This week’s Sunday Stills Challenge was to photograph extreme close-ups and macro shots.
All of these photos were taken with my Canon Powershot SX 110 IS. The horse photos were edited using a free program called Photoscape. And all of the photos were taken in front of my bedroom’s sliding glass doors.
Vertical Window Blinds
Verdigris Horse
Rustic Horse
Cavaletti Light Beams
Shadow Horse
Which one is your favorite?
(All photos taken on Christmas Day using my Canon PowerShot SX 110 IS. All SOOC except for adjusting contrast and adding a watermark)
Blue Grama Grass Seed Head
Honeysuckle Leaves
Juniper Tree Branch
Check out Macro Monday to participate.
Today I had a meltdown in my heart from a culmination of emotional scars, new wounds, confusion, and even fear. I just sat and sobbed my heart out.
It started with the bitter, howling wind, followed by two days of snow that kept me from spending more time with and riding ‘Sugar’. I am so done with winter this year. Last year I was stuck in bed in my tower recuperating from my ACL surgery. This year I don’t want to be stuck inside at all.
(Photo taken on Sunday afternoon. After several weeks of snow covered ground, we could see the earth again.)
Then Linda shared the story of how her handsome, playful Lyle of The 7MSN had to be euthanized on Saturday. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Maybelline eyelashes himself in 2008 during a visit to the 7MSN. He was very forward, friendly and curious and loved to pick up anything he could find with his very dexterous lips. He made me laugh. I’m honored to have met him. Such a unique and special horse will never be forgotten.
(Photo taken Sunday Night)
And speaking of never being forgotten, I realized how much I still miss my mare Baby Doll and how sad it still makes me feel to remember the proud and strong bay horse Rojo and the heartbreaking moments before he took his last breath last summer.
Saying goodbye to our precious animals is never easy.
I felt so sad for Reddunappy (There’s a Horse in my Bubblebath) for the loss of her special dog, Teddy this week. And for the loss of CeeCee’s cat, Lucky, too. And the tough decisions facing Kate with her and her daughter’s emotionally unbalanced horse Miranda. And Pony Girl’s My Boy who is going through the discomfort of arthritis. There’s been so much loss, and so many trials and challenges this year. It’s almost unbearable. I wish I could somehow do something to take away all the hurt and sadness that so many blogger friends are going through.
(Photo taken Monday Morning)
During my emotional meltdown, I was considering giving up my dream of owning another horse, because I tend to get attached and didn’t want to say goodbye again. I told Ranchman John and Colleen that I didn’t trust my instincts for finding a good horse. I had made a huge mistake the first time and paid dearly for that mistake. How am I to know that a horse is a good, safe fit for me and my family? Also how can the first horse I try out (Blackie doesn’t count since she refused to load in the trailer) manage to be the ‘right horse’? Shouldn’t I be horse shopping for much longer, like weeks or months?
I spoke with Colleen about my feelings and thoughts today and she tried to reassure me. She asked me to list the pros and cons of this horse and then decide if there was anything that would cause me to have second thoughts about her. I tend to compare all horse behavior with Baby Doll, since she was so difficult and was always testing me.
(Photo taken Monday morning)
In the saddle she was too much horse for me, but on the ground Baby Doll and I had a close connection. ‘Sugar’ acts very much like Baby Doll on the ground, but she is nothing like Baby Doll in the saddle. I still keep waiting for ‘Sugar’ to act up, because that’s how I rode Baby Doll, and she rarely let me down. But so far, ‘Sugar’ doesn’t seem to spend her entire time thinking up things to argue about or get away with. That scores high in my book.
I asked Colleen would she consider purchasing ‘Sugar’ for her riding company, and she said yes. She’d spend a month or two getting her in shape and tuning her up and then she’d have her as a step-up in skill-level from Rosie. Her assessment meant a lot to me and helped me to reconsider giving ‘Sugar’ more time.
(Photo of our barn on Monday morning)
So tomorrow 'Sugar' is being seen by the vet to check her health, teeth, feet, chiro and a have a flex test. If the vet check reveals any serious issues then, sadly, I know this horse isn’t meant to be. But if all checks out then I’ll spend some time riding her over at Colleen’s ranch afterwards and hoping that the bad weather stays away so I can spend more time riding and getting to know ‘Sugar’ this week before making any decisions…………….
These boots have been my faithful hard-working friends over the past two years. This scarred and dirty duo started off with humble beginnings bought off a Walmart shelf more than two years ago.
I’ve never much cared about name-brands or the way things looked. Whatever I buy must be dependable, useful and tough…and comfortable, too. These Faded Glory boots have been all that and more. Surprisingly I don't even think they’re real leather (I know. *gasp*!) I’ll let y’all in on a secret. Ranchman John is a shoe snob. He won’t buy anything unless it’s name brand and made of leather. It has to fit and be comfortable from the moment he puts it on, or he won’t buy it. Needless to say, he tends to do most of our family’s shoe buying. And he likes it that way.
My Walmart boots have always bugged Ranchman John. He believes that shoes not only affect comfort and gait, but can also affect the entire body, especially if the shoes are cheap and not of good quality.
Well you can only imagine how concerned Ranchman John was, when after two weekends of taking long trailrides in the snow, he saw me squeezing Gorilla Glue in between the gaping space of my old boot’s sole and upper. My cheapy old boots just weren’t cut out for the task of wading through a foot of snow and sloshing through mud and ice. They leaked and they were on their last foot, so to speak.
The Gorilla Glue worked wonders, though, and gave my boots a second lease on life, carrying me through another two weekends of riding clinics and snowy trails.
But I was in for a big surprise.
Ranchman John has been busy hitting the streets looking for a job, and although noone seems to be hiring just yet, he’s been taking care of other things around here that needed doin’, too. One of those things was getting the taxes done early as we were expecting a generous refund this year. Well, he got ‘em done and then he went shopping. (Can you guess where this is going?)
This is a man that likes to shop. Not me. I just want to get in, and get out. I get overwhelmed when there are too many choices and selections. I just can’t make up my mind. It makes me crazy! And I abhor lines, and all that walking in crowded stores. So, I just avoid shopping as much as possible. Not Ranchman John. No. He likes to go to the stores and malls. He even likes to window-shop with no particular agenda or list to shop for. I haven’t been to a mall in years!
Well Ranchman John knew I could use a new pair of boots. He had a good idea of the style I like, too. He knows I prefer the lace up paddock style boots because I have trouble finding slip on boots that fit over my chubby calves.
He also knows the size I wear, too. It’s not an easy size to find at all. I can’t buy shoes online, unless I’ve tried them on already in a store, which makes my options even more limited. I’m almost 6’ tall and I usually wear a size 10.5 IF the shoe isn’t too narrow. My old Faded Glory boots are a size 10, but they must have just been cut larger. It’s difficult to find shoes in half sizes, so we have to move up to the size 11. But size 11 is often just too large. So, sometimes, if we can find the right style, we pick out shoes in men’s sizes. I wear a size 9.5 in a men’s size. I can almost trick myself into thinking my feet are smaller when I wear that size. Almost. haha!
Does anyone else have big feet, or weird feet, too?
So, anyway, the other day John was gone all day, doing his thing, shopping. When he came home he was so excited to show me something he had bought for me. (Can you guess what it was?)
Yes! A pair of new boots!!!!!
And not just any old boots off the shelf. Brand spankin’ new Ariat Cascade Paddock style boots!!!!
Of course, the Boot Barn didn’t have any women’s sizes past size 9, so Ranchman John told me he had a look at the men’s sizes. I must admit when I first saw them, I thought “Gah! Clown feet!” But after I put them on, I realized they fit almost perfectly. So, yeh, I just have to deal with the fact that I just have big ol’ clown feet. haha!
What I was and am most surprised about is how these Ariat boots immediately felt so comfortable the first time I put them on, that I wanted to wear them all day long. There is no stiffness or breaking-in period at all. I love that! I’ll always appreciate my hard-working $20 Faded Glory Walmart boots, but it’s time for them to retire now. Looks like I’m going to be a devoted Ariat fan from now on. These boots were made for working and riding!
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And speaking of riding, this Saturday I’ll be participating in a Walk/Trot/Canter Class, riding Rosie, of course.
But that’s not all. On Friday, my friend Colleen is driving up towards Santa Fe, with John and I, to go pick up a potential horse prospect for me. We’ll load up the little mare, named ‘Blackie’ and trailer her back to Colleen’s, where we’ll try her out during the Walk/Trot/Canter Class and possibly ride her out on some trails around her house.
I’m finally going horse shopping, my friends!
Here is the photo from “Blackie’s” ad:
What do you all think of her?
Until this past week, Old Man Winter was just playing games with us here in New Mexico. Then he got serious. With wind chill temps down into the single digits, ice, snow and bitter blasting winds, winter is here in full force now. We can experience this kind of weather up here all the way into late May. Spring lasts maybe a week or two, so I can’t spend too much time thinking about it. Right now, I’m just trying to get warm. No matter what I do, I just feel cold.
Check out Macro Monday for close-up views from around the world.
This week’s Macro Monday photos are also my Project 365! photo selections, too. I’m 3 days behind due to this weekend’s Natural Horsemanship Riding Clinic (More on that, with photos, later this week).
Do you have a favorite?
We had an amazing snowfall a few days ago and I took a bazillion photos, and have included a few of them below.
(All photos were taken using my little Canon PowerShot SX 110 IS)
And I don’t want you to miss out on the unique experience of listening to squeaky snow and a few more special snow photos, so please go check out my video and photos HERE and let me know what you think. Thanks!
And then go visit Macro Monday to see what other folks have photographed close-up.
Yesterday’s snowfall was beautiful indeed, but it was also extraordinary, too. As far as I can remember in all of my 43 years, I have never experienced snow where I could see each and every snowflake with my naked eye, and not only that, but also the tiniest of details, as well.
I walked around in wonderment of the beauty, bending down to take many macro photos with my little Canon PowerShot SX110 IS.
I woke up my kidlets and we spent a good portion of the morning taking snowflake samples and looking at them under our microscope. To say we were in awe would be an understatement. (And if you are interested in seeing more snowflake macros, come back on Macro Monday when I’ll be posting some more.)
And on the way to the barn this morning, walking among all those sparkling snowflakes, was like walking among tiny glistening mirrors reflecting the sunlight, or even more magical, like glittery diamonds….billions of diamonds.
And one of the most fascinating and amazing results of this magical snowfall was the sound of it.
Watch the following video I took this morning. But most of all, listen to the sound of the snow crunching, and then the squeaking as I twisted my boots in the snow. And if you listen closely, you’ll also hear the sound of Baby Doll’s hooves squeaking as she turns and walks with me.
Wasn’t that amazing?!
Baby Doll didn’t seem much impressed with the squeaking, but when she saw me squatting down in the snow with my camera, taking macros of the snowflakes, she left her breakfast to find out if whatever I was doing was more interesting.
She decided to taste test the snow.
And she seemed to enjoy the texture and fluffiness.
And then she stuck around for a while to critique my photography skills.
But it’s difficult to focus when someone is looking over your shoulder.
