Quotography: Hobby

As you may know, I have a lot of hobbies. The one that has stuck with me the longest happens to have 4 legs and whinny. Ok, so there are 2 of them (Copper and Lyric;b). This week's Quotography theme really made me think of my pony babes, and I've always loved this quote.

Though it should say 'owning a horse' because riding is just the surface of it. I have had Copper for almost 14 years and Lyric for 12.5. For that past 4 years, Lyric has been un-rideable due to a movement disorder (stringhalt) that he developed. Copper has spent the last couple of years injured or painfully allergic to everything. It hasn't been easy, but you can't lay them aside or ignore them- they are my pony babes and I'm doing my best for them!

Quotography & more

I've fallen off the photo challenge bandwagon. However, after a recent photographic experience that had me feeling pretty awesome, I've decided to start participating again! Without further ado- the pictures!

Today at work was rough, but watching my pup 'swim' through the grass upside down made me grin!

I used this tutorial (and btw- she has TONS of great tutorials on her blog!!) to get this shot. I just downloaded a random bokeh shot from deviantart and used it as the background texture. The SOOC (below) was boring, but I LOVE the final product!

Color

I'm sure you noticed that I've been absent for a while.

*chirp chirp*

Ok, fine, maybe not. I promise, I'm not offended- summer is in full swing and I hope everyone has been enjoying the wonderful weather! I know we did when we were on vacation in... California!!

We spent a few days in San Francisco (and I would love to go back and see more of the city), a few in Big Sur and a couple days in Yosemite. So much variety, beauty, wonderful weather and color! I'll post high lights later, but for now I think I'll rejoin the photo meme parade, so sit back and enjoy!

The theme this week for the Good to Wow challenge is bright & colorful, and I think this shot meets that nicely. The filtered light of the Cali coast was perfect for photography, and the variety of growing bits on the coastal hills was breathtaking. I'm honestly going to have to work hard to make this image better- I love it!

Fortunately, the Quotography theme this week is also 'colorful', so I had a lot of options for this one as well!

Yup, Big Sur really agrees with me. Seriously, many more images of this area to come!

Early Morning Rambles

I was up really early today, so please forgive me any typos. I haven't fully woken up yet and spell check can only help me so much:).

Long days, warm nights, the sun through the leaves and explosions of color- those things are the heart of summer.

And over at {My} Perspective, this week's Quotography prompt is 'birthdays'. More than 13 years ago my parents got me a pony for my birthday. So much has changed in my life since then, but Copper has remained a constant, fuzzy presence that I can count on to dry my tears, listen to my worries and beg for sugar cubes whenever I see him. Since I have no idea what his birthday is, we celebrate it when we celebrate mine. Thank you for so many lovely years, fat pony, and here is to a dozen more!

Also, H is, of course, for horse.

And Hogwarts (that is a Grffindor scarf, if you couldn't tell).

 

And hot walker.

And lastly, for high up.

Peace

Sometimes I get so caught up in work, bills, house stuff, everything that I just forget to breathe. Then I forget to smile. Then I lose my joy.

Not good.

So every once in a while I just have to take a few minutes, think about how everything really fits together, run my fingers through some happy animal's fur, and regain peace. Looking for the small beauties of life can make a large difference!

And as long as I don't get too caught up in the details or too invested in making it 'perfect' {whatever that means}, editing my photos can help me find peace too- get lost in the colors, textures and memories of the events!!

I feel like all the shots have possibility, but I'm just not certain they are there yet. I'll take advantage of Jill and Ashley's weekly editing challenge to see if I can make them glow!

So many photos, so little time!

I love entering all these photo challenges and contests, but sometimes I get confused which prompts go where and who is doing what when! I've found that several other bloggers have great lists of the memes they enjoy, and some (like Mira Crisp's Photo Challenge Index) lay it out so easily! However, I still seem to get lost, so one of these days I will have to make my own list that works for my insane mind. Until then, enjoy some pictures!!

E is for E-Z Walker- this is a hot walker out at my horse barn. If you aren't familiar with them, basically it is a steel and rust colored demon motorized carousel that you can hook your horse to when they need to cool down and it walks them in circles for you. Copper is not a fan. Oh well.

I know this shot isn't terribly whimsical, but I thought the idea of me taking pictures of me, holding flowers picked by me, showing off my atrocious tan line was a bit amusing, so I'll go with amusing=whimsy in this case:).

Mr. Pony made brioche. OMG DROOL!!! So much butter! So many eggs! The house smelled delicious, the bread tasted better, and I wish we could have brioche with every meal! Brioche french toast! Brioche PB&J sammies! It does get a bit dodgy once I think about brioche and steak or stir-fry, but I'm sure I'll figure out a way to make it work:)!

That will do for now:). Thanks for stopping by!