Donations for the Happy Trails V/Dan Patch Show

Long time blog reader Elise Partanen sent me a very large box and said she wanted to donate a few things for the upcoming Happy Trails V/Dan Patch Show.

Inside was a card for me and underneath that, a TON of goodies.

Starting with this fantastic 1000 piece puzzle - how cool is that! That's going to be a popular raffle item - a lot of people will want that. 

A variety of note pads.

This pretty gift bag is from Horse and Hound.

A mystery Breyer wrapped in candy corn paper! I don't know what's inside and I sure hope that whoever wins it opens it at the show so I can find out!

These lovely bookmarks will go in the swag bags that each entrant will receive.

Oops! Left one out - a snowy owl bookmark.

Six heart stones.

I'd never seen these before but they are beautiful in-hand.

And finally, a bubble wrapped something with a note that it was for me.

A little pony made of stone!

Last spring Elise had sent me some pictures of her own stone pony with the following note: 

"That’s the little stone pony that I found at a quaint gas station in rural Utah. I also got some other colors.  I’ve seen these at other places and I know they’re little doodads aimed at tourists, but it’s cute and the right size for motorcycle travel."

 

And then later she rounded up all that were in her collection and sent me their photo. (That's a donkey on the far right.)

I agree with Elise - they may be doodads aimed at tourists, but they are cute and I am excited to have one!

Thanks, Elise, for the donations and the gift! I will post them on the show's Facebook page later today and I am sure the entrants will be excited. I know I sure am!

A Mystery Box Arrives

Shannon Rodgers is a very generous person. She sent me an unexpected mystery box in the mail after the snow and ice kept me from attending the February Great Lakes Congress Show.

Inside were some fun goodies.

A wooden Appaloosa puzzle.

The yummiest candy bar (which was gone just an hour or so after I opened Shannon's box, haha!)

And something wrapped in tissue paper.

The neatest metal circus horse! And one I had never seen before!

Shannon, thank you so much for the box of gifts! I love it all! And I am busy doing research on the little metal horse trying to figure out its history and manufacturer.

Stay 'tooned!

A Hopeful Puzzle

 Thank you to all who have written blog comments or contacted me in other ways after Lisa and Nash were attacked. Your reaching out has meant a lot to me. 

Blogging is hard. You've heard that from Jennifer, from Anne, and from me.  And this morning, I am just drained and struggling to write. The dog attack on Lisa and Nash has knocked me sideways. I rarely feel blue or down, but I sure am today.

I keep several lists of ideas for blog entries, but even those are not appealing at the moment. Having said that, this photo in my files lifted my spirits a bit.

My Mother's Day gift from Denver Daughter Sarah (now in Iowa; I have got to come up with a new nickname for her!) is an unusual wood burned Nativity puzzle. See the very prominent donkey with the purple blanket? It wasn't until I wrote this post that I realized it is supposed to be a camel. Whoops!

It is not an easy puzzle either, despite the fact that there aren't too many pieces. I actually took that photo to help me remember how to assemble it after struggling to piece it together.

I don't know where Sarah found it, but recently there was an ad on Facebook for it. Here it is so you can Google it if you want one of your own.

Nativities represent several things, one of them hope, and boy, we sure need that this week.