Welcome, 2022!

 Happy New Year! 

May 2022 bring us brighter, healthier days!

So, How'd I Do, 2021?

While preparing to write the series of "look back" posts on 2021, I came across an early January blog entry that included my hobby plans for 2021. Curious, I read through them, wondering how I'd done.

My Old Timer with his New Year hat by Lisa Haley. 

~ finish the Mares' Tales project 

~ create a web site for Horsiemama's Haversacks & Mercantile

~ enter and complete NaMoPaiMo

~ and finally, depending on the status of the pandemic and the vaccine, hold Happy Trails and The FAMulous Collectibility Show.

My plans were good and (I'd thought) attainable, but in reality, I only accomplished a couple of them.

 ~ I didn't finish the Mares' Tale project, although I did complete the section about Nancy Falzone. Simone Smiljanic and I had been discussing getting together for an interview since before the pandemic began in 2020, and we again had plans for that interview in 2021. 

Sadly, Simone passed away in October and the interview never happened. (Photo by Nancy Kelly and in the collection of Liz Cory.)

~ I did set up a web site for my haversack business but I never made it live. 

As I worked on the web site, I remembered that selling from the Horsiemama Facebook page was keeping me busy, sometimes busier than I wanted to be. 

I'd already decided against selling on Etsy due to concerns about being unable to keep up with orders and realized that a web site would only add to the pressure of having to keep up with orders. I never finished the site. 

~ I entered and completed NaMoPaiMo.

I chose to do a portrait model of Hokey and really struggled to find the right shades of pink for nostrils and hooves.

Pony Pal Mila completed her first NaMoPaiMo, too!

~ Allison Pareis and I decided that The FAMulous Collectibility Show would take a break due to pandemic concerns.

But in October I held Happy Trails with a very limited group of friends.

All of us were vaccinated and we wore masks during the show.

My final words on that January, 2021 blog entry are interesting and maybe even a little poignant.

In all likelihood we will be dealing with the pandemic during much of this year, but I remain hopeful that it will be a better one than last.

Yes, we have been dealing with the pandemic all of 2021, but while the omicron variant is rising, we are in a better place to fight the virus than we were a year ago. Now we have vaccinations and boosters both for adults and for children.

No doubt the coming year will see the world continuing to fight the pandemic, but I choose to remain hopeful for 2022 and that things will improve and be better for us all.

Happy New Year!

Things that Make YOU Smile!

Send a photo or two of something that makes you smile to horsiemama8@gmail.com! Please include a sentence or two about why it puts that smile on your face.

When I opened Adah R.'s email, I sat back in my office chair and sighed, "Awwwww..."  Adah didn't know it when she emailed me, but I am a HUGE guinea pig lover!

Adah says, "Here's the thing that makes me smile, my little guinea pig, Blanche. She's got so much personality!"

"She is an American (American is the name of her breed). Her color is broken lemon agouti. 1 year ago today I adopted her. She was a rescue piggie."

Like Adah, I am a big fan of guinea pigs and have had several of my own. 

This is Pigita with two of my former students, Caroline and Kathleen. She was named after Pig's girlfriend in the comic strip, Pearls Before Swine.

Pears Before Swine by Stephan Pastis, date unknown, retrieved from Google Images.

Pigita enjoying some attention while my students read.

More piggies in the classroom - this is Ginger who loved being held like a baby.

And this is Salt as he helps a student "helping" a student with an assignment by nibbling on it.

Thanks, Adah! I'm like you - guinea pigs make me happy! (So do turtles. Any reader have a turtle they could share photos of?)

Christmas Card of the Day

Received from my longtime friend, Beth Dickinson.

Hubby, Hot Chocolate, Hallmark, Horses, & Two Michaels

 The other night Craig was watching a movie and I was sitting on the couch writing as I kept him company. I don't watch much TV (I prefer to read) but I do like to sit with Craig if he has a movie on.

"The lead character's mom, Sandra, sure looks like Susan Phelan, doesn't she?" I commented absentmindedly and then bent my head to continue writing.

Susan and her husband Michael are friends of ours from our earliest University of Illinois days. Susan and I had become friends through our commonalities of having large families, attending the same church, and our mutual love of horses.

The movie continued and when Sandra appeared onscreen again, the resemblance was uncanny. And then I had a lightbulb moment - Susan had become a writer, director, and actor after her kids were grown. Could that really be her?

Quickly I pulled Hot Chocolate Holiday up on IMDb and scrolled through the cast.

Oh, my goodness, it was Susan! I knew she had been keeping busy with her career, but honestly, I hadn't paid too much attention as I don't watch much TV. 

A quick look at her profile on IMDb showed that she had found success in her acting and directing career.

As I said, Sue and I were both horsey gals. Michael, though, was way beyond us - he had been on track to become an elite rider and trainer.

Prior to meeting and marrying Sue, Michael had been training with Olympic bronze medalist Michael Poulin for years. (Photo by Bates Saddles and from Google Images.) 

Michael in turn gave me lessons on Indy and really improved my riding skills. It was either he or Sue who took this photo of Indy and me as we prepared to go into the ring for one of Michael's lessons.

Sue and I last visited in person about fifteen years ago. I was out in Utah with Beach Son Kyle who was studying at Brigham Young University.

At the time, Sue was a puppy raiser for guide dog puppies and brought one with her when we met for lunch. Little did I know that, years later, one of my best friends would be a blind woman and I would know several guide dogs well and even become a retirement home for one!

Sue, Michael, and some of their kids with a dog they raised and the woman she was guiding.

When the holidays are over and things quiet down, I am going to send Sue a message and share that I'd caught her latest film and catch up a bit with her. 

And maybe the next time I am in Utah visiting Mountain Mama Jessica, Sue and I will get together in person.

Windsong: A Gift for Little Lynn

I am very slowly recreating the old bunkhouse I had for my carpet herd stable, Windsong. Little Lynn and Circus Girl factor heavily into the recreation. 

The arrival of Little Sis wasn't the only surprise of the holiday season for Little Lynn and Circus Girl. 

Little Lynn received a gift all the way from Pennsylvania from her friend Adah! What could it be?

Beauty, the lead performing circus horse, heard the commotion as the girls squealed over Little Lynn's gifts and came into the bunkhouse lounge to check it out.

That horse can smell a peppermint all the way across the three rings of the circus! (I think Abby could do the same.)

Little Lynn and Circus Girl popped open the bag and slipped a few of Adah's treats to him. They were so yummy!

Thanks so much, Adah! Happy Holidays!

Here's a close up of the cute bag she made for me.

Christmas Card of the Day

Adah also sent this to me!

Things that Bring a Smile

I was browsing through my folder of blog ideas and found a lot of pictures that didn't really lend themselves to an entire blog post. I was smiling as I looked through them, and then I had a Bingo moment. Why not do a blog entry on just that - things that make me smile?

Here ya go!

This girl and I have been together nearly ten years. She always puts a smile on my face.

So do those moments when the winter sun is just right and you capture the snap.

Silly memes that my kids and in-loves send me bring a smile to my face.

Photos of a Pony Pal enjoying a horsey moment are always smile-bringers.

Sorting through my sewing supplies and finding not just one vintage horsey tin,

but two!

Having Cory's Pocket Pony traveling with me in my car.

This new tote bag from Breyer. When I first saw it I said, "Oh, that would make a wonderful teacher's bag, but drat, I'm retired!" Then I decided that I could always use it for something else and bought it.

What makes you smile? If you'd like to share a photo here on the blog, please send it to horsiemama8@gmail.com with a short snippet of why it makes you smile.

Christmas Card of the Day

Fra-jeel-ay!

Usually December 23 is NOT a day I have time to go searching for HSOs (horse shaped objects) but with only six expected for Christmas dinner, I was in good shape for the holiday and set off. (Little did I know that I'd be painfully ill and in the emergency room in just a few hours.)

Leslie, her husband Rick, and I got the giggles when I found this "leg lamp" without a lampshade.

We guessed that it was a former tack shop display piece for leg wraps or splint boots. But it also reminded us of the movie, A Christmas Story.

“Fraa-jeel-aay! It must be Italian!” (From Google Images)

But leg lamps, be they horse or human, are not the only thing that can be fra-jeel-ay. Humans can be, too.

Several hours later, I began feeling ill. There was a lot of pressure in my chest that really hurt. I've had seventeen major surgeries (if interested, see below) and know how to address pain, but this pain wouldn't quit. After being unable to sleep, Craig took me to the ER at 2:00 Thursday morning.

I had several tests ("You don't have a spleen! And only half a pancreas!") and then some IV meds. Seven hours later I was given a diagnosis, a couple of  prescriptions to fill, and released to go home.

I crashed at home and slept all of Thursday, Thursday night (with vague memories of Craig bringing me my meds periodically), and finally woke up Friday morning. 

Those who had been planning to come here to celebrate Christmas had begun making alternative plans, but I asked them to still come. I knew they'd all pitch in and that, if I needed to, I could lie down for a while.

It's the day after Christmas as I write this and I am still in pain, although not nearly as much as I was, thank goodness.  Hopefully that pain will continue to dissipate and I'll be up and around like normal in another day or two.

Christmas Card of the Day

This card makes me think of my friend, Susan Bensema Young, and her passion for puzzles. Wouldn't it make a great one?

Surgeries: two carpal tunnel, three ankle, three knee scopes, one hip replacement, two knee replacements, a distal pancreatectomy, a splenectomy, two hernia repairs, and two spinal fusions.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

That's for sure!

Me on Amy and Leslie on Pokey for our annual Christmas Eve Day ride in 1974.