My Kind of Dance Recital

Pony Pal Mila's dance school recently held a recital and Mila invited me to come watch her perform. After the show was over, we decided to take some pictures behind the auditorium. 

When we stepped outside the building, I saw EXACTLY where I wanted my picture with Mila to be taken.

Right by the looks-like-a-fighting-stallion statue!

A dancing pony pal and a pseudo Fighting Stallion? That's my kind of recital!

Another Unicorn - Stardust

I bought another unicorn. I really, really, REALLY dislike unicorns but when a Pony Pal loves them with all her heart, I will buy her a unicorn.

The occasion was a very late Christmas celebration with Local Son Curt and his family. Despite being vaccinated and boosted, his family had had two go-rounds with the Omicron variant so we only just were able to gather last weekend. 

Pony Pal Mila was very excited to open Stardust, Breyer's unicorn styling head. You can see she has already bejeweled Stardust's face.

Sparkly jewels, pink coloring, long hair to play with, all on a unicorn are guaranteed to make Mila happy. (Here she is, sparkly herself, for a dance recital just before we opened gifts.)

As long as Mila and the other Pony Pals love unicorns, I will keep buying them. Because seeing the joy on their faces when they open that new unicorn makes me happy, too.

Kentucky Derby Time!

It's Derby day! At last! I am not a huge racing fan, but I almost always watch the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes. And this year, since I am recovering from surgery and can't do a lot of other things, I've had time to do a little research on the horses who will be running.

I'm rooting for Hidden Stash who is facing a tough field. His trainer, Vicki Oliver, is the only female trainer with a horse in the field, and odds are 50-1 at this writing, an indicator that the colt is not expected to win. But that's okay - he's a pretty boy who reminds me of Man o'War. 

I've hung my horseshoe wreath on the front door in preparation for the big day,

and the red roses my kids got me post-op are displayed along with my Kentucky Derby glasses. 

Pony Pal Mila (dropping by after dance class) loves my Derby glasses, especially since they are all from the birth years of my kids (1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985, and 1988.)

Finding her dad's glass (1985) is a real thrill for her.

The antique player piano is also decorated for the Kentucky Derby - that's my carpet herd Man o'War with some Kentucky Derby salt and pepper shakers on the top tier. The second tier has a real horseshoe from Churchill Downs with turf dirt in it. It was taken off a racehorse that ran there, and was a gift from my friend Liz Cory. Finally, the painted metal racehorses are from a vendor at a Great Lakes Congress show.

Later today Teacher Daughter Lisa and Pony Pal Mila are coming over to watch the race with me. We will eat some Kentucky Derby Pie and drink peppermint tea as we watch.

It's going to be fun!

A True Horse Girl

 A true horse girl will always find the horse. Doesn't matter if it is when she is reading a book, watching TV, driving in a car - if there is a horse, she will find it.

That pile of Duplos in the foreground are ones the Pony Pal Mila has sorted out of the tub and moved into "her" pile.

Sorting through the tub and snagging all the horses? I'd say that that's more evidence that Pony Pal Mila is a true horse girl.

NaMoPaiMo: My Pony Pal Paints!

Finally! Our schedules meshed and Pony Pal Mila came over and painted her NaMoPai Mo horse!

But first, she gave Boompa and me a Valentine bouquet of flowers that she had made with her mama. Aren't they pretty?

Mila was so excited to have her own unicorn to paint. (Notice that she is wearing a dress covered in unicorns.)

We put an old tee shirt over her pretty dress and she got to work.

It was really interesting to watch her work - she knew what she wanted and how to make that happen. 

That surprised me, but it really should not have. Mila's mama, Vanessa, is an artist and does a lot of art activities with the kids. Mila was very familiar with painting.

Silver hooves and a pink and purple body began shaping up. At this point I was wishing I had let Mila use my own paintbrushes instead of the one that came with the kit. 

It took her quite a while until she was happy with her horse and set it aside to dry. And then, she eyed the other Breyer craft kit horses I had in my tub and asked, "Grammy, can I paint those, too?"

Absolutely, sweet girl! So Mila painted the foal (by now we had pulled out all my paints and she was using those),

and both warmbloods, one in buff and cream,

and the other in red and green. (I really liked that one.)

She was so proud of her horses and insisted I take a photo of both sides of each one.

Her choice in colors was really interesting to me - Mila did not try for realistic colors.

But in her world of unicorns and princesses, there are a lot of bright, unrealistic colors, so her choices made sense from that perspective.

She was even more excited when she realized that I was going to let her keep her all those newly painted models.

Mila, you are a NaMoPaiMo winner - congratulations on completing the challenge!

NaMoPaiMo: I Have Begun!

This is year five for NaMoPaiMo and it has snowballed during that time period - this year there are 1,173 participants from 27 countries!

Using the grid approach again, I found myself (orange circle, top tight) and Pony Pal Mila (orange circle, top left) in the collage Jennifer Buxton made of those who'd sent in their selfie with a nudie photos. (Thanks for letting me post your grid, Jennifer!)

I had really wanted to begin painting my NaMoPaiMo horse with Pony Pal Mila but we haven't been able to get together. Since yesterday marked the end of week one for the event and with only three weeks to go, I decided I'd start without her.

I was using Melanie Miller's formula for brown based black but I didn't have two of the colors she recommended. It shouldn't matter much if I subbed Burnt Sienna for Burnt Umber and Pyrrole Red for Pyrrole Scarlet, right? (Oh, but it did as I soon found out.)

I selected the brushes that I wanted to begin with and some toothpicks for stirring.

Two parts and a smidge Burnt Sienna, two parts Ultramarine Blue, and one part Pyrrole Red.

The swapped out colors didn't seem to matter after I stirred the paints together with a toothpick. That looked pretty black to me.

Until I actually put it on my model, and that was NOT the black I thought I'd made.

It's a pretty color, but not the color I was trying for.

I did have some unopened Burnt Umber from a Breyer craft kit, so I tried again. I also subbed Magenta for the Pyrrole Red. This time, the color was closer to what I had in mind, but there was a definite purple feel to it. (Which doesn't show well in this photo.)

I was getting frustrated and decided to take a break. The white marker that I'd ordered for my mini barn had arrived, and so I rinsed out my paintbrushes and switched from NaMoPaiMo painting to barn raising.

That went really well, and I will post about that soon.

Stay 'tooned!

NaMoPaiMo: From Pony Pal to Painting Pal

The last day to sign up for NaMoPaiMo is tomorrow. Entries close at midnight and the event officially begins Monday. I'm not yet signed up - I'll take care of that later this afternoon. But someone else is. Can you guess?

If you said Pony Pal Mila, you are correct. She is ready to go and in the coming weeks she and I will be getting together to paint ponies!

 

Knowing how she loves unicorns, I bought her one of the Breyer Unicorn Paint & Play kits for the event.

It will be interesting to see how she paints her unicorn as Mila seems to have an aptitude for art. This is a picture she drew last fall of Pepper in harness guiding her former partner, Sarah, on a very windy day.

Not bad for a three year old. She even got Pepper's harness correct - it's squared off like it should be. (I love how she drew those doggy ears!)

Pepper guiding Sarah on graduation day when Sarah received her Doctor of Divinity degree.

As for me, I have narrowed my choices down but haven't made a final decision. I have a couple of  Stablemates prepped but I'm still not sure of the breed and color I want to do.

From going with me to the barn to looking at my collection (and her infamous question of "Grammy, can I have this when you're dead?"), Pony Pal Mila really does seem to have that horsey gene and I am excited to find yet another way to spend time with her and share my love of horses.

This is going to be fun.

The Horsey Gene Surfaces

In the 1980s, we were living in Illinois and I had a half Arab gelding named Indabab's Image, or Indy for short. (Oh, how I loved that connection back to my home state of Indiana!)

My birthday cake with me and Indy - thanks, Mom!

Indy was a big part of my life but when I became pregnant with our sixth child, I could no longer give him the time and attention he deserved. So, I brought him back to Indiana where I sold him to a friend who I knew would give him good care.

Over Thanksgiving weekend I began sorting through a tub stuffed with photos that my parents had been saving.  I came across this one of me with Indy that I don't recall ever seeing.

May, 1985 is written on the back, and I recognize that maternity blouse - I was pregnant with our fifth child, Local Son Curt.

Curt's introduction to horses from the earliest days of his life did not lead to any horsiness in him.

But it seems to have skipped a generation, and for the first time EVER, one of my grands has Breyer horses on her Christmas wish list! 

Any guesses as to who might have put that on her list?

If you guessed Pony Pal Mila, then you are right!

(Photo from Breyer website.)

I've got an Aurora all wrapped and ready to give her Christmas morning. 

The December 5 Advent Calendar reveal:

Another horse! This time a foal.