2021 in Review: January through June

With 374 blog posts having been written during 2021, I had to do a lot of winnowing down for the year end review. Even so, I had so much material that I ended up breaking the review into two entries. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

January, 2021

We lost our sweet Millie. She is still very much missed.

With Snickerdoodle keeping Diablo company over at the blue barn, Abby was a little lonely. 

Horsiemama's Haversacks & Mercantile, founded in August, 2020, took off and I spent hours at the sewing machine. My 2021 total was 285 haversacks sewn!

February, 2021

 

Winter settled in and brought heavy snows that made it difficult for me to visit my girl.

"Those icicles have been known to kill people!" says the mom in A Christmas Story. I'm not sure about the that, but we were wary of these icicles that formed by our front door.

Pony Pal Mila and I participated in (and finished) NaMoPaiMo.

I built a 1:144 scale barn for personal satisfaction and also to use as a prop for Little Lynn and Circus Girl.

Sweet Nash joined our family and quickly won our hearts with his goofiness and his affectionate manner.

March, 2021

Spring rains were heavy and the path to the water trough became a sloppy mess.

The Mud Queen spent time daily in the mud spa and didn't mind slogging through that sloppiness at all.

 

In March I found another Steha-Leha circus Pony to go with Beauty, my black one.

And the stunning Lafayette arrived. I named him "West" since I live in West Lafayette.

April, 2021

Winter returned with a vengeance in April but fortunately didn't last too long.

I had a second spinal fusion at the end of April. Things went well and I feel better.

I received and accepted an invitation to become a board member for The Misty of Chincoteague Foundation, founded by Marguerite Henry, Peter Stone, and John and Rebecca Giusti. 

The writing was on the wall - my sewing and embroidery work was taking over my office/horse room.

I moved all my stitchery supplies into one of the spare bedrooms (prior to the spinal surgery, of course.)

May, 2021

Those heavy spring rains were worth it when the pastures grew up lush and green.

I had a stunning find while out antiquing one afternoon. A full sized mint Honora with label and a Miss Pepper, also mint and with label!

Mutton busting season was fast approaching and so I made Pony Pal Cambria and Cowpoke Titan new rodeo shirts.

I wrote a month long series about my circus pony collection. Even I didn't realize just how many different ones I had!

June, 2021

Local Pony Pals/Cowpokes Ian, Mila, and Lukie helped me wrangle tadpoles out of the horse trough. There's a creek in those woods you can see in the background, but for some reason, mama frog decided to hop across the pasture, climb up into the trough, and lay her eggs.

Over the course of several days, we pulled over 500+ tadpoles out of the trough and relocated them in the lake across from my home.

Despite being bred, Sultanna did not foal as we had hoped.

Rearranging the collection may not be the best activity when you are healing from a spinal fusion, but I took two weeks to do it and was very careful. Had to get ready for July's BreyerFest purchases!

July through December is next so stay 'tooned!

Great Lakes Congress: The Show! (Part Two)

After a few announcements at 8:00 AM, the show began. I had an entry in the very first class for the China/Resin division.

Windsong Sherif is my most consistent winner and my favorite china.

Tiffany Purdy was judging the OF Plastic division. She is a very knowledgable and consistent judge.

Countryside Strolling, the Honora I found in an antique shop earlier this year, won the gaited class.

You know what I think would be fun? To ask showers how many models they brought with them to show or to sell and get a count as to how many pieces are in the show hall. So much model goodness!

Liz LaRose (left) talks to Liz Cory while Lisa Esping (China/Resin judge) looks at the raffle items.

I bought something from this sales table. Can you see what caught my eye? I will send a prize to anyone who guesses it! (Put your guess in the comments.) 

Tiffany and Liz chat between classes.

I was really excited to show my BreyerFest Slainte Surprise - I'd had an idea for a breed for her and wondered what the judge would think of it.

She liked my idea well enough to pin it in 4th place! I made her a NAPI (National Appaloosa Pony).

I was really excited because that class was so big, it took up two full sized tables and a round one!

I had a trifecta with my chinas - I only brought three, and all three won their classes.

My Anything Goes entry took third.

The other entries were all about Halloween - this is Shannon Rodgers' winning entry.

And her cute felt pony took second place.

Throughout the day, Liz took photos of the classes. (She posted over 500 on the GLC Facebook page that evening!)

Sales were brisk all day long. I ended up consolidating display baskets and taking the empty ones out to the car as the show progressed. I was glad to sell so much merchandise, but now I feel a real need to get sewing and replenish all that stock that sold.

Another thing I love about the Great Lakes Congress shows is that they always end by 4:00 PM. That gives me time to drive home that same day instead of staying over for a second night.

Now I am home and doing inventory to find out what needs replacing, plus I still need to unpack my models and get them back on their shelves. When that happens, the show is well and truly over, at least for me, haha!

Don't forget - make a guess as to what I bought from that sales table. Winning guesses (yes, there can be more than one winner) will receive a prize from me!

Midwest Model Mania: On the Road

Packing for a show takes me several days. Planning for a show takes even longer - choosing which horses to bring  is difficult and it takes me at least a week to get everything figured out.

For Midwest Model Mania I decided to bring a smaller amount of horses than usual since I also was bringing the Mercantile. The class list is an excellent one, with both halter as well as collectibility classes. I focused mostly on the collectibility classes, although I entered some halter classes, too.

After thinking long and hard, I decided to bring my recent find, Honora. (Yes, I know the pad is off the edge of the table.)

Pepper kept me company while I packed - she was a little gloomy because she knew I was planning on going somewhere. (Craig will be home with her and Teacher Daughter Lisa plans to bring Nash and Molly over to keep her company, too.)

Usually the only Breyer porcelain I take to shows is the Icelandic Pony, but Mountain Mama Jessica told me that he is her favorite of my collection and (echoing Pony Pal Mila's infamous "Can I have this when you're dead?") asked if she could have it "some day." I don't want to risk breaking it, so home it stays.

The Mercantile boxes are already in the trunk;

 all that's left to do is to carry these tubs downstairs and put them in the car (in the back seat - I like to keep my models out of the heat or cold so they always travel inside the car with me.)

Wish me luck!

A Lefton Cattery (And Then Some)

Remember that gasp I let out when I spied the Large Honora in a display case at an antique shop? 

I let out another one this past week when I went antiquing again and came across this sight!

Two three-tiered shelf units loaded with Persian and Siamese cats!

I started carefully examining them to see if any were Hagen Renaker cats.

There were lots of imitations (see that Sparkle imitation on the bottom right?)

but the majority were Leftons with a few other manufacturers sprinkled in.

Someone was just as avid a cat collector as many of those in the model horse hobby are.

It made me a little sad to see the collection on display and for sale. Personally, I hope my collection will be distributed among my family members first and then to friends and other hobbyists.

The cat collection was extensive and the pieces in excellent shape. Their former owner had taken good care of them.

There were no Hagen Renakers among the large pieces, 

but there was a glass display cabinet with minis in it where I spied a couple of pieces that I suspected were Hagen Renakers.

Although I am not too familiar with HR cats (or other animals, for that matter), I do know the look and feel of Hagen Renakers, and these six pieces all had that Hagen Renaker look about them. 

I was right. They aren't particularly old or valuable, but they will make nice prizes or gifts for friends.

I've thought a lot about that collection's former owner, wondering who she was and what the story is behind her lovely collection of cats. Was it hard for her to give them up? Did she wonder who would buy them and where they would end up?

I sure wish I could tell her that the pieces I bought from it are in good hands and will be taken care of and enjoyed.