"When a Bright Light Shines in Our Lives"

It dropped! The news story about Kathy winning the Helen Keller Achievement Award went live yesterday and so now I can not only show the video itself, but pictures from the interview.

Adjusting her mic and ready to go. We laughed that Kathy and Rachel twinned it. Not me; I was wearing green.

After interviewing her, Rachel wanted some shots of Kathy doing her everyday things such as making herself some coffee.

Rachel is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, hence the horseshoe tattoo.

I was interviewed next, not the first time Kathy has invited me to be interviewed with her. Once she and I were interviewed by reporters from e-BUSAN FM Radio in Korea who had flown over to the United States to talk to her.

We then moved into Kathy's office which is decorated with dolphins. Early in her teaching career, Kathy wrote a grant and spent a summer in Florida, studying (and diving with) dolphins. There is no end to what this woman can do!

Her old Braille machine is on the left, and her new, high tech one is just to the right of her chair. Rachel asked if she would demonstrate writing in Braille and Kathy suggested she use the old machine because you could actually see it working. 

I've watched her type in Braille in person and I've watched it several times in the video, but I still don't understand how she can make so many different symbols with so few keys. (There is a close up in the news story of the Braille that she typed.)

Last of all, Rachel wanted to film some footage of Tate and Kathy working together. 

They made several clips of the pair doing what they do so well together.

I filmed the filmer filming the filmees. Hah!

A big kiss from Tate when Kathy thanked him for his work. 

Here is the video in its final form. It's about two and a half minutes long.

Kathy left this morning for New York. Tonight she is seeing a Broadway show as a guest of the musical director for it, a former student of hers. She gets backstage access and will get to meet the cast and crew, too.

Then, tomorrow is the gala. Typical Kathy, five teenagers from the Indiana School for the Blind are her guests at the gala. She wants those kids to see what is possible and that blindness and vision loss don't mean that they can't make their own contributions in life.

It is because of that attitude of leading and giving back that Kathy has accomplished so much in her own life. As she said in the interview, 

"When bright light shines in our lives, it is not about us. It is about what we can do with that light in order to help others."

And that is Kathy's heart, right there. 

Well done and congratulations, dear friend.

 

A Big Change May Be Coming

Yesterday began very early for me. Kathy was on assignment from the Indiana Department of Education and heading out to observe two teachers who were finalists for Indiana's 2025 Teacher of the Year. She and another former Indiana Teacher of the Year were meeting at the halfway point between their homes in Kokomo and Kathy asked if I would drive her there to meet the other teacher.

I am always happy to give Kathy a ride. Kokomo is an hour away so that gave us lots of time to catch up as we drove. Icing on the cake? Tate came along, too!

I brought one of my sewing machines along - there is an excellent shop in Kokomo that services sewing machines, and my embroidery machine had not had a tune up for two years.

And... er... um... I may have bought myself a new sewing machine while I was there, too.

I have been using a Janome Memory Craft 3000 since 1999. I bought Hawkeye Sarah the same machine as a gift, fell in love with it myself, and bought me one, too. That was 26 years ago.

Here is a clue as to just how old my Janome is:

It was one of Janome's very first computerized machines! Now they all are and it is no big deal, but in 1999, that was a real selling point for this machine.

I have never regretted that purchase, and in the 26 years I've had it with countless hours of near-daily sewing, I have never, ever had a problem with it. Not. One. Single. Time. 

Until a few weeks ago.

I sat down, powered it up, slipped some fabric under the needle, and stepped on the foot pedal. There was a loud SCREECH and then the machine stitched normally the rest of that day.

The same thing happened the next morning - SCREECH and then sewing normally. And again and again. Now it is an expected part of beginning to sew every day.

I've looked at new sewing machines before, mostly out of curiosity, but I never bought another one because I liked my Janome 3000 so much. It's been a workhorse in every sense of the word.

But, since I was in the shop to drop off my embroidery machine, and because I know and trust the folks who run the shop, I asked about getting a new machine. I explained what I had and how reluctant I was to replace it, and, so they'd know what I might need, I told them about the constant sewing I do, mostly for 18th century events but for other things, too. 

Believe it or not, the Janome 3000 has been so reliable and such a best seller, that there is an updated iteration of it on the market. I looked at it and several others, and then I took the plunge and looked at the professional grade sewing machines. One was $30,000 - not for me! But several were more in my budget, and I sat down at one and discussed it with the owner of the shop.

I really liked it plus it was on sale, and the owner knocked the price down even more for me. I'm thinking about it and when I go back to Kokomo to pick up my embroidery machine, I'm going to take another look and let them know my decision.

In the meantime, I am using my Janome 3000 despite the initial screech when she starts up and it is still stitching things out beautifully.

Ian's shirt for this year's Feast. 

A trade shirt to sell in an unusual all-red block print.

The sleeve buttons in its sleeves.

Another just finished trade shirt

with sleeve buttons. (I am discontinuing the horn and bone buttons, although I will still put those on a shirt upon request.)

It feels a little sad to look at these and realize that they may be some of the last things I make on my Janome. I've created so much on it over the years - prom and bridesmaid gowns, jammies, clothing for the kids, quiet books, pillow cases, haversacks and 18th century clothing, wedding dress jackets and sashes, workshop items for Breyer, mending, alterations... the list goes on and on. (I've even made a Christmas jacket for Nacho, Kathy's previous guide dog, to wear to a holiday appearance!)

The decision is not yet final, but I am leaning towards buying that professional grade Janome machine. The possibilities of what I could do with it are so exciting.

Boy howdy, stay 'tooned on this one for sure!

Guide Dogs are Incredible

Second Post of the Day

Guide Dogs are incredible. They are attuned to their partners and form a very, very close bond with them. And when that partner needs some extra help, they take care of them well.

Kathy sent me this picture of herself with Tate yesterday. He is out of harness, and so that means he can play, meet and greet other people, and simply relax. Clearly he also takes that seriously, although at 100 lbs, snuggling into her lap ::OOF!!:: is a bit of a stretch! 

She recently posted this snippet on social media about a recent time where he took care of her. She knew something was up, but trusted Tate to keep her safe. It was only later when onlookers told her what had happened that she realized just how well he had cared for her.

Here is her account of the incident:

Good boy, Tate. Very, very good boy. 

And as I sit at my desk writing, I glance down at my own partner, retired for years, but who continues to stay close to me throughout the day every day, just in case I need her.

Like I said, Guide Dogs are incredible.

Lunch at a Small Town Pizzeria

I got together with two of my besties yesterday for lunch, Lisa and Kathy. Since Lisa moved to Indy last August and would have the longer drive to meet us, we chose to meet at a small town between Indy and West Lafayette that had a pizzeria with a reputation for really good food. (Which was very true - it was excellent.)

But, it was a small town and the restaurant physically reflected that. It was tiny with only three tables for seating.

And in walk a woman using a walker, another woman with an 84 pound guide dog, and a third woman who is holding doors for them all and helping to find a place to sit. We took up a quarter of the inside space just like that! 

We got settled at the table most out of the way so we wouldn't block the flow of people too badly, put my walker in a corner, and then Tate went under the table and immediately went to sleep. 

The staff didn't even blink at a bunch of non-locals coming in and taking over a good part of the restaurant. The service was excellent and the food delicious. The company was even better and we spent an hour and a half catching up and chatting. And when we were ready to leave, a staff member came over and took our picture for us.

Buck Creek Pizza at Dayton Station, you were the best. We will be back. Thank you!

Don't forget the Give Away! Post a comment on any blog entry published 5/19 - 5/21 to win the zippered Misty bag!

It's the Size of the Heart, Not the Body

Special Note: Don't miss the Breyer Second Chance sale today at 1:00 Eastern Time! It's for those who had VIP, All-Access, and Online tickets to this year's BreyerFest.

Ticket holders can purchase up to two Special Runs along with special, BreyerFest only, tee shirts, a mug, and other things.

I am looking for the crystal, Fortitude, so you can bet I have got my alarm set.

----

There are three Guide Dogs, all Labrador Retrievers, in this photo (and one something-doodle. Look closely.) All three who are trained to do the same thing, all who performed well and made differences in their partners' lives. And all very different size-wise. 

Pepper is quite petite for a Lab and is on the couch next to Marianne. Nacho is the yellow Lab on the bottom right. He is retired and lives with Marianne and Bill, Kathy's parents. Nacho is a medium sized Lab.

By Marianne's feet is Tate, Kathy's current Guide. And he is absolutely enormous.

Just look at that massive head!

Pepper and Tate nose to nose.

Kathy and Tate when they were first paired together.

Kathy and Nacho when he was her guide. He is brilliant and to watch him in action was, at times, jaw dropping. There were times Kathy had no idea what challenge he had guided her around or through until someone who had seen it happen told her.

Kathy, Nacho, and I being interviewed by Korean radio station eBUSAN-FM. Culturally, blind people and others with disabilities are not considered as someone who can contribute much to Korean society. 

Interested in exploring that and maybe even changing that perception, the radio station was doing a series investigating how other cultures treated their disabled. They had flown two reporters to the USA to interview Kathy about being a teacher who was blind. I was invited to offer my perspective as her colleague.

Nacho, of course, did his usual exceptional job of getting Kathy there for the interview. He made a striking impression on the interviewers as to what a Guide could and would do in facilitating a blind person's abilities and empowering them for the work force.

Originally this blog post was going to be a humorous look at the size difference between the three dogs. But as I wrote, I was struck again at how much these three dogs, regardless of their physical size, have contributed - both to the person they were partnered with and to those that their partner impacted in turn.

In Kathy's case, it was hundreds of high school students early in her career, and then later it has been as she oversees, instructs, and mentors 75 - 100 new teachers annually. Both Nacho and Tate facilitated that along with Elias and several other Guides before them.

Kathy and Elias at the White House after meeting with President Obama (and Bo, who shared his water bowl with Elias.)

For Pepper, she enabled Sarah to get her doctorate in divinity and become a minister, then guided her as she ministered to her congregation at her church. 

Pepper meeting Sarah's mother, Cindy for the first time. 

More than once Pepper has gotten all "guide-doggy" with me. "The smoke alarm is ringing; get out of the house!" "There is a car coming and you are too slow to beat it across the street so I am going to stand in front of you so you can't move forward. There, it's passed by us. You may cross the street, Lynn."

Clearly, the size of the Guide doesn't matter - it's the heart they have and how much they love and want to protect their partner from harm.

Guide dogs' hearts are huge. They make a difference in many, many ways. How lucky our society is to have them out and about, making life better. And not just for their partner, but for us all.

As Kathy once said, "Two (feet) + Four (paws) = 1 (heart.)

How right she was.

Sick

I'm not feeling well this morning. I got up and took my friend Kathy to the clinic at 7:00 this morning and when I came home after her appointment, I was feeling quite ill. Luckily Kathy and I were both masked up so I am hopeful she will not get sick, too.

Getting to sit with Tate in the waiting room is always a plus when I take her to the clinic! I don't pet him or interact with him because he is still in harness and working, but with him under my chair, my ankles and legs get a little Tate contact!

Anyway, no post today - I'm going back to bed.

Stay 'tooned for that post on the Freeman Leidy mystery tomorrow or maybe even Thursday depending on how long I feel so sick.

.

A Morning with Models/An Afternoon with Kathy

There was even MORE rain yesterday (and it is spattering against my window as I type this morning) but I still got a lot accomplished.

The morning was a model horse one coupled with some sewing. I got the show drape for Midwest Mini Mayhem finished and ready for a final pressing.

Shannon asked for blue and I had several shades in stock. Thinking of those teeny, tiny models and how hard they can be to see, I went for a lighter one. I recorded all measurements in one of my sewing sketchbooks (where I draw diagrams and figure out measurements when I am drafting a pattern) as I've learned that you never know when you might be asked to revisit a project and make it again.

Breyer Boot Camp is getting ready to begin. Entries are being accepted and the galleries open for entry April 26. That's when my work begins; I am one of the stewards for this show.

Liz Cory and Jamie Rott have been introducing the judges and the stewards on the Breyer Boot Camp Facebook page and my turn came up.

I will be stewarding the OF Foals and OF Light Divisions this year. It's a lot of fun and something I can do from home any hour of the day. If I find an entrant has made an error in the formatting of their entry or put their model in the wrong class, then I work with the shower to get their entry corrected and ready to be judged. 

Just before lunch, I hopped in my car and drove around the corner to pick up my friend, Kathy, and her guide, Tate. She had been invited to come to Kentland, Indiana and speak at the elementary school there about guide dogs, asking me to join her.

I've driven her to speaking engagements many times, and while she uses Tate to get around safely, my role is to do what Tate cannot - tell her where the microphone is, how close she is to the audience, when the audience is coming in and about how big it is, and more. I also make sure she has a chair if one is not provided, watch her purse and coat if she asks, and keep my eyes open if other dogs are around.

The school was having a "Doggy Day" and had invited other service, therapy, and performing dogs to visit throughout the day. A group of dogs were in the gym on the other side of ours and we could occasionally hear that group barking while Kathy spoke.

Chill guide that he is, Tate was unfazed by their noise, even when one handler opened the door, walked her dog through the gym while Kathy was speaking, then proceeded to walk back through and out!

Kathy could tell that another dog was in the room and turned and asked me about it. I confirmed that there was and reassured her that I had been keeping an eye on it. Tate had seen the other dog, too, but he continued to ignore it. (I once saw the handler of a therapy dog ignore Kathy's repeated requests to keep her therapy dog back because Nacho was in harness and working. A distracted guide compromises Kathy's own safety. That handler boldly ignored those requests because "my dog needs to meet other dogs. It's good for him." It was incredibly thoughtless and very irresponsible.) 

 

Anyway! She first spoke with a large group of first and second graders and then one of fourth and fifth graders. 

I think it was quite eye opening for the students to see a guide dog work but also to discover that Kathy was a teacher despite her blindness. The older group asked her some very well thought out questions about how she was able to call on kids if she could not see their hands up, what Tate did while she taught, how she got around her classroom safely, etc.

After her second presentation, Kathy and Tate had a very touching and meaningful moment. A fifth grade girl was in the audience, and, just as had happened to Kathy at the same age, she was losing her eyesight and would eventually be totally blind. Her teacher asked if we could stay and meet her.

E's face lit up when Kathy came over and sat down on the bleacher next to her.

While Kathy did a lot of listening, she also answered a lot of E's questions about being blind. E was learning to read Braille and had attended a summer camp at the Indiana School for the Blind, but she was still very new to the process of losing her vision.

Kathy took Tate's harness off so that E could pet and explore him. I didn't get a picture of it, but he licked her hand, smothering it in kisses (which delighted E.)

Always, always teaching and aware of the needs of the students around her, Kathy had E help her figure out the gift the school gave her to thank her for coming. (Kathy is reading the Braille on the tee shirt in this photo.)

Using her new Braille skills, E told her that it was a heart with the alphabet in Braille running around its perimeter. It was a really cool gift and, as Kathy said, "I can't tell one tee shirt from another in my drawer at home. But I'll always know when I am wearing this one!"

 Traveling with Kathy is always awesome. We taught together before I retired, we are neighbors, and she is one of my closest friends. Never does she fail to leave a place better than it was before she came - that's just the kind of person she is.

But to watch her reach out to E, engage her in a successful activity like that, and offer her a vision of life where blindness is not a detriment, where life can be full and happy, and show her by example that there are opportunities that may look like hurdles but that can be overcome...

Kathy made a big difference in someone's life that afternoon. 

And I was lucky to be present and witness it unfold.

Kathy's "Beginners" & Her Blue Horse

Like so many of us, Kathy Bateman's collection began with a gift. For her, this gift was from a very special lady. She writes,

And here are the horses that started my collection. Sent to me by my

great grandmother when I was about 6 years old. 

The one with the rider has JAPAN inscribed in the grass on the back side, the others have no makers mark.

She and I agree that the red one looks like it might be from the Art Deco period. As I looked at it as I write, it occurred to me that it might be a bakelite piece. The time periods for both overlap, so maybe?

(If anyone has information on these pieces, please post it in the comments or email it to me at horsiemama8@gmail.com. I'll see that Kat gets it. Thanks.)

Then there is her beautiful blue horse. The first decorator I ever saw in-hand, he was a beautifully shaded wedgewood with pinking and hoof pads.

Another piece Kat received in childhood, here is his story from her.

I had a good friend in the house behind us across the alley, Ricky. He was a year younger than me. I was a tomboy and we would play with cars or army men or whatever in the rock driveway, smoothing out roads and such. 

Well, one day we were playing cowboys or wild horses or something and he came out with the most beautiful model horse that I had ever seen ! A shiny, realistic palomino stallion rearing up on his hind legs. That deep color with gorgeous shading. I was beyond smitten. 

When we were done playing I went home and told my mother all about this wonderful horse and how much I *really, Really, REALLY* needed to have one ! (As an aside, I don't know if Ricky's sister ever knew that her horse was out "in the field" but it never made another appearance outside). 

Christmas morning I open a present and there is the Fighting Stallion ! But, but he's blue. Whoever heard of a blue horse  and he has these stupid foam pads on his hooves. Even at that age I knew to be gracious but I was sooooo disappointed. So he just stayed on the shelf and never got to come out and play. 

Then I met Lynn and Blue Thunder finally got to strut his stuff at shows and was featured one year in JAH as a winner in a photo show. He is no longer a part of my herd but I keep an old, dark honey glossy FS as a reminder.

And in all fairness, I know that my mother talked to Ricky's mother about the horse and can only imagine that when she went to buy it, all they had was the blue and she just hoped that it would be good enough.

How many of us who were collecting during Breyer's early years received a horse as a gift and had a similar reaction to Kathy's? I did - when my dad got me a woodgrain Running Foal after I got my braces on, I, too, "knew to be gracious," but I did wonder at that coloring!

There is still a little more to Blue Thunder's story and that is that I offered to buy him. I was throwing newspapers to earn money for our big family, and I could not offer a lot, but I offered Kat what was a huge sum of money to me, $75.

Almost immediately, I felt badly about that offer. While it was a lot of money to me at the time, I knew that there were hobbyists who could pay Kathy much more for Blue Thunder. She was still very new to the formal hobby and I was being unfair in not telling her that. 

So, I did tell her that he was worth far more than I had offered for him and he remained in her collection for some time after that. He came to shows with us and did well both in live and photo shows. It was always fun to see her unpack him, set him on the table, and see how people reacted to that beautiful, blue boy.

I learned a big lesson from that experience, one that still guides my actions today - a friend is far more important than a model horse.

Kat, thanks for letting me share about our friendship and your beautiful collection. Most of all, thanks for the gift of a life long friendship. How grateful I am that my old newspaper route brought us together. Who'd a'thought, right??

Not Being Sighted Leads to Seeing

This is not my usual sort of post and has nothing to do with horses. Tomorrow we will get back to ponies. 

As part of the celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday, my friend Kathy and I went to my old school and read to a couple of classrooms on Friday. We had a lot of fun together and afterward decided to go get lunch before I returned her to her own school.

Kathy was giving me some information I did not need to have as we made our plans and I was a little puzzled. Suddenly, she stopped mid sentence and said, "Oh, my goodness! I forgot you could see!"

We both laughed and then went on making our plans, this time with her remembering that I was sighted and how that affected our plans a bit.

I've been mulling that over in my mind ever since. It reminded me of when Kathy was the 2015 Indiana Teacher of the Year and had just been named one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. CBS Evening News sent Chip Reid to Indiana to do a story on her and during that interview, he asked her if there was an advantage to being blind as a teacher. 

Listen to what she says:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teacher-who-is-blind-sees-students-for-who-they-really-are/

Did you catch it? Kathy finds that not being sighted is an advantage as she teaches and allows her to better connect with her students. Why? Because she can't see them to judge them.

But there is another lesson that I see, too, one that is meaningful to me right now  - how adversity can be a strength.

I've had some health challenges lately, ones that can even pop up suddenly and wipe me out for hours at a time, changing my plans for the day. I've been frustrated, I've felt sick, I've had to back out of doing things that I said I would, and I've even been a little scared once or twice.

I'm doing a lot of thinking on how I can turn my own adversity, as Kathy did, into a positive. Her forgetting that I was sighted helped me realize that I had changed how I perceived myself, with far too much emphasis on the "I don't feel well" aspect. Yes, I have some health challenges, but there is far more to me than that. And looking back, I can see that I have begun to let feeling ill overshadow much of what I do. That is not what I want.

Coming to that realization is a good first step in changing that adversity into a strength.

On the Run

I'm writing this morning and feeling better but not 100% yet. Those TIA symptoms coupled with the migraines are still causing trouble. I've started having tremors in my hands and I can't hit the correct keys when typing  - it is a mess. And if it happens when I am sewing, my fingers turn into pincushions, I stab myself so much. I've had a lot more testing done with a neurologist and they still don't know what is causing all this. 

(Bragging rights for having the Russell Viper Venom Screen as one of my tests, right? My kids thought I was kidding them when I told them about that test, but I'd anticipated their response and had taken a photo of the orders from the doctor to show them.)

Anyway! 

This week is Dr. Seuss's birthday and many schools celebrate with a week of literacy. I've been asked to go into two schools and read to a couple of classrooms.

Wednesday (before I got so sick with that migraine) I went to Teacher Daughter Lisa's school so Pepper could listen to students in her classroom read to her. (Pay no attention to that tennis ball!)

Afterward Lisa taught her students about what a guide dog does and let them ask questions about Pepper.

Today, I am going back to the school where I used to teach. Another teacher, my friend Kathy, is coming with me and we will read together. Kathy transcribed the book Because Amelia Smiled by David Ezra Stein into braille, and she will read while I hold the book and point out things of note on the pages. 

Kathy, her guide Nacho, and me, ready to go to a speaking engagement. We do a lot of teaching together, even though I am now retired. (She taught high school but is now in administration and is responsible for the training and support of teachers new to the corporation.)

Pepper being read to last May by a second grade class that had written poems about dogs. Kathy and I brought Nacho, Tate, and Pepper in so the dogs could hear their poems.

Kathy and I taught together many times when I was still in the classroom, and now we have fun going back into schools together. When we bring Pepper and Nacho or Tate, it is even more fun!

So, I'm a bit on the run today and don't have as much time as usual to write. But (fingers crossed) I won't get another migraine like that last one for a while and the blog won't be interrupted like that again.

Stay 'tooned!