Horseback riding opportunities have been sparse of late, so when my friend Stephanie invited me to come riding with her on her farm in Beaver County (about an hour north of me—when I don’t get lost), I jumped at the chance. The second the heat wave broke and the monsoons stopped, we made a date. Tuesday, I printed out directions, punched the address into my GPS, and headed out. Beaver County , Pennsylvania is beautiful. Lots of woods and big hills. Rugged and rustic.  I used to have family up there. My parents used to take me to visit when I was a kid. Some areas are vaguely familiar. Others, not so much. Yes, I got lost. Thankfully, my new GPS doesn’t growl, “Recalculating!” every time I make a wrong turn. I would have heard it a LOT. I finally arrived, only about 15 minutes later than planned. Stephanie brought Jonas, who was to be my mount, in from the field. He’s a big (BIG!) flea-bitten rose gray off-the-track Thoroughbred who’s been trained for dress...

It’s been a very long winter here in southwestern Pennsylvania. I’m not a fan of winter, even in a mild year, so this one has been especially tough. But finally, spring has arrived. I’ve traded in walks on the treadmill for walks in the great outdoors most days. And, on Saturday, I finally got my hands on some horses. I’ve been in withdrawal. All winter, I’ve been watching reruns of old westerns (I can recite dialogue from most episodes of Alias Smith and Jones) just to see the horses. Okay, maybe I enjoy the cute cowboys, too. Just a little. But I digress. Saturday, I headed to Mountaineer for the first time since last fall. I arrived before my trainer friend, Jessi, so I found a place to sit next to the rail on the far turn to take some photos. At 8:30, there was a schooling race. It may have been for practice, but no one told the horses that. Afterwards, I headed backside and spent some private time in Jessi’s barn with her horses. Several of them weren’t interested in letting me sa...

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not a fan of winter. I don’t ski or ice skate. I used to love to sled ride, but suspect I’d break something vital if I tried it now. At least if I tried some of the stunts I did when I was a kid. But that’s a blog for another day. No, I don’t much care for cold weather, snow, and ice. Hibernation has always seemed like a good idea to me. And when people ask me if I miss owning horses, I can honestly say, yes. I miss Jenny and Brandy and Gypsy. And most of the others who passed through my barn. However I do not miss breaking ice out of water buckets and chopping up frozen manure and sawdust to clean the stalls. This morning, though, I bundled up in multiple layers and headed to Mountaineer to visit my friend Jessi. The excuse was that we had Christmas gifts to exchange and I had Avon stuff to deliver to her. But I really needed to get my hands on a horse. Yes, I’m an addict and there are times when nothing else will quench the craving…twenty degree...

Today is the first day of deer hunting season here in Pennsylvania. For many, it’s a national holiday. Maybe even a religious holiday. Not for me. I don’t hunt. I cry when a dog or a cat or a horse (or Bambi) dies in a movie. The only way I’ll go to a movie where an animal dies if I’m tricked into it. We own a DVD of Dances With Wolves . I only watch it to a certain point, and then I have to leave the room. I own The Horse Whisperer on DVD, too. But I start it halfway through. Which is fine because Robert Redford doesn’t show up until then anyway. I can’t watch fictional animals die, so there is no way on earth I could go out and shoot a real one. But around here, I’m the odd-man-out. I grew up in a family of hunters. And I married into a family of mega-hunters. Hubby celebrates this day with his uncle and cousins at the family hunting camp. I’m happy for him. I stay home with the cats. Two small felines and I take up the entire queen-sized bed all night and love it. During the day, i...

I’m sorry to say I didn’t even last a week at the Write First Challenge. This just isn’t the time for me to not check email early. As I mentioned before, I’m taking a rather intense online course on querying given by C.J. Lyons. I’ve learned so much already that my head is spinning. The sheer number of messages produced by the participants has increased the mail in my inbox by about a thousand percent. When I let it get ahead of me, it takes hours to catch up. Yeah, I know. Excuses, excuses. The fact is I learned I’m not an early morning writer. I’ve trained my muse to be at the office by 9AM. Asking him to arrive earlier just doesn’t work. Or maybe it’s the fact the caffeine doesn’t kick in until then. Whatever. I’m going to come up with a different set of writing guidelines that work for me. But probably not this week. This week I’ll be writing, but my nonfiction efforts will be taking priority. Hey, writing and getting paid for it is a GOOD thing. I’ll be covering two different even...

I just love baby colts. And this guy just loves life.

I owe a big thank you to my fellow Guppy and critique buddy VR Barkowski (I know what the "V" stands for, but I'm not allowed to tell) for honoring me with a nomination for the Kreativ Blogger award. VR's blog chronicles her journey toward publication, from the manuscript onward and entertains its readers in the process. VR is also participating in Nanowrimo this month. You go, girl! Now comes the fun part. I get to nominate seven other worthy bloggers (who must nominate seven other... and so on and so forth). Here are the rules: 1) Copy the pretty picture and post it on your blog. 2) Thank the person that gave it to you and link to their blog. 3) Write 7 things about yourself we don't know. 4) Choose 7 other bloggers to pass the award to. 5) Link to those 7 other bloggers. 6) Notify your 7 bloggers. Let's see... Number one done. Number two done (thanks again, VR!). On to number three. Seven things about me that you don't know. And probably don't car...

My main goal this weekend was to take a lot of practice photos with the new camera. Saturday, I headed to Mountaineer to spend the day with my friend, Jessi. I got some shots of horses on the track. This is one of Jessi’s. So is this. This one isn’t. This is Jessi with “Jacob.” Today, Hubby and I took a drive to Greene County for these. Then we stopped at White Bridge for the Covered Bridge Festival where I grabbed these shots. I love my camera.

Not long ago, one of the New York publishing professions coming to the Pennwriters Conference asked my advice about choosing a flight. I responded honestly that I am not the person to ask as you’d be hard pressed to find someone less traveled than I. For me, a big trip is making the three hour drive to Lake Erie and Presque Isle. The reason for this can be traced back to my upbringing. I was born into a family of farmers. We had cows and chickens and dogs and cats to care for. Once a year, my mom would send my grandfather off to my uncle’s house for a week for a vacation. Only recently have I realized the vacation was hers. She was Grandpap’s caregiver just as I care for her now. But we still had the animals to feed. We could never ALL leave at the same time. This week, my friends, Mark and Sara , have taken their kids and gone on a family vacation to South Carolina. This is a big deal for them because they have a farm. They also have me, the friendly neighborhood crittersitter. There...