Kalamazoo Week: Off We Go!

Second Post of the Day

I'm leaving this morning for Kalamazoo with my long time friend and Leslie's bestie, Gretchen.

Gretchen is also an event volunteer and has to be there early Friday and stay late Sunday. 

Lisa and Gretchen disrupting clowning around paying attention respectfully while attending a Feast meeting.

I hitched a ride with her last year and am doing so again. Which means we will arrive in Kalamazoo both hoarse from all the gabbing as we drove, but maybe some chocolate will remedy that, right Gretchen?

My Jolis Chevaux items rode up ahead of time on Wednesday.

Rick and Leslie have already brought my things into the North Expo and have begun setting up my booth for me. Mine are the three brown tables in the front; theirs are the other two and plus those in the back already covered with block print table covers.

Then they got out my block print table covers and put the clothing racks up for me, too.

They also hung my garment bags up on the racks. 

I am incredibly grateful to them for their help. I've got some fancy chocolates for them, but I think that after all that they've done, I will get them a gift card to their favorite restaurant, too.

Hard to believe that after the weeks and weeks of sewing and preparing, the event is finally here. I am so excited!

I have written some blog posts ahead of time and scheduled them to post on Saturday and Sunday. That way you will have more opportunities to comment and enter the March Give Away.

Stay 'tooned!

Christmas 2022: Kids on the Road

I have decided that I will go ahead and write about this past  Christmas - while James' passing was incredibly sad for us, we did have many moments of joy. If you don't care to read about it, just come back in a few days and the blog will be back to usual. 

Due to the tremendous winter storm that was blowing across the United States, our kids all decided to leave their homes a day early to beat that storm to our home. In retrospect, this turned out to be a very good idea.

Jessica and her family had the farthest to go, coming all the way from Santaquin, Utah and through the Rocky Mountains and then across the high plans of the West on 80. They left on Tuesday and drove into the wee hours of Wednesday morning when they pulled into Sarah's home in Iowa City and crashed for a few hours.

The storm was barreling down behind them, so they only slept a few hours, and then they piled into cars and continued on to Indiana. Jessica, Andrew, Todd, and Sarah went in one car so that Jessie and Andrew could continue to sleep,

while JC and Trinity, both university students who were home on break, drove the "cousins car"

where Cambria

and Titan caught some shut eye, too.

 

Aside from a stop for lunch in Peoria, Illinois, the two families kept moving and made it here before the weather turned nasty.

Craig and I had worked hard to prepare for everyone - Cambria and Titan would be sleeping on air mattresses in my office/horse room,

Sarah and Todd in my sewing room,

Jessie and Andrew in Craig's library,

and last but not least, JC had the bed in Craig's office all to himself. (Trinity was staying in her Aunt Lisa's spare bedroom across town.)

It was good to have them safely in town and to know that Cole, Emily, and their crew had made it up from Nashville, Tennessee safely and arrived at Curt's home.

I would be even more grateful for that when I got a phone call at 6:30 the next morning from Lisa.

Another post will drop around 10:00 EST.

 

In Charge Again!

Tim and Loni are traveling again to visit grandchildren, so I am in charge of the barn. And, as I have been teasing Tim, of course we get snowy and icy weather when he goes out of town! 

I'm an early riser, and when I took Pepper out at 5 AM to do her business, my stepping stone garden was so pretty in the snow, I had to take a photo. I love how those tiny grandbaby footprints were outlined in the snow.

I drove out to the barn around noon and topped off the water in the trough after checking to be sure the herd was okay. They had plenty of hay and were enjoying the weak winter sun that had come out after the snowfall.

 The hayfield in the snow with Indian Creek running alongside it.

We got two inches with a layer of sleet between them, but it wasn't too slippery to walk in, although the day before when the ice came over that first inch, roads were a mess and all schools in the county, both in town and out, were closed. There was a bit of a thaw and then another inch of snow fell.

 The entrance to the new barn.

More snow is expected today, but at this point it doesn't look to be more than two inches, so I should still be able to get up the lanes and check the horses without too much trouble.

Horses Across the USA

Some people play the license plate game when traveling, trying to see a plate from every one of the fifty states. It's fun and a good way to pass the time during long drives. But I prefer a different game.

I play Horses Across the USA, a game I made up where I look for horsey items along the roads and highways we travel. I don't mean pastures full of horses and barns, I mean signage, vehicles, etc. I snap a photo and count it as we drive past.

The last ten days Craig and I traveled through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in order to visit our children. As you might imagine, I did very well at Horses Across the USA.

 The CHIN! While not outwardly horsey, how could I NOT snap a picture of BreyerFest's host hotel!

There are a surprising number of semi-trailers which have equine logos, like Black Horse Carriers, Inc.

I would love it if my home address included the word "horse." (Interesting combination with "stamp" and "church, though.")

Winnebago makes tiny trailers they call "Minnie Winnies." 

I really wanted to stop by Horsetown on our way home from Florida, but it was a sixteen and a half hour drive and we just didn't have the time.

Another semi - there are artists in our hobby who could come up with a MUCH better logo that that green Sc!!

 Pelham is probably not really named after the bit, but it is still a horsey reference. 

 Another place I wish we had time to stop and visit!

Not the best photo as it was getting dark and a truck blocked my view of the sign until the very last minute. Kentucky is my favorite state to visit or travel through.

Try playing Horses Across the USA the next time you are traveling. These are only a sample of what I saw - you'll be surprised at just how many equine references you find!

Another Road Trip

Two weekends ago I went to GLC's October model show in Chicago. Last weekend, I traveled to Lynchburg, Virginia to visit our daughter and her family for my fall break. I haven't even caught my breath from that trip and am preparing to leave again Friday after school for another one!

This time it is to a collectors' gathering in Illinois. We are to bring some of our favorite pieces to show and tell, a dish to pass, a door prize donation, and anything we'd like to sell or trade. There is a lot of fun planned, and I was excited to receive an invitation, but I am also scrambling to get ready to go as I have something after school every day this week.

I haven't even made my motel reservations yet. So much to do...