Happy 8th Birthday Ava!

My niece turns 8 today and brings to an end the birthday month known as May. I'd say she's a very nice way to round out the month, wouldn't you?

Cantering

Faith's been working on her cantering, so she's moved over to Texas because he has a smooth canter and is easier to learn on. But, Texas is about as fast moving as that state on a hot day, so Faith was having some trouble getting him mooooving. A couple weeks ago she tried spurs for the first time, and loved it. (Mmmmm....should we be worried?)

They're just little spurs to poke him in the side a bit - they actually look like those little metal dowels that you put into put-it-together-yourself furniture, but they make it much easier to get Texas going. I got a couple of quick shots of her cantering around the ring on Wednesday:

And one a little closer:

Sunday stills: Corporate logos

Last weekend we were away, and I missed The Sunday Stills challenge of landscapes. So, I went all out for this week's challenge of corporate logos.

We went for a couple of test drives this week too as we're looking to replace our van, which is slowly but surely heading for forced retirement.

I took a few of these on my birthday...you may notice an alchohol theme. Although, the Bud Light glass actually contains ice tea. Is that so wrong?

I like this one...no flash in low light, but it worked out pretty well.

For this one, I just liked the combination of colors, and the strange saw next to it.

A good day for a parade

On the May long weekend, Faith again participated in the Parade of Horses at an historic site near my parents' farm. I'm not sure if Faith or my dad was more excited about it. The main idea of the parade is to show off various breeds of horses to the crowds that attend the event. People can get up close to the horses, talk to the owners, and see the horses in action in a show ring.

This year, 13 breeds were on display, including my dad's Morgan horse, Suzie. Faith's job was to ride Suzie in the show ring. They prepped Suzie and did some practice runs around the site, figuring out along the way that one stirrup was about 30 cms longer than the other! After they got this all fixed up, they were ready to go.

Faith rode western this time (different saddle for the non-horse lovers), and was completely at home in the ring. Dad had to lead her around the ring according to the rules...if you're under 12, you have to be on a lead line. The whole fan-damn-ily showed up to watch on the gorgeous day. And I took about a million pictures. I was so darn proud of her.

We couldn't stick around for the whole parade, because, as usual on our trips to my parents', it was a jam-packed schedule. But, we did get to see my brother's friend, Kyle, bring in a gorgeous pair of horses he's been training:

The owner of the horses rode with him in the ring (and yes, Kyle took this BIG setup through a very crowded site and made it look easy):

And they did some fancy tricks...

The mist in the background was a little strange though. We were next to Lake Erie, and it was a clear, blue day when we showed up. But, over the course of half an hour, a thick mist formed on the lake and rolled into the site. It was like the setup to a bad horror movie. But the eery mist was no match for the sun, and the show carried on.

Happy Birthday George!

A very happy birthday to my honey! I won't reveal how old he is, but I will say that I've known him for FAR more than half his life now. :) Right now he's watching Montreal and hoping for a win. So far, it looks like his birthday wish may come true.

Sunday Stills: Flowers/Wildflowers

Despite spending most of the week either nursing someone in my family back to health, or sick in bed myself, I was able to take pictures of flowers for Sunday Stills.

As usual, I don't know the name of the flower (azalea?). It's been just outside my front door since we moved into our house seven years ago, and it's grown about 10 inches in that whole time. When I first saw it, the bush was in pretty bad shape, so I cut it way back and hoped that it would survive. Somehow it did and I enjoy seeing the delicate pink flowers every spring.

This next once was a transplant from our old house, and my mom gave me the original bulbs. It's called an anemone and only opens in sunlight. And, yes, it is this blindingly white.

Happy Birthday to my baby brother

A belated happy birthday to my baby brother, Ryan! Yes, he may dwarf me now at 6 feet something, something, but I still think of him as my baby bro. He was at our place a couple of weeks ago to spend the night and head out at 3:00 am for a turkey hunt. (Crazy.) He was successful and showed off his prize on my front lawn, AFTER dripping some turkey blood on the front porch. Perhaps good for a voodoo ceremony later?

As Ryan said, "Your neighbours must think you're rednecks." If not us, at least my family.