Horses, Flowers and Fall

August slips into September, the days are still warm but there are signs of fall in the air.  Schools are in session, schedules changing, flowers are fading, the days are getting shorter with cooler nights ahead.  I love the feeling of fall and the changes it brings, even the pressure of feeling like we had better get some fun things in before it's too late!

One of the fun things we did on the spur of the moment was head to a Twins game, mostly to see the Budweiser Clydesdales!  So beautiful, so huge!  They came in just behind left field, and traveled around the warning track, stopping right in front of us.  We had the perfect seats for seeing them.

We traded in our tickets from a "snowed out" game in the spring.  Sometimes things just work out the way they are meant to.  I love watching the horses.  They are a wonderfully trained team...but yet, they are still curious, antsy, lovable horses.  Wonder what these two are looking at?

 Some days are just spent at home, working, trying to stay on top of things, stopping to smell the flowers that are left in the garden.  This was taken late in the day on a Thursday.  Getting dark.

On Friday we decided to go to Canterbury Park to watch the horses race.  I vaguely recalled seeing that the Budweiser Clydes would be at the track sometime over the weekend...I was pretty excited to see that they would be there on Friday night too!  I got to see them at the Minnesota State Fair on Monday, Target Field on Wednesday, and then at Canterbury on Friday.  So cool.  Sadly they discourage bringing good cameras into the track, so I only had my cell phone camera to take a few quick shots.  Still cool.  They performed some pretty amazing moves.

Back to the flowers.  The roses are fading but still beautiful.

We stayed at the cabin for a few days over Labor Day weekend.  Busy days.  I didn't remember to take a photo until the evening.  The paper lanterns in the cabin are usually a good subject when I fun out of daylight.

I made up for it the next day though.  Hello handsome.  The horses coats are getting darker and so shiny.  The last hurrah before their winter coats grow in.  What you looking at Skylar?

It's been so dry, their pasture is drying up.  With the large area that they have to wander there seems to be enough to nibble on to keep them healthy.  But a little rain to green things up again would sure be nice.

When your dad was a farmer, you worry about things like rain.  Too much rain, too little rain.  Things you can't control, but things that make such a difference!  I worry about the farmers crops this year.  They got them in late because of the late spring rain and snow, now a drought.  Tough times.  Praying for rain.

The sunflower seeds below created the sunflower in the picture above.  That little sunflower sprouted up in with my pathetic little tomato plants.  The birds are better gardeners than I am.

Sweet Penny, she's in the fall days of her life I'm afraid.  She can't hear at all, she sleeps most of the day, she's stiff and has trouble getting up, but she is hanging in there.  She turns into a pup when she's by the river, it's pretty cute.

My garden had gotten so full of weeds, more weeds than flowers...it hasn't been fun to go out there.  But I did...and look at what I found!  A late blooming Lupine!  Something that the rabbits didn't get!  Starting to fade, but still so pretty.

Last weekend we invited my old classmates to the cabin for a picnic.  Not a reunion exactly, just a chance to get together and have some laughs.  I put some sunflowers in Ball jars to brighten things up.  It was a fun day...maybe next time we can get a few more people to come.

Sunday morning sunrise on the river.  Such a peaceful and beautiful place.

The birds did some gardening at Barb's house too...but the sunflowers there are crazy tall...like 12 feet tall!  So fun.

Home again after a busy weekend.  I'm feeling behind in everything.  Housework, organizing some things that need organizing, clearing space in my computer, starting projects that I want to do.  Seems like I can't even get my "to do" lists made.  Part of it is that I've been busy with work stuff.  Part of it is needing a kick in the pants.

My motivation and inspiration seems to come and go in waves. I think I've been stuck in low tide for a while now.  High tide must be just around the corner.  I hope so, I've got things to do!

 I'll get to it all when the high tide gets here.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Thanks for stopping by.