San Antonio's Riverwalk and Japanese Tea Garden

Last month I attended Imaging USA held at the Convention Center in downtown San Antonio, Texas.  A photographer friend and I visited the Riverwalk after class one night to capture images and also to the Japanese Tea Garden the morning before we caught our flight back home.  The Japanese Tea Garden was still beautiful even though flowers weren't in season. Below the two images taken from the Riverwalk are images at the garden to include The Pavilion, a waterfall and stone bridge, rock-lined walking paths, koi fish, and more.  Enjoy!

This building is called a pagoda.

We were fortunate that the waterfall had running water since Texas can be very dry at times.

An isolated outpost at the garden that faces south.

You can see the waterfall in the distance from this rock-lined path.

This path leads from the garden to the nearby San Antonio Zoo.

This tree with berries was the only thing that seemed to have any color at the garden besides the color fish below.

The koi fish seemed friendly and unfortunately we didn't have any food to give them.

Ace was a good horse!

Ace was the boss of The Smith Ranch! Though he whipped other horses to let them know he was boss he was also gentle and lovable.  I only rode him three times and that was bareback.  Each time was when we used Ace to retrieve or return a stray horse.  Sometimes stray horses won't go back where they belong by themselves.  I didn't need to ride him but wanted to instead of having to walk about a mile. :)  I so enjoyed riding him!

He was my baby! I talked to him and called him my, "Baby boy!"  He loved it! Loved me to touch and rub him.  I photographed him a lot!!!

Ace got attached to the other animals on the ranch. When we decided to get rid of some horses or donkeys that didn't quite work out, he would go into a fury when they left.  His strength and power were on display!  It was awesome to watch! After the first time this happened, I was ready with my camera to capture it.

I love animals!  I grew up having cats and dogs as pets, even had a pet chicken that survived Easter coloring as a chick.  I've been wanting to get two inside dogs since our dog Java passed.

I never considered letting Ace go.  When my husband fully retired and threatened to get rid of Ace, I told him if he did I would run away!  However, when two cute little Rat Terrier puppies came into our lives, I started thinking about getting Ace a new home.  The dogs were a nuisance to Ace.  I couldn't just let Ace go to anybody.  The thought of him not being loved bothered me.

You know, God cares about us even in little ways.  Someone who loved animals was praying for a horse.  God linked us up and Ace found him a new home where he is getting lots of love.  He deserves it; Ace was a good horse!

Unleash the joy!

For our Christmas card this year, we did studio sessions with our puppies using various Christmas props to add some variety and to show off Charlie and Toto's new sweaters.  The puppies seemed to really enjoy the sessions!  The small expense of a few damaged props was worth it to get some cute images of our puppies.  It was hilarious watching them bark when they discovered the giant ball ornament on the studio floor.  If you'll look close at the second image below, you can see Toto's reflection on the ball ornament.  Our Christmas cards are on order and I don't want to ruin the element of surprise by showing the images used on the card, so most of the images below are not included in the card. We along with Charlie & Toto wish everyone a blessed Christmas and may you unleash the joy this holiday season!

To view the rest of the Christmas portraits of our cute little puppies, click here.

Don't make this mistake!

Never before having to potty train puppies, I did quite a bit of online research on potty training.  A friend gave me some advice on what worked for her puppy and even gave us some potty training pads to get us started.  When I laid the pads down for our Rat Terrier puppies, this was the response!  Charlie and Toto are still not fully potty trained but I thought it cute to share this response with my blog audience!  Enjoy! 

Charlie and Toto outside the jacuzzi tub

I've been wanting to do this session for a while, at least I thought about it every time I was in the jacuzzi tub and the dogs would come watch me.  Toto and Charlie were very reluctant to get near the tub since they had their last bath, so I had to trick them by giving them treats to get in position. I also wanted to wait until before sunset so that the lighting would be perfect coming through the thick glassed bathroom window which caused pretty catchlights in their eyes.  For some reason, Toto's left ear was limp which adds to his cuteness!!! Here are my adorable 5-month-old puppy dogs standing on the step outside the jacuzzi tub, looking inside at me in the tub.  Enjoy!

Honey Bun the Cowdog!

We were setting up the studio with a country theme for a client when the thought came to get this image of Honey Bun who we were babysitting for a dear friend.  We acted very quickly to get this image of Honey Bun.  I got the camera ready, my husband placed Honey Bun on the saddle, and I blew into my duck quacker to get Honey Bun's attention while firing the shot!  Probably took no more than 5 seconds, so I'm pretty sure Honey Bun didn't mind too much being a cowdog for a moment!

Three cute little dogs!

Honey Bun stayed with us for a few days and this was the second time she got to visit with our Rat Terrier puppies which are 5 months old.  This was the last day of Honey Bun's stay and when Charlie and Toto had finally accepted Honey Bun as part of the family, which meant Charlie wasn't barking at her anymore!  It was so cute to watch Toto chase after Honey Bun; I think he really liked her.  I wasn't quick enough to photograph Honey Bun lounging on our miniature couch, but was able to capture her peeking at our puppies while they napped on the couch (first image below).   Here are a few images I was able to capture of these three cute little dogs!  Enjoy!