Gay Pride

Going to a Pride Parade has been on my list of things to do for a long time. I don't know why, I guess I just thought it would be interesting and quite different from the parades marking the country fair that I saw growing up. So this year I decided to go to the one in Halifax. I contacted a fellow photographer and we met up there. I have to say I quite liked it. It was very family oriented and full of joy. I am glad that I went.
There were Animals:

Royalty:

Beefcake (what's a parade without a little eye candy?)

Storm Troopers- wait...., what? Nice to see that the Empire has dropped it 'don't ask, don't tell' policy:

horses:

Joy & Anticipation:

and political messages:

ain't that the truth? When will we stop worrying about who's loving who?

Home Sweet Home

The last two weeks were taken up with the ending of one chapter and the beginning of another. Approximately 15 years ago I graduated with my degree and was successful in landing the only permanent job in the province in my profession (speech language pathology). At the time my kids were 6 and 4. When we were moving I wanted to buy a house in the country but my husband was not comfortable with it. We discussed all the options but in the end I conceded that we would live in a subdivision until they were older and then we would move. By then we would know the area better and make better choices. So we found a plot, built a big house and raised our children. It would be extreme to say I hated living in a subdivision but I really never felt comfortable there. So when my youngest graduated we put our house on the market and began looking for our dream property.
We found it in a small farm house with 19 acres of land about 10 minutes from town, about half pasture and half woods.

Inside it had been partially renovated- the upstairs had been redone and the wiring was upgraded. The main floor was another story so it went from

to

we put in new insulation, put in firestops, drywall, replaced a few rotting beams in the basement, new trim etc (by 'we' I mean mostly my husband and a friend-  I had the very important job of chronicling the progress ).
the result is beautiful if I do say so myself.

I'll post more once the decorating is done.
and most importantly check this out-
can you it? if you squint and tilt your head to the left you should be able to see a small barn- big enough for a stall for Irish, a stall for another horse and one for guests. Plus a tack room and a loft.

I can see it. Can you?

hitting the trails

I had a 4 day weekend and decided to take one day and go visit my friend Cindy. she lives in New Ross which is about an hour trailer ride away. Irish and I went with her on a 2 hour ride through the woods. It was fun. I can't really trail ride where I board right now and I get sick of schooling all the time. It was fun to get out. Irish was a bit tense at first but settled after a bit. We need to do more of this so it becomes old hat!
I took a few photos when I arrived:

Irish checking out Cindy's horses who were....

checking him out as well. Roxie on the left is a 17 year old thoroughbred . the guy on the right is Indy- he's 28

these photos were taken by Cindy I didn't take my camera on the trail

the rig next t the big rigs

Add caption

relief at the end- sorry if it offends but it was funny