Slide show of my work.........

Since I am a rug hooker I thought I had better add some of my rugs for all to see. To date I have hooked over 200 rugs, in varying sizes; this slide show is just a few of them. My style of rug hooking is fashioned after the rugs of the 19th century; very primitive and child like in design. The mottled colors of wool is what makes them unique. I also do horse portrait rugs for customers; a way to have a keepsake of your favorite horse to pass on to future generations.

My rugs in Early American Life Magazine 2004-2007

These are the four rugs that were chosen to be in Early American Life magazine's Directory of Traditional American Crafts. In 2004 Deem Chapel, 2005 Gilly's Rug, 2006 Seth Abbott Farm Rug and 2007 Ipswich Rug. So many things happened last year that I didn't submit a rug for the directory; I am hoping to this year. What an honor it was to be selected by this magazine. Gilly's rug was photographed for the magazine; I was thrilled beyond words!!! My boy made the magazine!!!

More flowers in the yard......

I was out with the camera this evening and just had to get some pictures of my pink roses before Gilly spots them and eats them. He will reach over the trellis and snip them off; wonder if they taste good??? The roses and the peony's are starts from my aunts farm and I got them from my cousin. I have no idea just how old or where the original plants came from. Maybe from my grandmother whom I am named after. I wonder?
Then there is the dandelion ........... at first I didn't see it but if you look closely on the right there is a small fly on it!

Whose ears are those??

What a shot ......... Kim and Lacy are way up there in the distance, Lucy, my Australian Shepherd, looks like she is right in Gilly's sights! Then the hairy ears must be ........ Gilly! He did pretty well, holding still while I got out the camera and took some pictures. The camera didn't get all the beauty of the woods as we were riding through. Maybe later on I will get the big camera and take with me, for better pictures.






These are some iris growing along the road bank; I snapped this picture as Gilly and I went riding by. I wonder how they got there? No houses close by.






Here is the beautiful boy himself, always
has to have his mouth busy with something.
I had turned his head so I could get a picture of him and he spied the crop, next thing I knew he
had it in his mouth!
If you are wondering.............no, he doesn't have a bit in his mouth. This is a bitless bridle, used only pressure on the poll (top of his head) He works really well with it too; how do you stop a horse with no bit in his mouth..........say, "Whoa" or bend his head around like it is now. I trained him to do this; he has a tender mouth and I didn't want to hurt him. I can also ride him with just a rope halter..........yes, even out on the trail. He is a good, good boy!



In case you don't know Gilly is a rescue horse. I was given a card with a web site for rescued horses; these people bought horses at auctions that would otherwise be sent to slaughter. Get them on their way back to health, then found them a good loving home. This picture is the first time I saw Gilly.....(his name was Davy then) he was 11 months old and weighed 397 pounds.





First week I had him, skinny little thing. I didn't think he would grow to be much because he was almost starved by his first owners.












This picture was taken last fall and he as grown since then. At 5 years old he is 16 hands tall and weighs close to 1,200 pounds! Quite a change from the little 12 hand high, skinny boy I first cam home with 4 years ago.

I friend of mine who trains and shows dressage horses has been working with me and Gilly; this is Sheri in the picture. I don't have any full body pictures of Gilly so far this year. I am sure I will have more on here later; since he is my most favorite subject to photograph........oh, and Pokey the donkey now too!
(Click on the pictures to make them larger)

Julie's house with tower

Kim and Lacy are standing in front of Julie's house and bird watching tower. I have never been in the tower, Julie has invited me, just have never made it over to climb up.
I am wondering if in the fall, when the leaves are off the trees, my house is visible from there? Will have to check this fall.

The meadow at Julie's, bluebird houses everywhere! Beautiful view.

Lacy must be thinking that it was time to head home; or nap time?
Julie's kids had gotten a bucket of water for the horses and she had brought Kim and I a glass of water. Tasted so good, we were pretty thirsty.........forgot to bring our water bottles!
I hadn't finished all of my water, which was in a blue glass; Gilly loves blue, if he sees you drinking anything that is in a blue container he wants it.........NOW!!! So everyone got to see Gilly drink out of a glass, he is getting better at it too, he doesn't spill much.........I didn't get a picture of him but I hope Julie did. She took quite a few pictures while we were there; when she sends them to me I will share them. They should be a hoot!!!

After that it was time to head home, beautiful place; it really is Eden there.........thanks Julie for giving us the tour!

Flowers at Julie's

Went on a ride yesterday.........would have posted last night but 4 hours of riding when you aren't
used to it makes for one tired body!!! Anyway after riding some old dirt roads my friend Kim and I decided to ride over to a neighbor's, up on the next ridge, Julie Zickefoose....her blog link is on my site..........wonderful photographer and writer, not to mention her paintings!!!
I had my little Kodak Easy Share camera with me, not brave to take the big Cannon yet....Gilly might decide to eat it!!! Took some pictures while taking a break from riding. First picture is of Julie's house and flower beds, second one is of a huge sage plant that is taking over the corner of the bed.












The concrete pig under the tree..........when Gilly first saw that he snorted and blew through his nose, as if to say, "What the heck is THAT and is it going to eat me?" I took him closer to it so he could see that it wasn't a horse eating pig; he just blew softly through his nose and said, "Oh, I knew it was a fake." then tried to eat the tree. So much for a picture of him and the pig!
More pictures of the day later...........have to run to town.......will post more later today.
Enjoy!

Wide Eyed Pokey

Pokey must have gotten a sniff of the hay! Look at the size of those eyes!!! I get looks like this when it's feeding time; he can hardly wait for his oats. Just like a little kid he stomps his feet, snorts and bobs his head as if to say, "Hey, I'm starving here....pleeeeaaasssee feed ME!!!"
He gets cuter all the time!

Memorial Weekend~~~Haying~Monday

Monday started out cloudy, then we had a few sprinkles, thank goodness it quit. The breezy picked up again and out came the sun. We kept checking the hay and by 2 o'clock it felt like it was dry enough to bale. Boy, did it ever smell good!!! The bales turned out a light green and very sweet smelling. Gilly and Pokey were in the barn with their noses turned to inhale the good smells, with they could eat the hay now!
Some of our neighbors came up to help load the trailer and put it in the barn. I was sure glad; my back was telling me it didn't like picking up those bales or loading them onto the hay elevator. We got 120 bales of good hay off two small fields; that's really good!!! If the weather is good to us, hopefully we can get two more cuttings of hay this year. Usually we only get two, this year was an early one for us.
About an hour after we got the hay stacked in the barn it clouded up and poured down the rain! Timing is everything when farming; even hobby farming!!!

Memorial Weekend~~~Haying~Sunday

Sunday at noon Mike is out on the tractor tedding the hay. This process scatters the hay out so it can dry. We had a good sunny, breezy day........this was GOOD!

Memorial Weekend~~~ Haying~Saturday

Saturday Mike's buddy Rick came over with his big Massey tractor and mower/conditioner. It didn't take him long to knock down two of our fields that were ready for cutting. We have a mower but it doesn't have a conditioner on it. The conditioner crimps the grass to break the waxy stems so the hay will dry faster; a really good thing down here in the hollow. So much watching the weather was in store for the next two days.
Mike is on the 4-wheeler watching the cutting process. I am not much into tractors but this big tractor and mower fascinate me! The hydraulics that makes this thing move is interesting; Rick knows his stuff too. He can make it cut really close to things that make you hold your breath to watch..........of course he has been cutting hay all his life!!!

John's Wooden Puzzle

I had to post pictures of this very unusual wooden puzzle that Mike's oldest brother John made. I don't remember how many wooden pieces he told us there were in this but my word what a piece of art work!!! It weighs 40 pounds too.............here are some of the pieces of it when he took it apart. He cut, sanded, stained and finished each one............months and months of working on it; John does a lot of wood working..............beautiful!!!

May 17th

May 17th was my birthday and Jennifer (wonderful daughter) who is a massage therapist, gave me a massage, then we went to a grand place for lunch, stopped to visit a friend we hadn't seen in a long time, (photo of Anne and Jennifer); got iced coffee, went to visit horses at fairgrounds (previous picture). Came back to her house and got her dog Sophie and walked many, many blocks to the river levy to get some ice cream; then walked back to her house! After that I decided it was time to head back to the farm.....and rest!

Horse at barn

This was take on May 17th.
On a trip to the local fairgrounds Jennifer and I stopped to see the horses at the barn. This is one beautiful bay horse we petted. Of course I am fond of bays, since Gilly is bay! I feel sorry for these horses shut in stalls all day long just waiting for their owners to come and feed them or take them out for a ride. I wish they could have the freedom that Gilly and Pokey have; to come and go as it pleases them. Sometimes they lounge in the barn all day, snoozing.............sometimes out all day under the shady trees on the hillside.

Baby Robins and River

These two pictures were taken on May 15th. I had been to Little Hocking, Ohio for a doctor's appointment.......herbalist doctor. These baby robins were nested in his Rhododendron bush and are in hiding from the cat.
I stopped at Lookout Point along the Ohio River on the way back to Marietta and took this picture. Beautiful Ohio River; way off in the distance is the bridge into Marietta.
I am trying to play catch-up today; have been busy and too tired to post in the evenings. I will add posts with pictures as I get up to speed...............hahaha!!!

Joe's Birthday......my brother-in-law

Here are some pictures I took last Saturday, May 10th at my brother-in-laws birthday party. His granddaughter Lucy was have a grand time helping blow out the candles on the cake. What a darling little girl she is!!
Beautiful sunflowers on the table, really adds some knock you eye out color to the pictures.

Waiting for Supper

Here are the boys waiting for their supper tonight. It's been raining for the last two days and the sky has been overcast. What sweet faces looking out of the doorway. They seem to be patiently waiting for me but.... just after I snapped this picture both of them stared calling me to "hurry up"!!!

Sunday, May 4th 2008

Went to the first horse show of the year in Marietta. Here are some pictures.