The grief that no one notices.

Oct 19, 2024

I thought I'd add the video above so my Colorado friends living on the prairie could feel the wind in the treetops ❤️ I was walking I Love Lucy in the forest one morning and realized that I could hear the wind rustling the trees far away and then the sound would get closer and closer until it was overhead. 😃

Happy Saturday friends!

This afternoon at 3pm I’m hosting a free Meditation with the Animals of The Mother Ranch. If you’re in the Apex area and are interested, CLICK HERE for tickets, there were 5 left when I wrote this on Friday morning! All love donations will go to help western North Carolina Hurricane Helene victims. Being in North Carolina, I see lots of photos and videos of what’s going on out there but I’m not sure if that info is out there for the rest of the country to easily see. You know how YouTube serves you what you are interested in. Some of the places the power is back but others…they have no infrastructure to fix, it's all been swept away. Everything has to be completely rebuilt from scratch. I can’t imagine how long that will take…

ODDS AND ENDS ON THE RANCH:

Did you see the amazing moon on Thursday?

Fall is the best time of year here ❤️

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I walked into my office to find Lucy in her bed and her favorite toy Pink Pig like this 😂:

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If you know anyone who is looking for a registered Nigerian Dwarf buck, Oliver is looking for a new set of girlfriends (remember I'm in Apex, NC.) He was born in the spring of 2023, is pretty, sweet, loves treats, and is the father of Parsley and Rosemary. Contact me by clicking here:

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Last Thursday I saw this post about grief and this artwork that went along with it:

Wow, I was a mess after that. Sometimes you just need to ugly cry you know? It's not been that ugly since the morning Rayn crossed to the other side. It’s cathartic to just get it all out when it hits you.

This pic of Rayn was on B-Rad's phone:

Missing my girl like crazy. But then...something interesting started to stir out in the world. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a mini mare for about a month or so. Mostly any horse that is interesting has been far away. For a moment there was a possibility of a pregnant mini mare that looked like Rayn! She was in Kansas. Fine if I had still been in Colorado. 18 hour drive from here though and horse transport has gone up since we moved here 3 years ago. So, I’ve been just looking for more local horses.

This girl popped up on Facebook at the beginning of October. A little bigger than I had been thinking:

I sent a message. No response—one of the issues I have with Facebook messenger. No one sees messages from strangers unless you go searching for them. Anyway, the owner finally saw my message after a week and responded. The mare’s name is Tori, she’s 4, and she’s a Shetland Pony. I’ve been learning about Shetlands since I met her. There are the classic stock, the ones we all think about, short, stocky, super furry—these were the ponies that worked in coal mines—apparently they are super strong:

And then there is the modern American stock which look like Tori, more like tiny horses. Apparently they mixed the classics with Hackney Ponies, Arabians, and a few other breeds. The modern Americans aren't quite a mini size which are often 32-36” at the shoulder, Shetlands are a little bigger, Tori is 41” tall at the shoulder.

So, I went to see her because she’s in Angier, about 45 minutes away, so how could I not? I’ve not met a lot of little horses in my life, just a few. Lord they are just as cute as they look in pictures! The middle of her back is about at my hip :-) I liked her, she was calm and curious. I held out my hand and she explored it with her lips, never teeth, and then licked me a few times LOL. I took her for a walk and then saw an arena so we went in there so I could let her loose. She ran like the wind for a while until I had the woman bring me some of her grain. I gave the scoop a shake and Tori slammed on the brakes and came right over. Ahhh…food motivated. Excellent start for clicker training so we played just a bit. Very soft mouth, smart and curious.

So…we shall see…What do you guys think? Get any vibes from her?

SOME ART STUFF:

🎨🖌️👩🏼‍🎨 In two weeks, on Saturday, November 2nd, I’ll be posting a huge sale of a bunch of my original art, some of which I've never even posted out to the world. It’s been piling up and it’s time for it to head off to new homes! It’s early for a Christmas sale but it's also nice to get it done so you aren't rushing around at the end. Also, remember that you can get prints here on Etsy.

FALL CLASSES!

🎨 Upcoming Women's Circle dates (you can learn about what happens at a Women's Circle here):

🎨 The next Women's Circle session starts Wednesday 6-9pm, October 23rd—November 20th, $175 for the 5 weeks. Contact with me if you're interested in joining!

🎨 Women's Circle Holiday Edition! Runs December 4th—January 29th, skipping both December 25th and January 1st. $245 for the 7 weeks. Contact with me if you're interested in joining!

🎨 Live Online Mixed Media Art Class w/Julia@The Mother Ranch! (Angel Horse) via Zoom. 2 hour class, once a week for 3 weeks. 10/25, 11/1, 11/8, 7-9pm eastern time zone.

🎨 Live Online Watercolor Class: Windy Piglet 10/28/24 via Zoom

🎨 Speaking of fall classes, if you have an artsy kid or teen that would like to have some private art classes, contact me!

THE MEMES:

Mom said this all the time! She would ask me, "Do you think we have a choice?" Yes I do! But I also wonder if our time here is a drop in the bucket compared to our souls. Who knows.