The odyssey

Yesterday morning, Alexey shared a picture of his new Mini Brand chicks.

Immediately, I had questions.

Alexey had answers.

One thing led to another, and a plan was made.

Balls of joy and miniatures.

Yeah, I'm going to need that capybara.

Alexey whipped out his weight chart and scale and started weighing balls.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Addict behavior.

We made our selections and went to check out.

I asked, "Are we opening them at your house or mine?"

"We're opening them in the car," Alexey said. "If we don't get the ones we want, we're going straight to another store."

Oh.

We opened our balls.

I got exactly the two I wanted.

Seems un-Jenniferlike, but I have a plan.

At this point, I was ready to go home.

Alas, Alexey and Tori still had needs. We headed out to Target number two. 

"I'm about to be unemployed," I said. "I'm not buying anything."

Then I saw the mini Milk Bone jar.

Oh.

Alexey whipped out his phone and got the dot code for the Milk Bones.

Back to the car for another opening ceremony.

Yay!

Alexey and Tori were not as lucky. Target number three was under discussion. 

"I think I know how this is going to go," I said, "but my house is kind of between here and there. You could drop me off."

They both laughed and told me I was a hostage.

Oh.

We went to another store.

And then another.

Alexey's bunny remained elusive, but Tori did get all the crabs.

Thank you, friends, for the night of balls of joy and miniatures. You can take me hostage anytime!

NaReViMo painting plan

I met my friend, Trisha, through a penpal ad in Breyer's Just About Horses magazine. At the time, I was a student at Colorado State University. However, I used my California address because that I did not know when the ad would be published. As it turned out, that was a good call. The ad ran while I was home for the summer between my freshman and sophomore years.

I got a lot of responses, the most exciting of which came from another nineteen year old college student. Her name was Trisha, and she lived on her parents' Arabian horse farm in Wellington, just twelve miles north of the CSU campus.

I answered her immediately. She responded in kind, and by the time I returned to Colorado in the fall, we were already fast friends.

For the next three school years, I spent all my weekends at her house.

Which meant, I spent all my weekends surrounded by grey Arabians.

There were so many of them.

There were a couple chestnuts in the mix - hello Charity! - and later, at least one bay.

For the most part, however, that was an extremely grey herd.

Last month, I bought a herd of Shirmar Arabian models from Trisha's mother's estate sale. When I decided to paint one os the Zaras for this year's National Retro Vintage Month, there was no doubt in my mind as to what color she would be.

This particular Zara was one of the stagecoach horses.

She was a bright red bay with a large star and snip...

and three white feet.

I took numerous pictures of her in her original state. To the best of my ability, I'm planning to keep those markings.

Here's how she looks after one full day of painting.

There's still a long way to go, but progress is progress! This is totally happening!

NaReViMo week two

Today was the last day of the first week of NaReViMo.

It's been a busy week at work,

at the barn...

and especially, at home.

Also, my injured thumb continues to be a problem.

I've been slowly picking away at prepping, but for all intents and purposes, my model looks the same as she did at the beginning of the month.

No more!

This morning - after Gray and their friends left for the second time - I decided that even though she wasn't perfect, my horse was solidly good enough. Before I could change my mind, I picked up my paintbrush and dabbed on some paint.

I gave her the barest beginning of a basecoat. Then I headed off to work.

It's okay.

Tomorrow is a new day. This is totally happening.

(probably)

Coach

It wasn't just the Shirmars that caught my eye during my first visit to Trisha's parents' house. I was also awestruck by the traditional scale horse and carriage set-ups that decorated their living room shelves. One was a sleigh pulled by an alabaster Breyer running mare. The other was a a stagecoach with four Shirmar Zaras all in collared harnesses. 

At the time, I was a nineteen year old college student with big performance dreams and almost no money. I looked at those horse drawn vehicles and saw opportunity.

After a few more visits, I broached the topic with Trish. "Would it be possible," I asked, "to take those set-ups out of the china cabinet, maybe put the harnesses on some of my models and take pictures?"

She shut me down immediately. Everything was very old and very fragile. The harnesses were sewn on to the horses and the stagecoach and two of its models were permanently attached to a base. Fun idea, but no. That was never going to happen.

I respected that, of course, but for years I dreamed of showing my models with that sleigh and that coach.

Last month, I attended the Celebration of Life for Trisha's mom, Donna. 

I came home with a whole herd of Shirmars and the stagecoach.

Even though Trish and I were extremely careful, the coach started breaking before we even got it out of the cabinet. 

The wheels were the first to go. 

Those delicate joins and the decades old wood just couldn't handle the stress of moving.

As Trish had told me all those years ago, the coach and two of the horses were permanently attached to a long wooden base. One of the horses came off easily.

The other - along with the remains of the coach - are still stubbornly hanging on. Today, I carried the whole thing downstairs to the photo table.

Because the wheel assembly disintegrated, the front part of the carriage is propped up on a box. 

This was hand built by Trisha's grandmother, Marie Welch, some fifty years ago.

See those metal springs?

I have reason to believe they were cut from a coffee can!

It's not up to current hobby standards for horse drawn vehicles, but still, this is a really neat piece with so many fun, vintage details.

Despite the condition of the wheels, the body of this carriage feels pretty solid. I don't have the time or energy, but I'd love to give it to someone who wants a project.

If you're interested and at least local-ish - I can not ship thise - please get in touch. Even after all these years, part of me still wants to see this in the model horse show ring!