It is Hard to Say Goodbye

Second Post of the Day

Our baby barn swallows have fledged. I've seen them a time or two, flitting around the yard or landing on the roof, and they are doing well.

Look at that little chonk on the left! Mama and Papa did a great job of feeding those two!

I'm happy they have made it thus far, but I really miss them. For weeks, every time I went up or down the stairs, I had paused to check the nest. 

And now they are gone and all is quiet. I miss watching the little family.

Best of luck, little barn swallows. I hope you or your parents come back again next summer and have another clutch! 

I'm going to miss Nan, too. We've been next door neighbors for 19 years, the back door knocking, trading house keys, sitting on the porch and chatting kind of neighbors.

Pepper and Tammo love her. Pepper has been known to trot over to Auntie Nan's back door and peek in through the glass to see if Nan is there and might have anything to eat. Cheeky girl! But Nan loves that kind of doggie behavior and returns their affection.

Back porch chatting and feeding pups treats was something Nan loved.

The day that Mama FINALLY approached and accepted a treat was a big day for Nan and for us all.

Nan's husband Bob died a year ago after a struggle with cancer, and so Nan is downsizing and moving to Indy to live closer to her daughter. It's the right choice for Nan, but gosh, it is hard to say good-bye.

They say that back door neighbors are the best, and I can attest to that. (Not sure that over the front door birdie neighbors are the same, but still!)

Best of luck, Nan. I'm glad you will be closer to Ellie and wish you all the best in your new home. 

BreyerFest Week Tuesday - NAN and Other Things

First Post of the Day

BreyerFest officially is listed as Friday, July 10 - Sunday, July 12, and is three days away, but the BreyerFest Open Model Horse Show runs Thursday through Friday at the North Expo Center. So, things are already happening as we get ready for the hobby's best weekend of the year! Here are some of them.

~ Breyer's event team left New Jersey for Kentucky on July 1 and is onsite in the Kentucky Horse Park getting set up.

~ The 2026 BreyerFest app has dropped. 

 It's free and useful for both on-site as well as virtual BreyerFesters.

~ NAN has completed its first day of competition

The 2026 championship medallions by Solstice Studio/Becky Turner.

Shannon Rodgers sent me this picture of her Top Ten winning entry last night. I've seen this piece in person several times and it is gorgeous. Congrats, Shannon!

~ The Clarion has begun to fill up despite that it is currently undergoing remodeling. There has been a big kerfuffle on social media due to a hobbyist who had arrived early and begun posting misinformation about the Clarion, the shape it was in, and how management "did not want us there." Things calmed down as more folks arrived and shared their own posts and photos with correct information about the remodeling situation and that, yes, we are welcome in the Clarion.

~ Another Where's Flinka from Breyer's Instagram account has been posted.

I don't know Scandinavia very well so I have no idea where these pictures are being taken, but I think it is a cool idea! (And I REALLY like Flinka!)

Just three days until BreyerFest officially opens!

Stay 'tooned!

My BreyerFest History: 1995

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BreyerFest 1995

It is difficult to know where to begin in recording the events of BreyerFest 1995. So much was happening that year! It was again held at the end of the month on July 28 - 30. 

First, my dear friend, Kathy, came with me, and that upped the fun right then and there. There is still no one I'd rather go model horsing with than Kat! She's one of those friends where your voice gets hoarse when you are together because you are talking so much.

Then, NAMHSA held the very first North American Nationals (NAN) there in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn North. That will be covered in another post coming soon (and probably tomorrow.)

Mego on the Adios mold was the dinner/celebration model and 3,000 were produced. (Notice how that number is ramping up as the event grows.) The real Mego was a trick horse who also appeared in the television show, Walker, Texas Ranger, where he was ridden by actor Chuck Norris. Current value of the model is $40 - $50.

There were no special runs offered, not even keychains again, but there were 71 auction lots. 

If I could change one thing from my days at the early BreyerFests, it would be that I would have stayed in the Holiday Inn/CHIN at least once. But I could always find cheaper motels elsewhere and so I did. Hindsight!

Years later, I tried and tried to get a room at the CHIN but I never did. Staying there during BreyerFest is on my bucket list, but I doubt I will ever do another BreyerFest in person again so most likely it's just a dream. Ah, well.

Next up? The inaugural NAN, and that topic spans two posts.

Stay 'tooned!

Tammo Eases Some Grief

First Post of the Day

Yesterday morning I was with the dogs in the back yard when my next door neighbor Nan came out onto her patio with her daughter, Ellie, and began walking toward me.

"This may be bad news," I thought. And I was right.

After a long battle with cancer, Nan's husband Bob had been in home hospice care for about a month and so when Ellie and her brother Dan's cars had been parked in the driveway overnight, I suspected that I knew what Nan wanted to tell me.

Tammo, Bob, and Nan had really liked each other. More than once when they were sitting out on their patio, Tammo had gone gleefully running over for a visit. He was always welcomed and got lots of pets and scritches. "Don't worry about it!" they'd say as I'd come over to retrieve him. "We love Tammo!"

Nan on our patio last August feeding treats to the dogs.

For years she'd been trying to get shy Molly to accept one, and that day it finally happened. Nan was thrilled and so were we.

"Bob died this morning," Nan said softly. We hugged and then she knelt down and something unexpected happened. She began hugging Tammo and telling Ellie how much she loved him, that if we ever had to give him away, she wanted him, what a nice dog he was, etc.

Then she turned to me and said through her tears, "I really need some Tammo hugs today" and that good boy sat there and let her grieve over him.

"I need a Tammo hug, too," Ellie said suddenly. And she knelt down and together the two woman grieved their loss while holding onto Tammo.

Tammo may not be a trained service dog like Pepper, but that doesn't mean he isn't empathetic or can't sense when he is needed. That sweet boy seemed to sense their grief, their need to hold him, and he loved on them right back, bringing smiles through their tears.

It was beautiful to watch, and I am so glad that Tammo was able to help ease Nan and Ellie's grief for a few moments. 

Tammo and Nan on a walk down by the lake last summer.

Thank you, Tammo. You are a very sweet and kind boy. It's no wonder you are loved by so many people. You did something good today, something that Nan and Ellie will never forget. 

Neither will I. Good boy.

Time is Flying!

 And the heat continues.

As predicted, it got up to 97 yesterday and that made for another hibernation day.

Craig and I walk the dogs around 9:00 every morning. Normally we don't run into too many people at that time and have the neighborhood park to ourselves. But with this heat, lots of people are exercising their dogs or walking and jogging earlier than usual.

Yesterday morning we ran into our next door neighbor, Nan, down at the pavilion watching a pair of Great Egrets who were fishing in the lake.

Nan and Bob love the dogs and even come out of their home to pet them when they see the dogs out in our back yard. Tammo loves them right back and has been known to ignore our calls and gallop over to their home when he sees them appear. Needless to say, he was delighted to see Nan at the park!

Hibernation due to the heat means I am getting a lot of sewing for the Feast completed. 

Last week I got a new, updated pattern for pinner aprons that better reflects current historical research. I love how it stitched up.

18th century bib aprons did not tie around the neck like modern aprons; they were pinned to the bodice with steel straight pins at each top corner of the bib.

After selling 18th century block prints for 30 years, Leslie's supplier in India knows her well and once in a while sends her something new that he is trying.

In July he sent her this new block print fabric to try. Leslie passed the fabric on to me and I am working on a men's voyageur shirt to see how it looks when made into a garment. So far I really like how it is turning out.

After this shirt, I need to make one more men's shirt and then I will move on to new shirts for Ian and Lukas. They've grown enough that their original shirts from two years ago are getting a little small.

Lukas doesn't really care about fit - he loves his voyageur shirt so much that he wears it to church and to school.

I hope he likes the next one just as much. (I may use the elephant block print for his shirt.)

There are just 39 days until Feast. I waffle between feeling like I am in good shape and then feeling overwhelmed with all I want to accomplish. Timeline-wise, I should have the men's shirts, boys shirt, and two bed gowns completed by September 14. I'd like to make Mila a new dress, too, which puts me at September 18. 

That's two weeks before set-up on the grounds begin, so I should be okay sewing-wise. Then, there's finding time for the 100 blackened beeswax ornaments I need to make... 

Yeesh!!  Time is flying!

BreyerFest Week: NAN & More

The choice has been made, and to my surprise, it is not Gawain.

Pony Pal Susie chose Cosmus! It was a surprise but not a surprise, either. Because she had been so delighted with Gawain, I based my guess on that. But, she had also spent a lot of time looking at Cosmus - it seems it was the "wings that can fly" (she could make them flap) that were the decision maker.

Susie's name is now on his tag and Cosmus will be passed onto her when the time comes.

Today is the third and final day of NAN. Because I have been busy with family, I have only caught bits and pieces of it on social media, Fortunately, Shannon Call and Shannon Rodgers have sent me some pictures and given me permission to share them here. 

From Shannon Call:

This year's NAN cookies are so lovely!

The Top Ten ribbons.

The show hall. (Back in the BreyerFest host hotel again after many years elsewhere.)

Shannon C's NAN show string.

Top Ten in North America!

Two Top Tens and a North American Nationals champion!

Top Ten!

Top Ten and North American Champion!

Top Ten and North American Champion!

And another! (I love this mold.)

Shannon C. will be volunteering at today's NAN and this is her volunteer thank you gift.

From Shannon Rodgers:

Her show table displaying ribbons she's won.

Shannon loves green and a year or so ago asked me to make her a show tablecloth from that fabric for her. (I believe she also uses it on her antique dining room table, too.)

Top Ten!

I saw this last model when he made his show ring debut at Great Lakes Congress and he is fabulous!

An Appaloosa circus horse? Oh yes!! It is one of the most beautiful customs I have ever seen.

Thanks, ladies, for letting me use your pictures. And if any of you are at NAN (or in the CHIN or at the KHP) and would like to share pictures here like they did, please do! Send them to horsiemama8@gmail.com.

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The July Give Way is going on! Information on entering is below.  As for what I am giving away, I am keeping that a surprise, just as Breyer is doing. I thought that it would be fun to mirror the Mystery Surprise Horse here on the blog.

To win the Mystery Blog Surprise, you need to guess Breyer's Mystery Surprise Horse. Or at least try. Here's how it works:

1) You may guess on every blog post that I publish beginning today, Tuesday, July 9 through Friday morning, July 12 at 8:00 AM Eastern time. Your guesses can vary - they do not need to be the same every time. One guess per blog entry, please.

2) When we find out who the model is Friday morning, I will take all correct guesses and spin to win.

3) If no one has guessed correctly, then all people who made a guess will be entered, once for each guess, and I will spin to win.

Easy Peasy!

BreyerFest Week: Showing at NAN

Showing at NAN is quite the experience - in some ways it is like every other live show while in others it is hugely different. The largest model horse show in the world, NAN is held over the course of three days and has hundreds of participants and thousands of models entered. 

Here's look back at NAN, 2014. 

Wednesday Craig and I drove to Lexington, Kentucky for the 19th North American Nationals (NAN).

 

Kentucky - a place after my own heart. Where else can I get my favorite drink out of a vending machine with a horse on it??

We ate a late dinner in The Horseshoe, the restaurant next to the motel. Only one other table had customers, and as I glanced over at it, one of the women sitting there looked up and our eyes met. It was Karen Beeson, a long time hobby friend who had attended the University of Illinois! And with her was Chris Wallbruch, another U of I alum, hobby friend, and fellow teacher! I hadn't seen either gal in at least ten years - who'd have thought??

We had a nice chat, and they gave me some tips for showing at NAN the next day. I was disappointed that they would not be there, but they'd shown on the previous two days of the show and needed to get back to Chicago and their families. (The third day of NAN was for china, resin, and collectibility classes.)

The next morning we drove to Heritage Hall/Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington and got in line to be admitted to the show.

I'd shown at the inaugural NAN in 1995 and the third one in 1997, so I was a bit rusty at showing on the national level. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous, although I did not have high expectations of winning much - 212 people were entered along with 5,600+ pieces over the three days of the show.

The show hall was massive and sprawling, with 23 tables (rings) for exhibiting.

It was a very well-run and organized show and a volunteer manned a whiteboard where classes that had been called were posted, their status as to whether entries were being loaded or if the class was closed, and which ring the class was in. I took my clipboard and entry list up there more than once just to keep track of where my pieces were going.

My show string for this year's NAN.

That's Kristina Lucas Francis in the green, a friend from Tennessee and a sculptor for Breyer and Disney (she did some of the The Nightmare before Christmas Christmas ornaments), and other commercial companies as well as her own sculpting. (She specializes in horses and dinosaurs.) It was fun having her nearby and getting to chat throughout the show.

Another good friend, Beth Dickinson, who I have known since we became pen pals in 1971, was also in attendance. She works for Hershey and brought me some special chocolates to try. Thanks, Beth!

Classes started being called at 8:00 AM.

My Breyer Icelandic and my HR Misty.

My North Light Welsh Pony.

My Lakeshore Belgian Warmblood and my Cheval Friesian (he won two Top Tens, one for Breed and one for Collectibility.)

My HR Sherif, a piece that usually does very well at shows. I found it for $6 at an auction in Fairbury, Illinois in the early 1990s. It's from the 1950s and has exceptionally nice detail which is why it often wins the classes in which it is entered.

I thought it might Top Ten, but to my surprise it was Reserve National Champion in Breed!

And my other surprise was when my HR donkey foal, Harry Potter, also was Reserve National Champion in its Breed class!

The show wrapped up in the early afternoon, and so we were home by 7:30. 

I came home tired but happy, and still more than a bit surprised that I had had such a successful day.