Horses (and Noise) in the Basement

Any time our family gathers in Indiana, we spread ourselves across three homes - Lisa and Curt both live in town and offer their extra bedrooms and space so that no one needs to pay for a motel. 

Curt and Vanessa have a big advantage over Lisa's home and ours - a basement that is set up for kids to play. We were over the day after Thanksgiving with the adults upstairs talking, watching football, and playing board games, while the Pony Pals were in the basement. 

They were making quite a ruckus so I went downstairs to investigate. I had to smile - the first toy I encountered was one of Mila's carpet herd ponies!

What I hadn't realized was that Curt and Vanessa had put a bounce house in their basement!

And the kids had programmed the keyboard to play music while they bounced. Between the music, the kids' screams as they bounced, and the motor keeping the bounce house inflated, it was VERY LOUD down there. 

I'd expected the floor to be littered with toys, but it was surprisingly picked up.

There was a pile of My Little Ponies on the seat to the keyboard,

and another of Mila's carpet herd on a table.

Susie was splitting her time between the bounce house, Mila's kitchen set, and the rocking horse we'd gotten Lukie for Christmas a few years ago.

Since the ruckus was a happy one and everyone was getting along well, I went back upstairs to rejoin the adults.

Today's Christmas card.

Email your name and address to me at horsiemama8@gmail.com if you'd like to receive a horsey Christmas card from me!

Tis the Season - Christmas Cards!

(Happy Hanukkah to my readers who celebrate it!)

Christmas is coming and holiday cards are beginning to show up in my mailbox. I love to get Christmas cards in the mail - they are tangible and can be read over and over, and they make festive holiday decorations, too. 

I am very partial to ones that depict the Nativity (especially if a donkey is in them)

or to those that have a horsey theme. Add some sleigh bells, and I am a happy gal.

Not all cards have an overt seasonal theme. Some are more subtle,

like this card that simply has a mare and foal in the snow.

Sometimes the holiday cards I receive are horsey stationery with a handwritten holiday message inside from the sender.

Postcards work well, too, like this one that I received last year from a long-time friend.

Its flip side was a piece of Chinese art.

This year I will be sharing some of the holiday cards I have received, from the past as well as from this year. My goal is to share one a day until Christmas, adding some daily Christmas spirit to the blog. Stay 'tooned!

Want to receive a horsey Christmas card from me? Email your name and address to me at horsiemama8@gmail.com.

Brunhilde & My Operatic Past

Brunhilde was delivered just prior to Thanksgiving, and I have not had time to write about her until now.

I was a little concerned when her box arrived as it had sustained some damage in transit.

Things looked okay when I inspected her, though. I was very pleased that she had such subtle dappling.

Despite the mold being twenty years old, I had never looked closely at one before. I'm not a big drafter collector and she is also a shelf eater.

Those jagged nostrils gave me pause, enough so that I looked online for closeups of her nose and then sent photos to a friend for her insight. Apparently that is normal for the mold.

Brunhilde did not stay here with me long - although I considered it due to her connection to opera. I don't think I've ever written about it here before, but I am a former opera singer. (More than once I have donned a helmet and parodied Brunhilde, a character in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.)

That connection to opera was not enough to entice me to keep Brunhilde, lovely though she was, so I packed her up and sent her on to a friend who really wanted her.

If you're interested in reading more about my operatic past, here is a blog entry in Teachinmama about the other musicians in our opera troupe and then a couple of funny onstage moments when Music City Son Cole performed with me in The Inkeeper's Wife. (He was five or six at the time.)

Clydesdale Christmas

 My two Christmas Clydesdales are here and I got the two colors I'd hoped for!

The red is a cranberry with pink undertones and teeny tiny sparkles in it.

Hooves, bobs, and tail ribbon are a light gold.

The blue Clyde is not a wedgewood blue - it's a brighter blue with lighter undertones and even subtler sparkles than the red one has.

His hooves, bobs, and tail ribbon are silver.

Everyone, including Breyer itself, calls these the Christmas Clydesdales, but if you look at the package or the catalog, it is interesting to note that the name is actually Clydesdale Christmas.

An Isenbarger Family Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is over and my house is still standing. Which isn't just hyperbole; when you have twenty-seven people for dinner, the entire house gets put to use. 

We overflowed from the dining room (far back)

and into the living room. (That's my sewing table under that tablecloth.) And with eight pony pals under the age of 8,

we set up a third table for the kids in the kitchen, too. 

We eat Thanksgiving dinner around 1:00 and that leaves plenty of time for activities afterward. (Although first we clean up so there is space for those activities.)

A family tradition is for Craig and me to give each grandchild a Christmas ornament on Thanksgiving, but this year we extended that and gave a gift to everyone - the adult women got Christmas tea towels that I embroidered and the adult men got holiday sweets. 

We celebrated Sarah's birthday

and Jessica helped us make a handprint table runner to commemorate being together.

Since all my siblings had joined us, we took advantage of the that to snap a few shots.

Enjoying our extended dog family was a wonderful part of the day, too. (That's Craig and Blue, one of Sarah's dogs.)

We played lots of games together - this is me playing Rudolph Bingo with the Pony Pals.

Ever wondered just how many Pony Pals will fit into one bathtub? Yeah, neither had I. 

But we found out when daughters-in-loves Vanessa and Emily invited all the grands to join them in the master bathroom, turn the lights off, and get some energy out with a dance party. (The answer to my question is 8.)

What a fun time they had! (I joined in a bit, too.) 

The festivities went on into the evening and gradually everyone began wearing out. But I have to say that it was one of the best Thanksgivings I can remember.

There was one more good part to the day, one that surprised me. As things settled down, I finally sat down and checked social media. To my surprise, I saw a delivery notice.

My Christmas Clydesdales had arrived!

Stay 'tooned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Abby Heaven

 Anyone whose been reading this blog for a while knows that Abby's absolute favorite treat is a candy cane.

And lucky for her, candy cane heaven is just across the Wabash River in Lafayette.

McCord's Candies has been in business for about 100 years. They are the quintessential sweet shop - with an old fashioned soda fountain, candy, and ice cream - but their hallmark is their handmade candy canes.

 

They are one of only a handful of places in the United States that still makes their candy canes by hand. And as part of our Thanksgiving festivities, we took a tour of the candy cane "factory" above the shop.

The hot liquid sugar mixture is poured onto a greased marble topped table and then turned with spatulas as it cools and changes consistency.

Then it is hung over a hook and pulled repeatedly.

A third is cut off, colored red, and then one part of that red portion is put on the bottom of the white mass

while the other part is cut again, this time into thirds, and put on top. These form the stripes (three narrow and one wide) when the candy cane is rolled and twisted.

That takes place in front of a heater to keep the candy mixture soft and pliable so it can be rolled.

The long strand is cut into pieces and then shaped into the traditional candy cane shape. Finished canes are put onto trays to cool and harden.

As part of the tour, we were each given a warm strand to shape as we desired. 

Look at that pretty heart that Julie made! I'd be smiling too if mine had looked that nice! (I did a heart, too, and it didn't.)

Susie told me that hers was "rather pear shaped." 

All too soon our tour came to an end 

and we headed back downstairs.

The candy shop and factory are in an old building downtown and the woodwork is gorgeous.

A view of the candy shop from the grand staircase... where Grammy and Boompa treated everyone to some yummy homemade candy.

As for Abby, I may give her one of the McCord's candy canes instead of the usual ones I get at the store.

Maybe.