This weekend...

was super HOT in our hood with temps over 100 since Thursday! How about your area, are you melting too?

This weekend...

1.  After chores we spent some time floating in pool. 

2.  Enjoyed Pasta Sunday

3.  The Grapes love the heat and the vines are full. 

4.  Looks like it will be a good harvest this year.  We have a couple acres of Red Zinfandel grapes on the property.

5.  My poor girls were melting too. I picked up a kiddie pool and filled it with water. Of course they didn't go in but did like it when I set them in there to wet their feet.  We sprayed down there play area with water and gave them melon to help cool them down. The babies had a hard time too, thankfully we are to 15 degrees cooler by mid week.

This weekend I finally had saved enough pennies to be able to pick up my new camera body, Canon's 7d! I am so excited about this camera and all that it can do. Seriosuly amazing and well worth the wait. All of the photos above were shot with it woohoo! 

Finally, tomorrow is the first day of my new commute and I'm feeling anxious,  praying it goes well...Fingers crossed.

How was your weekend?

A look up down and back...

The other night I had a few minutes and sat down to look for a picture I thought I had posted a while back. I couldn't find it anywhere but did find myself traveling down memory lane where I realized holy cow I have been blogging here for over three years!

Looking back over my postings made me smile, tear up, laugh, see dreams realized and see where we have yet to go. My heart is full and I am incredible thankful for so much.

Shortly after starting a camera project on flickr called 365 and thinking about legacies and technology I started this blog. You can check out my project here. I am not much of a writer but hoped to be able to journal about pieces of our days, projects, dreams and goals.

Reading back I can see and feel the strength in our everyday. The growth and focus on keeping it simple. Confirming that simple things and a simple way is where I find the most Joy. Funny how surviving a serious wreck that involved such a long recovery changed my perspective about everything... or maybe not so funny but being present or having awareness seems to mean so much more.  One thing that helps me stay focused and being present in my everyday is walking around with my camera. There is something magical  about how life looks through the lens.

Perhaps life is a bit like this Ferris Wheel, sometimes your up top, sometimes your down low... either way it's quite a ride!  I found the picture after all and am linking to Sky Watch Friday.

Happy weekending!
Jen

This last Weekend....

We stayed close to home, thankful for the down time and must needed rest.  I love our town! I am incredibly grateful we moved here a little over two years ago. There's always so much going on, creatively... live music, wineries and local artist's exhibits.

Sunday I was feeling a bit better and was able to bust out all sorts of moves to catch up from being down all week. House chores done, exercised Chancie and gave him a bath with help form the music man and finished up our day weeding the garden.

Photo's above...
1.  Buckwheat plants that run our fence line. These plants are indigenous to our area and are everywhere. I love how the flowers are in contrast to the barb wire.

2.  Green beans, woohooo!!! As of now the score is squirrels - a million... Jen - one! I actually do have some things growing that they haven't destroyed.  Thus far the tomato plants are fine but they are eating the brussel sprouts and strawberries. Unbelievable they are not in the green beans perhaps the odds are changing,  fingers crossed.

3.  A box full of pastels, the necessary tools for the street painting contest on Main Street.

4.  In the zone, I love the focus on her face and chalk everywhere, fantastic expression.

5. We watched the Oz movie the night before so of course it seemed natural to snap this one too. All the artist were amazing. The ages ranged from the very young to the young at heart.   Yep, I love this town.

Happy Monday!
Jen
linked to One World

The longest day...

Although our temps have been warm and we've already had a quick trip to the beach, today is officially the first day of summer. Summer Solstice and oh how I love this day. I've been down all week with every single symptom a cold and flu commercial states. While I've been quiet and trying to heal I have been thinking of my annual summer list. Flip flops... Fresh produce from the garden... Toes in the sand... Star gazing... BBQ's with friends... Early morning trail rides... Camping ... Hiking with my camera... Watermelon... Bicycles... How about you, what are some of your favorite things about summer? On another note my blogger compose screen stopped working Monday so I can only post using HTML. It's so weird... I can type the post name and upload pictures but cannot type in the body of the post? I searched the help community and posted the question but haven't got a response yet. Has this ever happened to you? Oh and in HTML you cannot break for paragraphs or list... Oh well, its all good, Happy Summer Solstice!

Our weekend at the beach...

Sunset in the Vines

Before jumping into my Friday post I wanted to take a minute to say thank you. My heart is full and my brain is overwhelmed. If I wore a wig,  I swear it would have been blown off in surprise several times over! 

You guys are amazing, talented and ridiculously creative people that I admire and appreciate so very much.  I am incredibly grateful and just wanted to say thank you for your kind words and support in this new adventure I'm on...  Thank you!

I shot this the other night of the vineyard across the street. I love this time of year in wine country when the vines are full of green leaves and clusters of baby grapes.  The weather is warm and the late afternoon breeze helps the fog creep its way slowly over the mountain top just as the sun is dipping down to meet it... Yep, life is good!

Here's wishing you a wonderful weekend from my hood to yours.
Happy Friday,

Jen

linked to sky watch Friday

It's good to be Chancie...

Well it's another busy one and life is hectic.  I'm a bit tired right now but so very thankful for all the exciting, challenging and joyful things that take up these days of mine.

Goldie girl is still broody... She spent two days in the condo and has had three cold baths. Yet she still runs right back to the nesting box? The last two days though, when I take her out she is staying out a bit longer each time, I'm hoping this is a sign of something good.  She's also eating and drinking more. Boy is she a stubborn one!

The babies are growing fast and doing well. The plan is that they will be going to their own area in the coop next weekend. They are outgrowing the brooder and are spending the daytime hours in a play yard on the grass anyways.

On the photography side of things I have sold a large print, am having my first gallery print framed and have a couple photo gigs in the works. I am so grateful for the support and opportunities that are flying my way.  It's incredible!

Chancie and I got away for a nice trail ride over the weekend and yesterday for lunch we both enjoyed a little down time before tackling the rest of the busy week ahead.

Happy Weekending...

From our hood to yours!

Oh Goldie girl...

After driving up north for a work meeting earlier this week I found out that the building I am to start working in won't be ready now until July 1st. This means I just scored another month at home, a reprieve from the impending commute and I am super happy about that!

The babies are growing so fast but all that chirping from the garage brooder has sent Goldies hormones into a crazy rage. She is super broody and will not leave the nesting box for anything. She barely eats or drinks for almost two weeks now.  Most hens are not very friendly when they are like this but Goldie is such a sweetie pie, she only puffs up and makes soft cooing noises when I take her out of the box, which I do every morning.

Problem is as soon as I leave she goes back into the coop and back in her box. Today though, after breakfast when I removed her I put her into her very own condo. A fenced off area I made in their play yard that has food, water and dirt. No comfy cozy nesting box, Nope. Nada. Zilch.

A couple hours later I went out to check on her and found she had escaped the condo! Where did she go you ask, back to her nesting box....

This is her oh crud you found me face, I think anyways. Sorry Goldie girl but you can't sit in this box forever... It's not good for you.

So I made some adjustments to the condo and am trying again, I sure hope it works this time poor girl. We don't have a rooster or fertilized eggs so there will be no chicks.

Balloon and Wine Weekend...

Wooohoooo what weekend I had! Oh my gosh! .... !!!

This weekend was the  annual Wine and Balloon Festival. This is a really big deal for our town and local favorites Kanan Road kicked things off.  As Kanan Road's Photog (how cool right, yes!) I had full access to  shooting them and back stage.  What nice, gracious and super talented guys they are, I had a great time and am looking forward to working up the photos.

(me and my fancy schmancy pass)

After shooting their set I met up with Monkey, my parents, friends and my best buddy Cheryl. It was bare feet, cold beer, delicious snacks and dancing in the field under the stars with Easton Corbin and Scotty McCreery. Oh my gosh, we had such a great time!  I cant wait for next year so we can do it all again.

This morning I was up and out the door at 5:30 making my way back to the festival. After hiking into the lake and finding the perfect spot I watched the sunrise which was beautiful. As it broke the mountain top the Balloons were beginning to launch. At one time I counted 22 balloons in the air, it was amazing!

I also launched Jen Sale Photography.com, it's a work in progress but I am very proud of myself for how much this computer challenged mama has been able to accomplish in a short time.

Of course there was Chancie time and play time for the chicks who are growing so fast and the big girls.  There were brown dog car rides too. He loves the new car since he can jump in and out on his own.