Footgolf

Last weekend Matthew joined a footgolf tournament with two other friends, Edward and Justin.  They played on a local golf course that has recently added footgolf holes and tees.  Despite the heat, they enjoyed themselves and ended up tying for first. (Edward is the course record holder and regularly plays soccer so they had a distinct advantage!)

 

There was some shade along the course.

 

The Team.

 

Jamie (Edward's wife) and I went along as spectators and photographers.  We mostly stayed in the shade and on the cart!

Garden Goodies

Our garden has started producing quite a bit of delicious produce over the last couple of weeks.  Here is a more recent photo of our raised beds.

 

The lettuce is almost done for the season, but before we left on vacation I was able to pick a five gallon bucket to take with us!

 

I also froze over 20 packages of broccoli before our trip.  That should last us a while!

 

And when we got back, we had these beautiful cucumbers waiting for us. Next up: pickles! (Luckily I left the garden set up with a timer for watering because we didn't get any rain while we were gone)

 

Just when the salad fixings start ripening, the lettuce stops; but I have managed to make a couple of completely homegrown salads.

 

Our horse pasture has also been growing this spring.  We finally planted grass seed and spread the fertilizer a couple of weeks ago.  The horses have been enjoying their fresh grass!

 

And here's a shot of the first (that we've seen) venomous snake on this property - a copperhead.  Rabi didn't notice it as we walked down the driveway.

Vacation

Matthew and I spent the last two weeks on a hectic vacation that took us around the Midwest and back.  We started off by driving ourselves, all four horses, and one cat to my parents' place in Tennessee.  After three days there, we left the animals behind and headed towards Cleveland for my college roommate Sam's wedding.  On our way to Cleveland we stopped in to visit my alma mater, Ohio Wesleyan University.

 

I had to take a minute to sit in these very familiar chairs in the science center.

 

And a token photo in front of the sign.  A few things have changed, but mostly it still looked the same.

Next, we finished our drive to Cleveland for four days of activities and wedding celebrations.  I spent Friday with Sam and her family while Matthew toured a company for work and then went golfing.  Saturday included another bachelorette celebration, the rehearsal, and the rehearsal dinner.  Sunday was the Big Day and then we stayed for Monday's open house party at Sam's parents' house.  We decided to use Airbnb for accommodations during our stay and it worked out perfectly.  It sure was a hectic few days though and I don't think that we went to bed before midnight any night!

 

Here is my favorite shot from the Big Day.  I still have to finish editing the rest of the hundreds of photos that I took.

 

The only photo I have of both of us, taken at the reception.  I was a bridesmaid and Matthew gave a swing dance lesson before the reception.

 

After the wedding festivities, we drove back to Tennessee and continued our vacation.  We spent most of our time riding, hiking, and playing golf.  Here are a couple of photos of my mom and I out riding.

 

Matthew also rode with me one day on Rabi.

 

The mountain laurels were gorgeous during our whole trip, but especially so on this little hike we took at Pogue Canyon.

 

And finally, another exciting part of our trip was buying a new (to us) horse trailer!  I found it near my parents' house, on craigslist, and it turned out to be exactly what we wanted.  We also managed to have a gooseneck hitch installed and sell our old trailer during our vacation, I guess it was meant to be!  The new trailer desperately needs some cleaning, so I will post more photos after I have washed it.

Mighty Eighth Gala

The Saturday before we left for vacation, Matthew and I joined some fellow swing dancers to perform at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force during their fundraiser gala.  We dressed in 1940s attire and helped welcome guests to the event.

 

I was going to make myself a dress but ran out of time, as usual, so I bought this one at Goodwill a few days before.  I think that it worked out well!

 

We started off dancing at the entrance while people were arriving and then later moved inside where a live big band was playing swing music.

 

Taking a break while the guests eat dinner.

 

The whole group, a medley of three different swing dance clubs.

Project and Parties

Spring is in full swing here at the Lazy G.  Matthew and I have been working on a couple of landscape projects over the past weeks and our property is really looking great.

 

We spent one weekend finishing up raking the back two acre pasture. As you can see, we usually have lots of feline help.

 

Then we had someone come and spread lime on the pasture to help raise the pH. Here is a short video of the truck that came.  By the time I went inside to write a check he was almost finished! I also bought fertilizer and grass seed that we will be spreading soon.  I can't wait to have some real pasture for the horses!

 

You know it is spring in Georgia when the azaleas start blooming.  Ours did not disappoint this year.

 

We've also been doing some work in the garden.  I filled up all of the raised beds that we built last year with early crops like potatoes, broccoli, red raspberries, lettuce, onions, carrots, and green beans.

 

Now we have to build more beds for the summer crops!  Here are the two that we installed over the last week.  Both are already filled with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and cucumbers.  I still have enough plants started indoors to fill another two raised beds so we will be busy for a couple more weeks!

 

Here's an updated garden photo, including the two new beds, right after a week of rainy weather.  We have a total of nine beds right now and hope to eventually have 20.

 

A couple of months ago I entered some photographs into a photography contest through the Georgia Nature Photographers Assn.  One photo (the shell one seen below) ended up second place out of about 150 submissions!  I also had two other photos in the top 25 (the bird photo in the top left below as well as my manatee one).  We spent one evening at the gallery show opening and enjoyed a date night out in Savannah.

 

This past weekend we went to a friend's wedding, also in Savannah.  It was an outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect.  Here are a couple of shots from the event.

 

The happy couple. "Wives for Lives!"

 

Cody with a few of her past science center coworkers.

 

 

And one of Matthew and I all dressed up.  After the wedding we went on to a ballroom dance.  Two parties in one night is a record for us!

Horse Rides

The last month has been a busy one for me and my horse Mow.  We competed in two different rides two weeks apart and enjoyed some camping time together as well.  The first ride was a competitive trail ride at Mingo trails, about two hours away.  I took Mow over on Friday, rode Saturday and Sunday, and returned home Sunday afternoon.  We did about 18 miles each day and were judged at various obstacles throughout the day.  Here we are at one of the pulse and respiration checks (for the horses).  My new riding buddy Judy rode with me on Saturday and took this photo.

 

After we finished riding on Saturday we had another check from the vet and then did an obstacle in hand!  Mow had never done something like this but he tried his best.  This photo was taken by a gal who just took photos of everyone for fun.

 

Sunday was a little soggy but it didn't do much more than a gentle sprinkle on and off throughout the day.  Here we are waiting at the start.

 

All finished for the weekend and back at camp.

 

To my great surprise, Mow and I both placed third out of the six horses/riders in our division!  Now if I ever get around to making something with all of my ribbons I will have a few to add for Mow.

 

Our next ride was the first weekend of April in Jasper, FL, about 3.5 hours away.  This was an endurance ride and I signed up for our first 50 mile competition (in one day).  Matthew came with me for this trip and took some of the following photos.  Here we are checking in with the vets.

 

Coming in after our first loop of 15 miles.

 

Unfortunately, shortly after we started the second loop Mow was slightly off on his right front foot so we were done for the day.  Here are a couple of photos from right before he started limping.

 

And a couple of our campsite.  Although I was very disappointed at this ride, within two hours Mow was feeling much better and there does not seem to be any permanent damage.  Better luck next time!