March 04th, 2019

 We hiked the equestrian trails again on Friday.  Nobody seems to mind that we are horseless when we are there.  The other people on the trails are obviously not anti-people, they are just pro-horse. And as we are animal lovers, and courteous hikers, it's really not an issue.

It was an absolutely perfect day.  Warm enough to wear shorts but not hot enough to get sweaty.  And for me,  it was a very flower specific photo safari.  Joy got her usual amazing array of all sorts of gorgeous photos too. It. Was.  Awesome!

We never know what we are going to find when we head out. We just know that we will find something worth snapping a picture of two of.  Or Three. 

Bob was the point man.  He scouted ahead to see if there was anything photo worthy.  Spoiler alert:  there always was.  Sometimes we had to venture down a different path to see what he found.  Other times it required going off trail just a wee bit.  Each time, totally worth it.  Joy and I don't mind getting a little dirty for our art  .Joy had no issues, this time 'round with kneeling in the dirt and I had only the briefest of hesitations before  walking through the tall grasses to get the picture I sought last week.  And in outings of the recent past we have walked through muck,  balanced on slippery and crumbling logs to cross streams, walked along a narrow concrete ledge above a waterfall and clambered over old train trestles.  A true artist must be willing to to take risks and even suffer for their art, or so I've heard.

Not that this was in any way suffering you understand.  This is what we call fun!

And it is.  We spent a few hours, walked roughly 3 miles, captured some great shots and spent time together.  Doesn't get much better than that!  Here is sampling of some of my work from Friday's photo safari:

I mostly got photos of flowers this time 'round.  It must be true spring now because they were everywhere! And it smelled so good!  And although those stinkin' dragon flies refuse to hold still long enough for me to get their photographs, I did get a few other little bugs

 When we finally called it quits and came back home it was time for a Surprise Birthday Party!  Yup, March is Joy's birthday month. And because I gave her her gift early (which was a whole other story), she needed something celebratory in the actual month of her birth!  Soooooo that calls for balloons, a card, a cupcake aaannnddd....a flashing happy birthday sign.  Doesn't everyone need that?

​She truly was surprised and it tickles me to bits that I was able to surprise her :)

Between her schedule and ours, it'll be a few weeks before we can go on another photo safari so I'm especially glad that this was a really good one.

And since I won't see her on her actual Birthday... (March 13th by the way)
​Happy Birthday Joy!