with cantaloupes, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, basil, strawberries, blueberries, mint, cilantro, apples and probably more that I can’t remember.

Here is another site to learn more about CSA. It is a great way to improve your health through eating more produce, while supporting your local economy and reducing impact on the planet. Besides … it’s just a lot of fun to eat something that you have grown yourself, especially just after it’s picked!

Oct 082009
 

What fun this has been. I continue to receive cards of all varieties. It does make coming home and checking the mail so much more inteesting.

Here are a few of my favorites from what I have received so far…

From @CaterpillarArt

From @CaterpillarArt ... intriguing how small parts of the collage were damaged in the post.

From @sjafana ... done entirely on an iPhone with apps.

From @sjafana ... done entirely on an iPhone with apps.

From @sparkyour art ... deep with texture

From @sparkyour art ... deep with texture

And a couple of favorites from what I sent…

Dream State #14

Dream State #14

Dream State #30

Dream State #30

The theme was “Time and Being Human” …[not the "Human Being", but what does it mean to be human and live in "Time"]. I considered this for a while and chose to explore a state of consiousness beyond time, but certainly part of the human experience, the dream state.

All the pieces started with a monoprint following the same template. I let the ink be depleted though a couple of prints before applying more ink. As I went further along through process, water from the soaked paper further diluted the ink on the plate. I was using 140# watercolor paper from a water bath.

After they dried, and were pressed overnight, each one had further work done on them with Prismacolor pencils and sometimes pastels. All were sealed with a matte fixative.

I believe that my work improved towards the end. Each became it’s a character and took on a life of it’s own. If you find a favorite, please let me know. Here is the entire series…


And here are all the received pieces from the entire group of 56 artists.

Oct 072009
 

Amy Jo & Cornelius on Saturday

Amy Jo & Cornelius on Saturday


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Romina & Sky on Sunday


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Megan & Diamond on Saturday


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Me & Paisano on Sunday


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Me & Paisano on Saturday, just before finding a nest of ground bees!


Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.


It’s been a busy time for me lately. I started this post a couple of weeks ago and now two Thursdays have passed, so time to finish it and get it posted!


I am thrilled to have found a wonderful group of women to ride with. A weekend get together had been in the works for quite some time and it finally happened last month. Amy Jo arranged for us to meet up with Megan and Romina for a weekend of riding and visiting. We all stayed at Romina’s and rode two days in really wonderful settings.


Saturday, we rode out from Romina’s around dormant cropland, through huge open fields and around acres of Christmas trees. The views were incredible and expansive. I felt like I could see the curve of the earth fall away around me.


Paisano did well, riding with the two mares and one gelding. We had ridden together before, but in the more familiar setting of Tired Dog Ranch. On our arrival, we tried Paisano in a pasture with Cornelius and Diamond. After maybe twenty minutes of sparring with no one really settling down, I moved Paisano to a small paddock out back. He was totally fine hanging out on his own, so there he stayed for the weekend. He enjoyed riding out with them, but sharing living space was not quite so cozy.


After a wonderful dinner Saturday evening, provided by Romina, and very nice, restful sleep, we trailered to Silver Falls State Park for our Sunday ride. Even at noon, it was jacket temperature under the trees. We unloaded, tacked up and headed out for a loop of about eight miles. The only disappointment to the day was finding out that none of the horse trails go by any of the falls so prominently displayed on the park website.


The scenery was beautiful none the less. There had been some rain, which made the trails slick in some areas. At one point, we all dismounted and led our horses. Paisano was wearing his Easyboot Bares. They don’t have the greatest traction, so he was practically skiing through the slick clay. He took it all pretty calmly. I was just glad that I was not astride! I will look forward to returning in the dry summer months.


It’s a real treat to ride in new and interesting locations. This sort of experience is why I have been wanting the freedom of having my own, well trained, easy going horses. The last few years of green horses, organizing and gathering gear, trailer, etc. have all been worth it, as we are here! Now that’s something to be thankful for!


Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

How:

  • Sit back and consider what you have to be thankful for. Listing three to five things is nice, but one will do.
  • Post about gratitude on your blog. If you don’t have your own blog, go ahead and write about what you are thankful for in the comments here instead.
  • If you blog, please link back here or leave a comment.
  • Feel free to tag other bloggers, if you like to do that, but it’s not necessary. This is not a meme that obligates you to do anything, but look for gratitude. Oh, and link back, and comment, that’s all I ask.

  • Visit these other blogs that often participate in Thankful Thursday:

  • Tired Dog Ranch
  • Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch
  • Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs
  • From the Horse’s Back

  •  

    I entered one of my blog posts this month. If you have a favorite post from my blog, let me know and I’ll submit it for next month!

    October Carnival at The Literary Horse

    Image courtesy of Claire Bow, burdyboo @ Flickr

    Image courtesy of Claire Bow, burdyboo @ Flickr

    About the Carnival



    Oct 052009
     

    I managed to get some photos tonight, as the sun was setting. I forgot how much I enjoy just spending time with my horse, while picking manure and doing simple chores. I brought him inside for his dinner tonight and left him there, while I chatted with one of the other boarders. If I have time, I will take him down to Three Cedars tomorrow night for a little work. For now, here’s the little guy…

    Enjoying his new stall ... and dinner!

    Enjoying his new stall ... and dinner!

    Meeting Monte (sorry for the red eye. No time to fix that)

    Meeting Monte (sorry for the red eye. No time to fix that)

    In the dying light, with Mt. Pisgah for a backdrop

    In the dying light, with Mt. Pisgah for a backdrop