My Adopted Horse

I think I was born on a horse practically. I rode and showed horses for most of my young life. When I wanted to own one again I needed a way from them to pay for themselves and so Bayberry Carriage Company was born.

Did I know how to drive a large carriage? No. So I went off and took lessons on the biggest horses alive. I think the guy who was teaching me got great pleasure handing me that hundred pound harness on a horse six foot tall. Of course I had to learn to ground drive before he would ever hook me up to a cart. I think he also got his jollys watching these three thousand pound animals drag me all over the dirt for an hour every week as well.

It was pure hell. I finally had enough of that and bought myself a Welsh pony and cart. I practiced and got the feel for it sold the Welch and bought a Morgan horse and an old buckboard. I owned him for approximately three months before he died of a huge intestinal stone. That was a large expense gone and my dream with it so I thought. But when you are out of money you get creative.

I read an article about how the harness track would let people adopt horses for $25.00. So I called and got on the list. Well I got a call one day they had a horse available. Loaded the trailer and made my 2 hour drive to the track. By the time my husband and I got there the horse had been adopted by someone else. I almost just sat down in the dirt and cried. I think the guy could see the huge disappointment on my face and said there might be another horse available but he would have to check.

A few minutes later he asked if I would like to see him. This horse had been stalled for over 6 weeks eating oats everyday and I noticed he kept trying to bite the stable hand. But they got him out of his stall and lead him around a minute, then the hispanic stable hand jumped on his back. No problem. Then they told me he had never been in a horse trailer and as a person who knows horses that is NOT good. So I said "Well if he will load I will take him". I was extremely doubtful he was going to walk in that trailer. I wasnt up for a two hour fight with a rank horse. Darn if he didnt walk right in that trailer.

A two hour ride home and we let him lose in the back when we got home. This is his first picture. Pretty isnt he? He had a blast running around,bucking and rolling in the dirt. We just let him be the first day home. What a change from being in an barn cooped up and teased by staple hands. The first thing on my list was to call the vet and get him gelded. And name him. Since he would be someday pulling a carriage for weddings we liked the name Tux. And if we ever got another we would call him Tails. Clever weren't we?

Gallery Glass Project

I realize these are not the best photos. The Peacock is very large and in order to get light through it I have to set it in a window. But then I get shadows but I think you can get the idea.

I enjoy Gallery Glass. I don't have the patience for doing the real thing although I have great admiration for those who do. I can't even imagine cutting out all the pieces for the Peacock in real glass. It took over 35 hours to make that one which I think is pretty fast. The leading takes by far the longest to do. It can be very temperamental to work with. It can get to thick and not come out the hole but if you make the hole in the bottle to big the leading looks bulky. It can be a lot of wear and tear on the old wrist. But I finally figured out if you put the bottle in some warm water and let it sit, the lead is so much easier to work with. That is my big Gallery Glass tip. The colors are not a problem at all but from time to time they get (for a better word) buggered up on the inside and you have to take the cap off and get the clogs out I enjoyed making the Peacock so much I made another with slightly different feather colors.

I also made the Tree of Life from Tiffany but it fell out of my window in a horrible storm one night and broke!! But you know I was okay with that. Surprisingly so actually. Could I be mellowing out in my old age?

The last photo is inspired from a greeting card drawn by Pamela Siln Palmer. (Or is it Pamela Palmer Siln. Sorry Pamela.) I love her work and I love bunnies. I added glitter, flat glass pebbles, and rhinestones to this piece. A bit of whimsy. I was trying to find fun items to stick in the paints and glitter is fun!! I have a few more Gallery glass pieces through out the house that I may post. I have so many paints left and I don't have room for any more projects. I ended up giving another huge Tiffany piece away. I forgot to snap a photo of it before it flew the coop. Oh well. ( I like my new mellow attitude.)

Today I tried for the heck of it, painting some Gallery glass paint on the back of a transparency. I want to cut out these transparency's for a SoulCollage piece I am working on. It actually worked really well and the black part of the transparency looks like leading. It has not dried yet but if it dries well and glues down well I am in business!

Summer Yard

Since I added photos of my moms backyard yesterday I thought it only fitting to give you a peek at the front. She has a 1890's Italianate home and has lived there for almost 15 years. Every plant and flower has been put in by my parents. The inside has nice woodwork, pocket doors, two stairways, hardwoods and a large attic. It has been restored and the inside is almost done. They have always said they are not the homeowners only the temporary caretakers. I think most people with old homes feel that way. Some day I might post some inside photos of the house. My mom enjoys sharing the house. She has opened her home to many Historic tours and Master Garden Tours as well. I hope you enjoy!!

Honey Bees Update

The Hive is right behind the blue gazing ball. You can see the white box. They seem to be doing fine but will be moved to the country in the next few days.

There is a whole crazy story about why this is so special to me. For the past couple of months I had been telling everyone about the disappearing honey bees. Anyone who will listen. If you notice in my blog title the photo is a bee hovering over flowers taken in France by my daughter last year. Love this photo so much I had to have it in the title. I also had to have a little cartoon bee in my blog title as well. A couple of weeks ago I got on Ebay and purchased 3 vintage bee jewelry findings and a beautiful crystal bee pin by Joan Rivers. Two days before the bees came I had torn out an article regarding the disappearing bees in a local magazine and found out PBS was doing a special on the bees Fathers Day eve. Had that saved in recording mode. Sunday morning the bees arrive! Of all the trees and yards they could have picked, they picked my parents. The place that just so happened to have a bee suit and a hive just laying around. One house over and more than likely these little creatures would have been sprayed with poison and killed. I just had to share. I find it all so fasinating.

Now I will say, they did pick the prettest yard around to make a home. My mom's yard is beautiful. The hydrangeas this year are amazing. I think it is from all the rain but I will say she has the best hydrangea bushes around from what I have seen in other people's yards.

Honey Bees

For some reason over the past few weeks I have been discussing honey bees with people at work. I worry about the bees and we honestly we all need to be worried about the honey bees. Then I discovered that PBS was doing a special last night on the Honey Bee and made sure to get that on DVR. Well if this isn't strange I dont know what is. Yesterday morning I go over my moms house for Fathers Day and boy were things a buzzing. My mom says quick come in the back yard. So I go out to see my dad in his old bee suit (he was a hobby beekeeper for a few years but lost his hives and finally gave up). He had a hive out there and bees everywhere!! Apparantly my mom had gone out back Sunday morning and was working around her Japanese Maple and it had something very strange on the base. She could not figure out what it was. She kept looking at it and looking at it to finally realize it was a thousand bees covering the trunk of this little tree. Well she runs into tell my dad who is quietly enjoying his Sunday paper and tells him to come out quick!! Of course he says "What now". She tells him he will have to see for himself!! He says "What is it ants." No No come see. So out he drags himself to look and immediately turns around and digs out the bee suit and old hive he had laying around. These bees were easy to work with and very cooperative as he got them into the hive. rather quickly. How lucky the honey bees came to this house, the house of a hobby beekeeper who still had some equipment just laying around. Sometimes things are just meant to be (or bee HA HA). He will let them get situated for a couple of days before taking them out to the country where hopefully they might flourish and not die. Who knows if they had gone to a neighbors they may have been sprayed with poison and all killed. Many do not know the dire straights of the amazing honey bee. Please do your self a favor and read about the terrible plight of this amazing creature. The survival of this planet depends on this little insect.