BreyerFest Loot: My Favorite Piece

My favorite of all of Breyer's offerings for BreyerFest surprised me. A classic mold? Never!

But I fell in love with Black Forest the first time his picture was posted.

His box was beautifully done, too.

Depending on your point of view, he has a pink number 6 or a partial quotation mark on his nose.

And his body is the old dark charcoal/almost black from back in the day with some red undertones. Pair that with high gloss and a cranberry mane and tail and he is simply stunning.

Like a lot of the models being produced now, one of his hooves isn't totally on the ground but that's no biggie to me.

Black Forest is a nice complement to Red Velvet and Cupcake, two other models I never thought I'd like let alone buy, but for some reason, the quirkiness of all three appeals to me.

Black Forest is going to be displayed for a while with his other cake counterparts. And I sure hope Breyer makes some more of these cake-themed models because I am all in.

More BreyerFest loot tomorrow. Stay 'tooned!

The Red Pony

I love to read, so much so that I always have at least one book in progress (and often two.) I especially love classic literature,  so when I found this classic book about my favorite animal and illustrated by a well-loved equine illustrator, I snagged it. ($6! Yay!)

 The Red Pony by John Steinbeck.

This book belonged to someone lucky enough to have his own bookplates! (I always wanted a set of those but never had any.)

The 1945 edition of The Red Pony was the first to have illustrations, and equine artist Wesley Dennis was selected to do the job.

There are some smaller illustrations interspersed throughout the book, but this edition also has special pages that are full sized and have no text on the back.

People used to cut these out of  books with a knife and frame them. Honestly, I am tempted - if I had a second copy of this edition, I just might do it!

The red pony is named Gabilan. One of my carpet herd horses is named that, but I had not remembered where I'd gotten the name. I'd searched once and found a mountain range called the Gabilan Range (presumably where Steinbeck got the name for the pony) but I did not find a connection to this book years ago when I searched. Now I know. 

I am not a fan of John Steinbeck as I find his books to be depressing. And after reading The Red Pony in grade school, I set the book aside, never to read it again.  But I am going to reread it and see if time has changed my opinion of the book.

And even if I end up not liking it, I still have a lovely vintage book with beautiful illustrations to put on my shelf and enjoy.

Black Beauty - a Gift

Today a student approached me with with a gift bag, asking me to open it. "It's a classic connection!" he said with a big smile.

He was right!

A Black Beauty ornament!

My students read a children's classic book every semester, then write a paper and do a project which they then present to the class. We have two presentations every Friday morning. Black Beauty is well-loved by the kids - they are very aware that Anna Sewell changed the way animals are treated by her book. It is an excellent example of the power of the pen.

I'll display my new ornament at school until winter break begins and then bring it home and hang it on the horse-themed tree in my horse room. 

It will be a wonderful reminder of things I love - horses, classic books, and my students.