Thank you for the spa day Jeanie!

I have to thank my friend Jeanie, you guys remember her from Wolcotville, Indiana don't you?  She surprised me with a visit to The Spa at Intercourse Village in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Yes, you read that right and that's the name of the town in Lancaster County. 

I was to get a hot stone massage followed by a pedicure which included a perafin treatment. I was hesitant to go because I'd never been to one but once again I old myself that it was a new experience I had to go through and if you know Jeanie, she always gets her way!

As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by the staff and made to feel welcomed and comfortable. I was then taken to a private room where I would get my massage. The table was heated and they had a small waterfall in the corner along with soft music coming from the speakers. 

You are advised to take all your clothes off down to your underwear. If you don't wear any then that's fine also because you are under blankets at all times. I took a couple of pictures before starting my one hour massage. As soon as Leilani started I was so relaxed that I fell asleep for a while. The hot stones were amazing and recommend them if you ever have the opportunity to experience them. 

After the massage was completed I was moved to the pedicure chair...

My feet were in warm water for a bit and then the real treat began. Mandy has the best hands and they were magic!

She put on a lemon and oatmeal treatment, I believe is what she told me.  Whatever it was, it smelled delicious!

She then cleaned up my hoofs!

I was given a beverage along with some snacks. 

The foot massage was to die for. 

After all was done my feet were then dipped in a perafin treatment. It was wonderful and left my feet so smooth. 

My body and feet haven't felt this good in a long time. Thank you so much Mandy and Leilani from the Spa at Intercourse Village. 

But the biggest thank you is reserved for Jeannie. THANK YOU for giving me another new experience dear friend. 

Now I'm ready for the drive down to N Carolina!

It's been a while!

I have to apologize for not posting an update in a while but I really do have a good reason. I took up beading and that kept me real busy for a couple of weeks. Carol and I had gone to This place called Indian Steps for a Powwow about a month ago. It was so much fun watching all of the Indian dances and music. 

They had some vendors there and I bought a turkey tail to make a fan out of. 

I was inspired by some of the fans the dancers had. My problem was that I had no idea where to start. I contacted my friend Simon in New Mexico, he does beautiful bead work, of where should I start. The main piece of advice that he gave me was that if I were going to make it for myself, or even if I made it for someone else, whatever the design I chose needed to mean something. Since this was my first attempt I knew this was going to be for myself. I thought about what meant a lot to me about my adventures and travels. Two pictures came to mind immediately. The first is a picture of a Bridaled Tit I saw for the first time in my life. I had the great pleasure of seeing four of them at my friends Hal and Ann's home in Silver City, NM. They came into the feeder area in January right after getting about a foot f snow the previous day. This is the first bird that I can truly say got me excited about birding and identifying new species I had never seen before. I have taken thousands of pictures since and I still get excited about this one bird. 

The second picture that immediately came to mind was the one my friend Kevin took of MotelMiguel right after I had parked it in his back lawn right next to his barn. I was inside MotelMiguel settling in and he texted me the picture. The scene was so peaceful with the barn as a backdrop and his white ducks and geese just resting on the lawn. This picture to me represented so much of what my journey is all about and what I have been searching for. 

I ordered my supplies and set out to accomplish it. I watched tons of videos on YouTube to give me an idea of where to start. 

I started by printing out each picture to the approximate size I needed and using each as the template for the finished piece. By sewing over the paper and attaching it to the leather it provides a little bit of extra support. 

This picture is about 2 1/2" by 3" tall. I needed a magnifying glass just to thread the needle because the eye is so tiny. 

The size of beads I used are size eleven and the tiniest ones size fifteen for more detail. 

It took me over a week to complete the first part of this piece. 

The hard part about it was the mixing of the colors of the juniper tree and not loose the bird in the mix. 

There was snow all around but again I didn't want to loose the bird. 

I set a quarter piece next to it in order to give an idea of size. 

The barn had challenges of its own. Trying to get the detail of MotelMiguel was the most difficult along with showing the tiny white geese on the lawn. 

I started with the white roofline. 

Then I did MotelMiguel. From there I did a couple of white beads with one smaller orange one as the beak. 

This piece took me about five days to complete. 

I will use these pieces on the fan. One will be in the front and the other on the backside of the base to the fan. The handle will be made from a deer antler. 

What I learned so ar from this was that when I was working on it I zoned out and was very at peace. When I'm working on something I tend to not worry about anything and it becomes a great stress reliever. 

I've done a couple of other things since last week when I finished this and will get a couple more entries before I move on to South Carolina on Friday. 

PA National Horse Show in Harrisburg

Thursday was the start of the Pennsylvania National Horse Show held in Harrisburg. 

My friends Archie Cox and Lexi Weidemeyer were going to be here from California and since it is only thirty miles away I knew I couldn't miss seeing them. 

This is one of the most prestigious shows on the east coast and the horses at the show are very, very nice. I got on the road early and got to the show by eight thirty. The parking was easy to find at the farm complex. I found the entrance to the stall area, I love walking through this area because you see all of the preparation and care of each horse. 

Horses are brought in n from all around the country in huge transport trucks. 

From here they go back not the warm up arenas. 

These horses are so beautiful, they have the best of care and pampering and every precaution is taken to make sure they are ready for the shows. 

Once they are ready eventually they make it to the show arena where it's show time for both horse and rider. 

Watching them is just poetry in motion. When they jump over the obstacles and both horse and rider are working as one, it's a thing of beauty. 

I did get to spend a little bit of time with Archie. The last time I saw him and Lexi was last November in Scottsdale. Unfortunately we didn't get to take selfies with either of them but I did get them from afar. For me these are memories and no matter what I'm getting pictures!

You can always count on Archie to be ringside watching his riders and horses do their thing. 

It was nice to get the chance of spending a few minutes with Lexi while she walked back to the warm up arena. She's working for another trainer now but still goes to the shows. 

She's such a hard worker. 

I spent almost the entire day at the show and really had a good time. There was only one incident while I was there. 

The horse didn't judge the jump correctly and fell on top of it. Both he and the rider fell over, but they both did get up and walk away unharmed. 

Other than this all others were beautiful and I had a great time in Harrisburg. The show goes on through next week and hopefully I will get back up there one more time. 

Everyone hopes to end up in first place and win the big awards. 

I know I hadn't posted for a few days. I'm doing good and have been real busy with my friends. I think my iPad is on its way out and I need to get a new one with more memory. It seems every time I come back from an outing I take tons of pictures and in turn have to move older ones to my backup drive. I looked this morning and I have over thirty five thousand pictures on it. That's a whole lot of memories that will bring me joy in the future.