Cats are People too...

My past blogs have been heavily in favour of horses, and even dogs. So on this stormy last day of January, let us celebrate the kitties.
Leslie
"Come out, come out, leetle birdie..."















"Dum de dum...just sitten here minden my own beesness..."













"Just...make...da...magical...fud...bowl...fill...up...@#*!"













"Don't hate me cause I'm bootiful Dahlink..."



















"Even God wants me to eat you..."

Jazz's Snow Day

Winter is here with a vengeance now, with temperatures plummeting to -25c today. So yesterday (being balmy in comparison at only -16c) seemed the perfect day for Lauren to cash in her photo shoot gift certificate. Nope...she couldn't have waited for a warm spring day... ;o) That's ok, I was bundled up nice and toasty...but Jazz was bare naked, well except for his Canadian winter coat. So we only made him run around a "leeetle" bit. He was a good sport. Well with a name like "Northern Jazz" he should be expected to enjoy the winter! Leslie
p.s. See Jazz in his summer duds here.

From the kitchen...

Just a few photos from my kitchen the other day on a rare occasion (these days) when the sun was streaming in.

I love glass, especially coloured glass. I think I was a glass blower in another life.

This orange just looked so beautiful in the light I had to photograph it. My mouth is watering just looking at it!

Every winter since we've lived in this house I have photographed the frost on the windows. This south facing window in my kitchen seems to be the best "host" for stunning frost patterns. There's something to be said for drafty old windows ;o) Leslie

More from Sunday

I wanted to post a few more photos from Jan B's...

Henry was the littlest mule, a pinto pony mule, who gave my daughter and niece a good ride several times around the barnyard. Henry also pulls a cutter and carries packs sometimes when Jan trail rides or camps on horseback. What a talented guy! My daughter took the "nosey" photo, great job kiddo!

It was a chilly day and when the paint stallion galloped a couple of laps around the field, you could really see his steamy breath!

Another Paso of Jan's; a beautiful black gelding.













Jan's main mount: FS Classique, or "Junior" is a talented and handsome dun Paso Fino gelding. He was Horse of the Week on my site. See his page here.

Mules, Minis, Pasos & Paints!

As the reader may or may not know I am a horse photographer without any horses. There may be a span of several weeks where I don't get to be with a single horse...I know...outrageous! Well this past Sunday I got my fix; a mega dose actually. Jan B was kind enough to invite me to her farm in Waverly, Ontario (well if truth be known I invited myself...an absence of horses in my life brings out the pushiness in me). This visit became an outing when the other "horsey" members of my family tagged along - my sister, youngest daughter and niece. Jan B is a wonderful lady with many talents from training mules and making saddles to snowboarding and camping with her horses. I wanted to share a few photos of her menagerie.
Leslie

The Lightfoot Trail, Orillia

As mentioned in the previous post, the Lightfoot Trail is one of my favourite walks. There is an abundance of birds; I have spotted chicadees, robins, bluejays, cardinals, juncos, red winged blackbirds, crows, and grackles to name a few and on several lucky occasions, a Baltimore oriole, which I happened to get a (albeit blurry) photo of. The squirrels thrive here too. Unfortunately for me, poison ivy thrives here as well. Thinking it was dorment in the winter I was rather careless about inspecting some trailside plants just before Xmas. I am paying for it still as I have some nasty rashes now to show for it. If flora is more to your liking there are many different wildflowers along the trail as well as not so wild flowers that have escaped, either on purpase or accidentally, from local gardens. Once I saw a beautiful snake, and a couple of times some feral cats. Here are some images from the trail. Happy (Lightfoot) Trails! Leslie






Are these really Gordon Lightfoot's feet?















Brandy knows the way...



















People: USE THESE!!!!!!


















Queen Anne's Lace looks like fireworks in the winter!



















Leaves of three, let it be...

Couchiching Park, Orillia

One of my favourite things about Orillia is the town's lovely waterfront and boardwalk as well as several parks. I love to walk here with my dog and continue along the Lightfoot trail (named for Orillia's favourite son, Gordon Lightfoot). Brandy never seems to tire of sniffing along the edge of the trail and must have the bladder capacity of a small firetruck based on the amount of times she stops to pee! Ever wary of other dogs, we often crisscross from the gravel trail to the paved trail to avoid other canines as Brandy is a bit of a b**** when it comes to other dogs. I blame whoever owned her the first 4 years of her life... Anyway, we never tire of these lovely walks and I often bring my smaller digital camera to snap photos of whatever tickles my fancy...Happy walking and try to notice the little things that may pass you by. Leslie

Deadly cans - Please Read!

I had a horrible experience tonight I want to share. I'm sure by now you know I am very passionate about animals and not just horses. I was on my way to drop my daughter off at swimming, and tonight happened to be one of the few where we are having any snow. It is quite a blizzard out there at the moment. As I was getting in the car I noticed something on the driveway behind it. I could see a cat food can (the larger 14oz size) surrounded by what looked like a little pile of snow. I cursed the neighbour's dog who is constantly loose and steals cans from my recycling box to scatter them around my yard. Thinking I'd pick it up when I got back (and I would have backed up right over top of it) I suddenly have the chilling feeling that it's not snow. I slowly walked up to it and with horror realized it was a snowy white cat lieing very still with it's head lodged completely into the can. To make matters worse, we have a white cat who, although she is an indoor cat, once every couple of weeks she manages to make a break for the outdoors through a door left open just a fraction of a second too long. I put my hand on the cat's snow covered back (it must have been there for awhile as there were no tracks in the snow surrounding it) and gently pulled the can off it's head. I thought for sure it was dead but perhaps it was unconscous from lack of air. Suddenly it shook it's head (it wasn't, thank god, my Cleo) and bolted away into the snowy night.
I am sick to my stomach thinking that beautiful cat would have died had I not come along. So my message to you is if you have an open recycling box like we do, to pinch the tops of your cans together, before putting them outside. This is an awful thing to happen to an animal...any animal. Thanks so much!
Leslie