A Great Christmas and Opening Day at Santa Anita

Santa Anita paddock. Aggie gives her jockey a leg up on Barbera.

My step daughter in law Dasha has the privilege of having her Mom and Mom's girl friend to stay with her and her husband for a month. They have come from Russia, Dasha is from Russia. They had quite the journey, traveling by train from their home town and then by plane from Turkey to LAX.  Dasha's Mom smokes so extra hard for her and the rules about smoking are different here. They arrived the day before Christmas and Dasha drove to the airport to get them. The airport is about an hours drive from us. Christmas in Russia is on January 7th ! We ate Christmas dinner together on the 25th and included some traditional Russian food such as meat stuffed dumplings. 

My husband Doug, Dasha, Svetlana and Dash's Mom Elena Chrismas dinner at Dasha's house.

Then my step son Jonathan decided that we would go to opening day at Santa Anita. Svetlana and Elena succumbed to jet lag LOL and stayed at home.  This is now a family tradition. Sadly we are no longer associating with Doug's daughter and family who also attend. They were there but we had nothing to do with them. We had a blast anyway and the highlight for me was to meet Aggie Ordonez for the first time, she is the former trainer of our horse Additur ( Pesky) She also won with filly Barbera. What an honor for her ! We won some and lost some money betting and the weather did not disappoint. I also met an aspiring  (and very young) jockey from York, England as I was cheering Aggie in the winners circle.  His name is William Pyle.We had a  chat about the differences between racing in the US versus in the UK.

Dasha, me and Doug Santa Anita race track.

Me and horse trainer Aggie she was waiting to saddle her horse.

My Spiritual Life

 

I wanted to put here some quotes by two of my favorite spiritual teachers, Eckhart Tolle and Louise Hay.

From Eckhart

“At the present time, the dysfunction of the old consciousness and the arising of the new are both accelerating. Paradoxically, things are getting worse and better at the same time, although the worse is more apparent because it makes so much noise.”

"

Life is the dancer, and you are the dance. You then realize that you don't live your life, but life lives you”.  

 

“Lucid living is when you become aware of what many philosophers and poets and spiritual teachers have described as the dream-like nature of ordinary existence. Dreamlike in the sense that nothing lasts for very long. Every experience arises and subsides and is gone. The past – everything dissolves. It’s a memory of the present moment in the now.” 

 

From Louise

I choose thoughts that nourish and support my physical and emotional well-being. 

I attract loving and supportive people into my life. 

I am capable of handling any challenges that come my way

I trust the wisdom within me to guide me in the right direction.

We had rain

Not much rain fell but it  was enough to lay the dust in the arena and round pen.  The end of the coughs for horses and humans. Just lately I have been changing the routine on the non riding days and take one of the horses in to the round pen. Today I discovered that Knight will not canter he just trots faster and faster. Well I suddenly realized why... He was trained to be a carriage horse and they must not canter in the show ring. He is certainly capable of a canter and full gallop when ridden as Doug knows, out on the trail. So this is my new aim for Knight to help him feel comfortable cantering in a circle and to develop his cantering muscles and head carriage. He also has a locking stifle so I will be interested to see if this really helps him. The videos are of my riding horse Morgan mare Coco in the round pen. As you can see she knows how to anticipate the whoa. Coco( VJC Mystical Enchantress) is 25 years old. And our three other horses enjoying one of their frequent play sessions.

I am retired and loving it.

"Go to college. Educate yourself. Work a job like most americans in our country. And THEN you can come at me about my views."

The above was just a small part of a retort made to me by someone who I shall leave anonymous. Here I am pictured  sitting amongst some amazing wildflowers. I am now retired from WORKING at age 71 and enjoying my life. I have worked all my life from age 16. My resume includes many skills that I did not need to go to college to learn, I had hands on experience. I am a qualified Master Gardener" and a qualified Riding Instructor. I have worked with Seniors and Dogs, with children, as an artist, a sign painter, a house painter, I am thinking what else ... so many things to make money, and all were interesting to me pursuits. I ran my own gardening business for many years. So eat your words you, and the two others who have a derogatory attitude . Sandra this is not about you in case you were wondering what the heck. 

I had a relapse of thought

My son and his wife posted a whole album of pictures of my grand daughter Audrey and I started to feel very angry again about what was said to me via instagram pm. This was by two of the step grand daughters and thier mother, she backed them up. This was just a small part of what they said. I said four words to each of them about untrue statements they made on their pages villifying Trump. Then the three of them realized that me and my husband had voted for Trump. Qouting from the one girl who is 22 now and going to college in San Diego. "Have you heard of the way he speaks about his daughter? Claiming they have “sex” in common or that he would date her if he wasn’t her daughter. It is quite disgusting that you voted for a man who hates women. I assumed that you were smarter but clearly I am wrong. As an EDUCATED woman I have my facts straight. A persons right to their body should NEVER be someone else’s business. Clearly you have no respect for your daughter nor the future of your granddaughter. I am so grateful that my grandmother voted for a someone who cares about human rights no matter their sexual orientation, race, or gender. If you ever wonder why we never see you this is why. I hope one day you can educate yourself on this matter or in general"

Another New Day

Yesterday Dasha and I went for a one hour body massage. It is a massage parlor run by, we think Vietnamese women, they do not speak very much English and I am too shy to ask where they are from. This is quite different from my cherished massage therapist Pam, whom I developed a close bond with over the years. When we moved south I had to say goodbye. Also over the years I have explored a lot of body therapy. I have gone to chiropracters and an acupressurist. I have had all the latest therapies and always come back to massage, (when I have been able to afford it.) It costs about $60 for one hour but you now have to tip as well. My body was really tense after all the pschological pain that I have had recemtly. I now feel cleansed and ready to move on in a much higher way. I re read on my Pedigree blog about the first incident with my sister and had forgotten some things about that. But I feel stronger now and my energy to rise above her very negative energy and the same energy put on me by Dougs family. But I do have other family members who are supportive. So today I will be working some more on a horse pedigree. Going out to the horses and teaching Tandy howt o walk more slowly to and from turnout. Then we need to go to the car wash, to the grocery store and to the gas station on th way home. Then tonight is movie night at Dasha's house. We all take turns picking a movie. Last week we watched The Hangover. Thanksgiving is coming up next week which will be at our house. We need to plan.

It's a New Day

We are so fortunate here in California to enjoy amazing weather all year. It does vary though and I am wearing my winter puffer vest while typing this. Just a few days ago I was dressed in shorts and a sleeveless tee shirt and walking around bare foot. Which reminds me of my experiences at the nail salon that I now go to every few weeks. All the workers in the Salon are Vietnamese and they do not speak English very well. They love to insist with gestures that I have the calouses removed from my feet. The last time that I was at the salon, I said no I need them because I walk around with bare feet. So then I started to research about immigrants and the history of the Vietnamese coming into America. I learned that actress Tippi Hedren started the first group as refugees here. She had her nail person teach them what to do and then they got certified and enterprising. Ok so here is a political stab at those that think that immigrants will not be allowed here in America, ot that they will be deported. The policy that has been in place since I came here in 1974 ( I do not know when it first came into being ) is you can come here for 6 months ( you can return to your own county also and come back for aother 6 months) then you need a green card either by marrying a US citizen or by being a contributing worker, and then you can become a citizen. I know becasue I am an immigrant from England. So those who think that President elect Trump is making new rules, the basic rules have not changed. Biden on the other hand opened the borders to everyone. So what happens to those people, what work will they find to support themselves. What resources will they be using to be able to eat and have shelter. Where does the money come from for that. Here in California we have a lot of migrant workers as well, who are much needed to work harvesting food, and at where we keep our horses there are several. Most of them can not speak English.

Its all about me

I am trying to keep up now with all the latest news on our new government. So I will be posting political things every once in a while, Doug my husband is on X posting his. A quote from the news today about the new health Secretary a Kennedy and this is from Trump " For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation and disinformation when it comes to public health," So very true, in fact a lot of us are still believing that carbohydrates are healthy. That the Covid shots made us immune from Covid and a lot more. Big money was involved as it usually is! Including the media and what they write to sensationalize. I notice that blog friends who commented before the election are now not commenting, which I am trying not to take personally. I am also still reeling from the personal attack by my step daughter and her two daughters about me supporting Trump. One of the things brought up was that I was voting for a rapist and I am teaching my daughter and grand daughter that sexual assault is OK. Trump would never have raped ... the accusie was actually paid by Bidens henchment to start a law suit. She had also accused 7 other men hoping to get big money. There is lot more evidence about this women. The one girl in my family said that she had been sexually assaulted. Well so have I more than once. I wont go into the details, but I was never raped. That was how men and boys were in the 1970's when I was a teen. Values were different then ( this is in the UK) I narrowly escaped being gang banged. I started wearing a safety pin on the fly of my johdpurs, so that they could not pull it down if I was thrown down in the barn in the hay again. So Greg, Jim and Scobie and others you know what you did. I have said this to Scobie in catching up recently. Most are dead, but Scobie is my friend on face book, in his 70's now. My own father was put in jail in Germany his native country, for being a pedophile. he never touched me or my two sisters. But supposedly did molest my three half siblings including a boy.To this day I am still trying to find out the truth !

I am shaken and upset

I am still very shaken and upset this morning by the words I have received from people in my own family, and unfortunately this will be a lasting family rift. This is political and my calling out of those who believe what is written and seen in the media. It then became a personal attack about my life, my education, my work, and my family and more. So anyone out there who contradicts the present election and supports and voted for Trump beware ! This is the new generation of young and not so young who feel justified in hurting and trashing others to the fullest extent. There is a new acronym to describe it TDS Trump derangement syndrome.

High Winds and a new beginning

We have high winds forecast for today and tomorrow. Symbolic of blowing away the old this morning, the day after our big election and welcoming a new and awesome beginning. No more high gas prices, no more undocumented immigrants, no more unlimited trade with China, abortion choice according to state and no more senile and inept people running our country.

A Heat Wave and Wildfires starting up in CA

 We have just come through about five days of what is called extreme heat here in southern California. We have no air conditioning in our house. Originally it had what is called a "swamp cooler" but we never used it as it was not that efficient and started to malfunction in later years. So to with stand temperatures that were on average 107 F outside I had to do some things in the house such as make sure all the blinds were down in the front where the sun rose. All the ceiling fans were put into action as well as the two auxiliary fans that I have,  they were moved around as necessary. The worst was at night when temps staying in the 70's. Humidity was not that high, but high enough to make me feel as if I needed to be cooler. In the house the temperature mid and late afternoon was about 88 F I am comfortable up to about 85F. The final comfort step was to then get some hand towels and soak them in cold water and put them on me.

Out at the horses because humidity is relatively low we were good. No sweaty horses except after being ridden,but some tepid hosing afterwards helped me feel that the horses were more comfortable. As for me,  having to wear breeches because I ride English with short boots, a shirt worn over a spaghetti strap top was soaked in cold water. I also sprayed water over my upper legs, and not to forget my hair and head. I am sure the other people out at " the barn" were somewhat amused, but I don't care ! 

The heat and the beginning of the fall winds has started up the usual wild fires. Fortunately a long way south of us at the moment. We can see a smoke cloud over Mount Baldy which over looks Los Angeles.  My daughter also had some wild fires

My living room with the ceiling fan going full blast because of the heat.

The pond in my garden

Me the gardener

Part of my garden

in her area near the Reno Susanville area. She and her husband had to evacuate all their animals including horses a year or so ago.

A custom Pedigree for Sit Down Grandpa

  I am enjoying very much making a custom pedigree for retired race horse Sit Down Grandpa. Here is his pedigree so far. Someday I should compile a list of the many custom pedigrees that I have put together of OTTB s  plus many other breeds including Quarter horses, Morgan Horses and Paints. I was able to find contact information from his original breeder and owner. I was curios about why "Gram" was named Sit Down Grandpa. Plus I want photos of the dam and grandam.

The finished pedigree

Our cat finally crossed the rainbow bridge at age 15

Here is the obituary for Smokey our cat. He will be the last house animal.

Smokey as a youngster on the right with Ciel his beloved companion

 Our precious little cat Smokey crossed the rainbow bridge this afternoon at the age of 15. He left us peacefully while in a deep sleep. He had been ill for a while but rallied bravely until the end. RIP our little boy you were the best cat we ever had. Thanks to Coral Cremation of Thousand Oaks for their immediate response.

Family visit

The family at a Korean Barbecue in LA

We had my son and family and daughter come and stay at our house. We are fortunate to have enough bedrooms. My son came from New York and my daughter from the Reno area. We are also fortunate that the airport is only half an hours drive away. From left : my husband Doug, his grandson, and son, across the table my daughter, daughter in law who is from Korea, my son and grand daughter. Below is a better photo taken by a kind food server with me in it.

How the garden looks now at the Hereford house

 Things are coming along at my step son and his wife's garden at their new house. I planted nasturtium seeds and transplanted plants from my own garden. There were gazanias and african daisies already there. It is a fun work in progress.

We are having a wet and windy storm at our house and out at the horses.