Friday 17 October 2008

This isn't the greatest time of the year to photograph horses so my horse pics are very few at the moment. I am afraid I will have to share the coming of winter with you all. These are two house sparrows at my bird feeder, they scatter all the seed they dont want and the feeder empties fast, then they have to rummage around on the ground, which is kitty cat territory. Fortunately we don't have to many incidents as the cats are well fed and only ever kill something to eat it. They are professional mousers LOL.

I did a shoot for a friend last week, her husband has gundogs and he wanted me to photograph two he has for sale. This little guy was one he had bought, a 10 week old pointer (I think) pup. Can't remember now if it is male or female, wil confirm that when I see them next, but nonetheless a ball of energy that was very hard to photograph LOL.
When I first arrived Vic was exercising all the dogs, these are 5 of his labrador retreivers, two of them I was going to photograph. I just thought it made such a cool photo. He had abut 5 or 6 others of different gundog breeds running around him too but I couldnt get them all in one frame unfortunately.
I heard from my step sister (my Dad's second Wife's one daughter from her first marriage) Di today, it was so cool, another person I havent seen or spoken to in many many years. Our parents were very close friends when we were little, in fact my Mom and her Mom wore the same wedding dress for their respective weddings, Marie borrowed my Mom's. We used to see them often in our younger days. They were part of a very large farming family in Zimbabwe and over time we lost contact. Marie's husband and young son were killed by terrorists on their farm in an ambush and time just flew by and it was only years later when my Mom passed away that Marie regained contact with my Dad. They hit it off from the very first. My Dad was a very soft kindhearted domestic soul and he and Marie were perfect for each other, my Dad having lost his wife after nearly 25 years of marriage was devastated and Marie had lost a big part of her family so tragically years before. We were all so happy for them.

Unfortunately they were only married three years when Marie was diagnosed with Cancer too and she passed away shortly afterwards.

So it was fabulous to hear from Di today after so long, I have a lot of catching up to do.

That's all the news for today, have a great weekend all ((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

Saturday 27 September 2008

No picture today I am afraid, just a quick note to say that my brother called me early hours of this morning to tell me that Dad had passed away. I am a bit numb still, just can't handle the fact that I couldn't be there.

Hope you all have a good weekend and I will be back. ((((Hugs))))

Lori

Thursday 25 September 2008

I mentioned the dead skunk and buzzards in the field yesterday and have edited a few of the pictures. The first on shows how close the horses got to the birds. The skunk was just out of frame on the right about midway up the side of the photo. Despite its really bad smell the horses seemed to be unphased.
I didnt get any shots of the birds on the skunk s this was the closest I got to getting a bird in the vicinity of the animal, I am not going to post the closeups of the little guy (as smelly as he was) because it is a bit gory.
When I started moving around the buzzards started getting wary and sat on the electric posts and flew around and I was lucky to catch this shot. I wasnt using my 70-200 2.8 lens which is super fast with it's focusing, but used my Tokina 80-400 instead which I love and have been using for years despite having to be careful that it takes soft pictures if I zoom it all the way in. I normally have to back it off a bit before I shoot so probably shoot at 350mm or thereabouts. It is a slow focuser unfortunately, but I got a few useable shots I think.

Nothing much happening today, I worked on orders and stock images for the magazine, still lots more editing to do, it just never ends. I want to ride Lori tomorrow and take her out trail riding this weekend if possible but I havent ridden her in nearly a year so it should be interesting, she is not as calm as Cayenne LOL. I will see how it pans out tomorrow whether I take her, Cayenne or Wiggle.

My Dad is having good days where he recognises everyone and is awake and then other days where he is in that comatose state. My brother is trying to get a landline number for me so that I can maybe call him on that and have more success than I have been having with calling their cell phones to try to talk to him.

The waiting and not knowing is very hard.

Well that's about it for today, I will try to catch up on my blog reading tomorrow a bit, thanks all for your visits and messages they are really appreciated. (((Hugs))))

Lori

Monday 22 September 2008

I intended to go riding on Saturday morning and getting to the campgrounds before 10am which is when they normally go out on their day ride which can be for 5 or 6 hours. Well disaster from the beginning, my van that I was towing the trailer with was missing on two cylinders, then I had to get plates for the trailer, and I had forgotten to pick up supplies at the pharmacy that Larry really needed badly the day before, so before I knew it it was lunch time and I still wasn't hitched up and ready to go.

Larry suggested that I went up that evening and slept over, I have an air mattress that fits into the van nicely and it is pretty comfortable and I dont mind roughing it, so that is what I did.

Cayenne was a star again, I still can't get over how relaxed she is and how she appears to have been doing this all her life, even though she is only 4 years old she is awesome and doesnt bat an eyelid at anything. She loves the river and walking through it, is not so fussy about the mud although there isnt much mud at the moment on the trails because we just havent had any rain in northern and central Indiana. It is crazy, north of twon they have had three times as much rainfall than we have had 1 mile south of town, it just always seems to slip past us. My poor pasture is as dry as a bone. She also hasnt spooked or flinched at anything she has encountered on the trails, she loves it, you can see that from the way she just wants to keep going, no standing around, lets go LOL!!!

We stop at natural corrals at certain points where the members have built areas that they can tie the horses so they can dismount, relax and rest the horses, so it is not all spent riding.

I am trying to catch up on my last few print orders so I am going to make this short. The picture today is of the one couples' two horses that ride there most weekends as well, they have 3 there, having a playful moment.

No news on my Dad, so I am getting worried again that we are not getting the feedback from the nursing facility. Hope you all had a great weekend, ((((Hugs))))) thanks for all your visits.

Lori

Thursday 18 September 2008

Another quickie tonight (although I always seem to get long winded LOL). The picture today is from the campfire at the trail riding camp I went on over Labor Day weekend. They had this cauldron hanging over the fire filled with water and corn which was delicious!!! It was already getting quite dark but I loved the effect of the steam and the flames so snapped off a few frames.

My brother has had to go back to Johannesburg because of work commitments, but my Dad is safely installed in a nursing facility and I am going to be getting a daily update from my brother as he hears what is happening.

The move yesterday was traumatic for Dad and they have finally started giving him pain medication and tranquilisers. I am praying that it will be quick now, I watched my Mom go through months of extreme pain and I dont want him to have to endure the same. He is a little bit more aware of what is going on around him but as I have said before, it is just a waiting game and I hope that he goes as peacefully as possible. I just wish I could be there.

I have been in contact with my estranged daughter in England and we have made the first move towards what I am hoping can be a reconciliation between the two of us. At least she is talking to me!!!! We were brought up to be tough and to be survivors in Africa during the war times, had to face things that people here can't imagine at very young ages so I know she has been able to keep herself on top of things, she is tough. She is trying to get Emergency Travel Documents to go and see Dad but her passport is still with the Home Affairs in England for her Naturalisation application and we don't know if we will be able to get it back in time.

Annette it is great to see you posting, now we need you to start your own blog, recording your journey with Dreamer. I am so glad that you liked him so well, he couldnt have gone to a better home and I am looking forward to seeing the two of you competing next year, I think you may kick some butt LOL. He is going to be one of those horses that bulks up in his third or fourth year and then they become tanks and I am sure the supplements you are giving him will help him on his way. He is a lucky boy.

Gecko thanks for all your messages. There is no hope of a recovery for my Dad, he is too far along and the cancer has spread to his brain which is why he is having his lucid and comatose type states, with the pressure on his brain. It has been quite quick and as far as I know he has had no other problems until this hit last week. They are unsure where the cancer started but wherever it did it wasnt showing itself until it was this far along.

Lisa welcome back girl!!! Loved your photos, you have been a busy bee!!!!

Have a great Friday everyone, hopefully I will have more news tomorrow. I am planning on taking Cayenne trail riding on Saturday or Sunday but it will depend on what else transpires before then. ((((Hugs))))

Lori

xx

Monday 15th September 2008

Just a quickie tonight, thanks everyone for your prayers. Dad is most of the time in a very deep sleep and rarely rouses, doesnt recognise anyone and we still have to play the waiting game. He is on no medications, doesnt have any pain it appears, but I dont think he will come out of this it is just a matter of time and hopefully he will slip away quietly.

Mike it is ironic but our weather has been the exact opposite of yours, we had half an inch over the weekend otherwise nothing for about 6 weeks. I will try to catch up on everyone soon (yeah yeah I know I keep saying that, but heck one day maybe it will happen and you will all be pleasantly surprised)

Today's picture was taken while I was living in London, it was a particularly colorful doorway and just caught my eye, I was archiving the other day and found these and thought we could all do with a bit of brightness n our lives so here it is.

I will try to keep you updated, my brother has been fantastic in keeping me up to date via e-mail a couple of times a day. (((((Hugs)))))

Lori

Friday 12 September 2008

This is the last photo I have of my Dad when he visited me in Johannesburg just before I left for England over 9 years ago and this is also the last time I saw him. I set the camera on a tripod with self timer to get it LOL

Things are not looking good, he rallied a bit today and my brother is trying to get all the options for his care once he leaves the hospital. He is still being fed with a feeding tube but has lucid moments. The doctor says that he will have good periods and bad periods because of the cancer swelling on the brain and that he will probably succumb to that, it is just a waiting game now. I am trying to get a phone number for where he is and hopefully if he is lucid enough I will be able to talk to him briefly, my brother is trying to arrange that.

Not much else to report. We will not be taking BB to the show, I have been so out of it the past 2 days and I havent finished getting her clipped and cleaned. It started raining today, we didnt have much and there could be more on the way, Sunday is expected to be very wet (thanks to Hurricane Ike) so it looks as if the horse show will be under cover of a roof which makes shooting pictures really hard. The outside ones always look better than the indoor ones taken with flash.

Hope you all have a great weekend, I will try to check in on Saturday evening and make a post but am not sure how late the show will go on.

For all of you in the danger areas of Ike take care and lets hope it isn't as bad as they are predicting, just stay safe.

Lori

Thursday 11th September 2008

I have been in a bit of a daze all day today, didnt sleep well last night which didnt help. I stayed near the phone and computer and got an update from my brother eventually at about 8pm their time 1pm our time. The Scan indicates that my Dad has Brain Cancer, they are not sure where it started from but it is very advanced and they are not going to try any treatments because there is little hope. I am devastated, he was always such a healthy fit man a great husband and a good father, he deserves better than this. I also feel guilty because I am not there then I feel that at least I will remember him as he was 7 years ago when I last saw him and not as he must be now. I will know more tomorrow, my brother has a meeting at 9am tomorrow morning with the doctors again (2am here) so I am dreading turning on my computer or receiving a phone call.

Fugazi, Mike, photogchic and CG thanks for your messages, your words are appreciated more than you can imagine. I feel so alone here separated from all of this by such a distance and dont really have anyone really close to me to endure this with other than Larry who never knew him.

(click on pics to enlarge)

I fiddled with my camera a bit today while in my daze and tried my 2x converter on mt 70-200 2.8 lens on my bird feeder. It was a bit dull and overcast but these are some that I came up with, above one of the few occasions that I have seen a hummingbird come to rest although they say that they do spend about 80% of their time perched, the rest eating, nectar for their fuel and insects for their survival.
The little hornets or wasps or whatever they are above, we call them yellow jackets and they always come out in droves during fruit season because they feed on the fallen and bruised fruit around the trees on the ground. These little guys are about half an inch long but they pack a huge punch if they sting you, very painful and lots of swelling, and they are very aggressive, they spent the whole day chasing all the birds away from the feeder, not just the nectar for the hummingbirds but from all the seed holders too. I hope they dissappear soon because they are a real pest.
I am not sure what this bird is, I have had a lot of them hanging around along with a woodpecker. At first I thought they might be Bluejays that had lost their colored feathers, but I am not sure.

That's all I have for you today guys, hope you all have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend, we might see some much needed rain at last so we are hoping that it happens. The ground is so dry that I can run the garden hose in the cracks and they never fill up, the water just dissappears so I know we will need a few inches at least to make any impact. ((((Hugs)))) and thanks again

Lori
xx

Wednesday 10 September 2008

Here are a couple of pics from my trail riding expedition, this is Stan on Boo, one of the first fillies that I bred and one of the three babies he has bought from us. She was the horse I rode all weekend, she is a little tyrant OL but I love her, she is a stocky, strong sturdy mount and has a huge heart.

This is Shami, she was 10 weeks old on that weekend and is a little ball of fluff, here she is hiding under one of the camp chairs with a piece of hoof trimmings, which for some reason dogs love to chew.
This is Valerie laying on a bench and Shami decided her long hair would make a wonderful toy thing.
Finally this is Kami, Val and Stan's daughter riding a friend's horse with the little girl of the guy who runs the camp and is head of the committee. They had a little contesting competition on Saturday evening. It was terribly dusty and it was blowing straight at where I was taking the photos from so I didnt get that many but here they are doing the barrel racing.
I had some disturbing news today from my brother in South Africa, my Dad has been admitted to hospital and it looks as if we may lose him. My brother is flying from Johannesburg to Cape Town tomorrow morning and hopefully he will give me more details then. I feel so helpless so far away, it is an impossibility for me to even think of going there to be with them because the air fare is ludicrous. He has just turned 78 and always led a healthy life, playing lots of sports which included running, cycling, soccer, cricket and everything in between. Please keep him in your prayers tonight, I havent seen him since just before I left South Africa and that is over 7 years ago.

(((((Hugs)))))) everyone.

Lori