Most of all, I want to share my love for Kenya and introduce you to some of the loveliest people I have ever had the good fortune to meet. People who are making a difference - in both small and huge ways - polepole as they say in Swahili (polepole or pole pole can mean: slowly, gently, softly, quietly; be calm, don't excite yourself, take it easy, never mind). Yes, I'm also trying to learn Swahili, which is totally different from Latin and French which I grew up studying. It's a melodic language, but it's complex and not every easy. Those words can describe Kenya in general: the country is complex, to say the least, and most of Kenya is in the bush — 'rural' outposts and wilderness that comprise the majority of its amazing and varied landscape. I love Kenya even though Swahili and its great wilderness areas are not for the faint of heart! But polepole! English is the other national language and trust me when I say that I know some of the best guides to be found anywhere! 

I just returned from two magical weeks in Kenya. No, I didn't want to leave, but I'm planning to return in November. Lots of news... Especially the need for people to get involved with Mbulia Conservancy's Fence Fund Campaign. Here's the deal: Tsavo West National Park has constructed a perimeter fence to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Elephants are highly evolved "jumbos" but they are voracious herbivores and their foraging makes them unwelcome by local communities who battle the lack of safe drinking/cooking water and drought in order to grow crops to feed their families.

When elephants arrive in the 12,000 acres of Mbulia Conservancy, a vital dry season area for the elephants who have been migrating their for hundreds of years, there is often trouble at neighboring homesteads. All too often, children and adults, who are out grazing the family's herd of goats or cattle, or perhaps have been working in the produce garden, get injured and killed by hungry elephants who don't like to be told to go away from a food source. If they could talk, they would say 'Great buffet at so-and-so's place" but they don't. They just know - and they return again and again because they have incredible memories!

Young Bull Elephant en route to NFDThis young bull elephant trumpeted several times and flared his ears. Chris Brennan moved the Land Cruiser forward. We all turned around to watch the young bull make his way into the heavy undergrowth on the other side. Photo © 2015 Lauren R Giannini/Lauren Gallops

The local people are learning slowly that vengeance in terms of killing wildlife is not the solution. The perimeter fence will allow the passage of small wildlife but keep elephant from wandering into "residential areas" in the bush (wild countryside). The fence to include Mbulia Conservancy into Tsavo West needs to be complete in September - it will be a travesty if the elephant are prevented from following their migratory path established hundreds of years ago.

Why should you care? The illegal market in ivory from elephants poached in Africa is a crime against these magnificent creatures. Ivory and rhino horn are causing the decimation of the African elephant (Indian elephants do not have tusks) and both black and white rhino. The elephant especially are essential to the eco-system of Africa - it isn't mere sentiment for these family-oriented mammals, their incredible memories and their social systems. The extinction of elephants will be a severe blow to Planet Earth. Everyone needs to be on board about stopping the illegal trade in poached ivory and rhino horn. We are all stewards of the land and its creatures. It's time to step up to the plate and do something!

You can start by reading this amazing blog by Mark Deeble, who has been making documentary films for many years and for about 25 years has been in Africa: markdeeble.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/a-new-year-in-tsavo-5/  

I started with this first one and have been working my way backwards. You may opt to begin at his most recent posts, but I like to start every story at the beginning - the first time. His prose is simple, et eloquent, his photos are amazing. Mark Deeble will open your eyes and your mind to why the elephants need not just protection by their national governments — Kenya, Tanzania, etc — enforced worldwide by a unanimous global governmental ban on ivory and rhino, but also why everyone in the world needs to get involved. 

PS 50% of the profit on of all my wildlife photos taken in Kenya will be donated directly to the Mbulia Conservancy - in the purchaser's name - to complete the wildlife fence that will include Mbulia's 12,000 acres within the perimeter fencing for Tsavo West National Park. Once the fence is completed, I will be raising funds for an AEG, made in the USA, state-of-the-art solar-powered well and built-in filtration system for Mbulia Conservancy. From there, we will branch out into other communities to fund their solar-powered wells and reverse osmosis purification systems, because water is life itself. 

Okay, we admit we disappeared off the radar in mid-June, but it's been wickedly busy and crazy, but we are working on changes for the new year. We really want this blog to be a personal forum of information that's fun, entertaining and even educational. We're going to start posting more of our photos, especially photos that have made it into print. They will be for sale (if we can figure out zenfolio's directions) and we hope that what we post in galleries looks like desirable art for home and work environments. Gorgeous horse images enliven any environment.

Just to re-cap what's going on: we started a fiction collaboration with Randy Thomas, Desert Storm veteran, and we're very excited about Book One in the trilogy. It's about two-thirds of the way toward completion. Set in the future, action-packed sci-fi with some interesting twists... Plus, there are the never end-ending deadlines - don't get us wrong - we love to write, but we are a total raving perfectionist, to begin with. Add in deadlines, and the stress can be brutal. BUT here's the good news: we got a WellCell and this revolutionary light therapy from WellCell founder Ron Hedgman in New Zealand works like magic! No more panic attacks, sleeping much much better, more energy - and oddly enough, far more open to change! We tend to stick to our comfort zone: so one of the most recent manifestations of the new, improve us is divorcing Verizon Wireless after 15 years and signing up with Sprint AND going from simple (dumb) flip phone to an iPhone 4s.

We've been Mac/Apple enthusiasts since early 2008  and now we're huge fans of IPhone. Scott, the managers of two Spring stores (Gainesville and Warrenton, VA) took care of us yesterday and he was absolutely fabulous! He moved our contacts to the new 4s and also managed to transfer our pix off the simple phone, which was reliable and sturdy, but way overdue for 'new every two' and old tech. We LOVE TECH!!! We're so into Apple and Mac - incredible computers, great phones (although that Samsung Galaxy III looks pretty trick too), but we love Apple.

It was a big deal to make the change, but we kept our mobile number and we are so glad we embraced the change - it's safe to say that we are happier than truffle-hunting porkers in the forests of France!

The wellcell has also been working on our allergies and various other aches and pains, mostly from old riding and sports injuries. We are the local light lady, but you can find information at WELLCELL and also read about happy wellcell peeps on Facebook.com.

In addition to working the novel collaboration, the wellcell, and the change of provider and iPhone, we are going to get organized in the coming weeks. We are tired of boxes, piles of mags and story notes, paper detritus and general chaos. Now, we have discovered that quite a few writers are a mess when it comes to housekeeping - we emphasize that in terms of horsekeeping we are impeccable when it comes to stalls and horse care, but house chores - not so hot. We're going to work on that. We figure perhaps part of the allergy issue might stem from the fact that we don't dust and sweep and vacuum as much as we might. Plus, it would be great fun to have our abode in good order so we can entertain friends once in a while. 

Oh dear, look at the time! Must run to the barn and then get ingredients for triple layer dark choc brownies - the best presents are edible and we love to bake. 

Stop back often - we promise to write at least once a week - about everything, not just horses. We have some great easy wholesome recipes that are guaranteed to please, not just horse stuff, but enough of that to scratch my lifelong horse-crazy itch!

All the best - remember that the spirit of Christmas can energize daily living all year round!

Wishing you Health, Prosperity and Happiness!

PS contact us if you're interested in WellCell - we are the local "light lady"!

Plus, we really really want time to post some great photos - you know, the kind where you say to yourself - wow! a moment captured because you happened to be in the right place at the right time. Like this photo:

This was our beloved horse, Roger - AKA Roger Rabbit (before we saw the movie - our pony was NOT obnoxious, but it seemed like a very cute name for him) and also Crusader Rabbit because of his great heart and generous spirit. This was the first ever digital photo we took, once we returned to photography. Deteriorating eyesight made manual focus a nightmare, so we stopped shooting except on the rarest of occasions. Our return to photography took place with a dandy point-and-shoot camera equipped with an incredible zoom and motor-drive option. We went out the back door of the cottage which, at the time, we called home, tucking a couple of carrots into our jeans. Roger wasn't far away and he loved treats. He came over to the fence while we played with the new toy- errr, camera. He could sense a treat like no other creature and started begging. Who says horses are dumb animals and can't communicate? We love this photo, we still love this horse who crossed the rainbow bridge on 21 November 2006: we'd been together for 18 years, but it wasn't long enough...

Great photos are often lucky shots - all the stars in alignment, settings just right on the camera, focus sharp... An old photographer friend once said: "it isn't the equipment, it's the person behind it." And yet another photographer friend said: "don't sweat over your camera body - get the best lens you can afford." Great advice, and it rings true today in the golden age of digital when equipment is obsolete before you get it out of the box.

Our adventures with various professional  D-SLR NIkon bodies have been erratic - sometimes they're too fancy and sophisticated for our own good. We loved loved loved our D70S - but it ended up with an electronics glitch that, given challenged "artiste" finances, isn't high on the list of investments to get it repaired. It was a great workhorse of a camera body, lighter than the pro bodies, which can lead to lens-coupling issues if it's a heavy one. The digital aspect of photography, in my experience, means a shorter shelf life than the sturdy bodies of the film era.

But as with anything else, it isn't the equipment, it's what you do with it. There are classes to learn the intricacies of every model on earth. There are how-to manuals which can be helpful, depending on what country produced them, and there are other sources on-line. We prefer to shoot shutter priority, and we like a really high f-stop so that the background stays sharp - for example, this photo from the 159th Upperville Colt & Horse Show:

This is a good case for high fstop so that depth of field approaches infinity. The Blue Ridge Mountains in the background and the clouds provide a lovely backdrop for the trees on the western boundary of the new jumper ring at Upperville (VA). Best of all the stonework of the steps and wall are fairly sharp - at least, they don't give us a blinding headache. Then there's this different perspective, a few days later of the same ring:

Love the depth of field, but that's such a nice background - spectacular views worthy of National Geographic.

BUT what about the cluttered background? How do you deal with that? Well, that's what most cameras that are set to Program do for you by default. Check out your settings: if your camera is on P, focus on something and look at the shutter speed - probably right up there at 1/1000th of a second maybe faster - and your f-stop is a really low number - say, 4 or 5.6. What this means is that any background will be blurry - this also means you might end up taking a very fuzzy & out of focus photo if your camera is sophisticated and has focus options. That's because the f-stop is the pupil of the lens - similar to how your eye's pupil dilates in low light and goes to a pinpoint in bright sunlight. The higher the f-stop, the smaller the "aperture" or opening of the lens that admits light. The lower the f-stop, the bigger the aperture. Easy peasy.

Okay, that's enough tech talk for now. We'll try to remember to take some wide-open aperture action shots so you can see the difference...

Happy Trails!

This is kind of crazy - starting a new photo/blog site during heavy deadlines, but I figure why not take advantage of the 14 day free trial? It's not the full package, but sometimes all the buzzers and bells aren't really necessary. I'd digress and get into the whole concept of Zen, but it's getting late and I'll be useless in the morning (deadlines, sigh, always on deadline...) BUT here's the deal: already I really like the set-up, even if I have no clue what I'm doing! High tech is fun, and figuring out a new site is a virtual adventure.

That is my pony, Lord Peter (I didn't name him!) and he's a real doozie, but I can't complain because I'm a late bloomer too.  Next time I will post a photo and write about our doggle, BeeZee - she's a rescue: sweet, smart and the best canine companion.  We all went on a hack today - lovely weather. It was great. Peter was rather silly on the way out - wanting to spook and shy at just about everything, but he settled and behaved very well coming back. Mileage. Time. Patience. More time...

About riding so much this week: it's so good for me, and good for Peter, too. I'm still surprised that I managed to ride seven out of the last eight days - that's a record, given the fact that I'm on deadline most of the time and end up denying myself time at the barn because of work. Today again, the ride was mostly walk, nearly an hour, but sometimes we do only 20-30 minutes -  but it all adds up eventually. I just have to figure out how to be consistent, to factor in riding time to deadline crunch times.

The bottom line is fun - fresh air - getting out and moving around. It's about enjoying some quality time with the pony and the dog... That's what it's all about - work AND play! Write and Ride - not necessarily in that order!

More anon about horses and life in general ...