Christmas Letter Overflow

 

Stack Overflow is what happens when you put too many items into a defined space.  In this case it's what I'm calling all the pictures in my Christmas Letter folder that didn't make the final cut.  I've decided to share them here, in roughly alphabetical order.  If you receive my Christmas Letter, then you'll have the full panoply of my 2021;  if not, you'll get a pretty good taste.  There is one here anyway from my Letter, because it is so very striking.

We begin with AT4, my fourth Akhal Teke Presentation Set, shown above on Orlik, my fourth NaMoPaiMo horse.  (I just realized that symmetry:  two fourths!)  I was surprised at how much tack was produced over 2021.  Two complete Akhal Teke sets and a neckpiece were only part of the tally.  Below is Orlik in AT4 again -- clearly I'm very proud of him!  This was experimental wallpaper for my new smartphone, showing that I actually got one, Hah!

To emphasize the Akhal Teke aspect of 2021, here's the single neckpiece made for my BreyerFest Giveaway.  It wasn't really a giveaway but a sale,... when 18 people entered for it and I merely sold it to one of them, drawn by chance,... you should be glad I didn't auction it.

We have reached photos starting with B, and now swing into a bunch of people pictures.  This is me running my BreyerFest 5K.  The race was virtual, run in my neighborhood, the same as last year.  Amazingly, my time was about 5 minutes faster (than last year).  Disgustingly, my time was not accepted into the official records (I'd submitted it too late).

Continuing with B, this is from our Colorado trip, blogged about back in August.  Bowsaw at Goodwin.  This is yer faithful correspondent crouching below the horizon at Goodwin Battle Memorial, today known as Legion Park, east of Boulder, Colorado, on Arapaho Avenue.  Yes, the sky really was that smokey.

Here is something nobody's seen yet.  This is a shot from our hiking on the Coalton Trails.  This is a place well south of Boulder (near Superior) which we found and fell in love with.  We went there, I believe, four times in the course of about 11 days, surely a record.  Each time the great wilderness expanse of the prairie meant more to us.  This was taken with my smartphone!

While I was in Boulder I had the fabulous opportunity to get to know certain people better.  This shows three extremely important fellows in my life, left to right:  Nephew, Brother, Husband.  Of course George is closer than close, but the other two I get to see only rarely, and the nephew almost never:  not since 2008.

The next shot is referred to in my letter but not shown.  This was taken the night of June 27, 2021, in the first hotel we'd stayed at since the pandemic had begun.  Consider this a psychological thing;  normally I don't bother to shoot hotel rooms.  In the "old days" we'd stay at dozens every year.  Something the same from back then is that I've put model horses in front of the flatscreen.

A more recent shot is this haul of Imperial Unicorn stickers from Studio Minkiewicz.  I've said this elsewhere:  you won't believe how much you get with one of her sticker orders!  Talk about getting your money's worth.  I'm going to try and collect all the Imperials, holographic or not.

This next is from a hike to NCAR hill while we were in Boulder.  Behind me you can see some of the red-sandstone buildings of CU campus. The photo appears to be using a zoom background, but this one is real:  I am up on one of the foothills above west Boulder, and you are looking east.  Can't see the horizon too well, can you?  smoke...

Back home in Pennsylvania, we get to yet another landscape that's part of a people thing.  This was taken from Penns View Overlook, Centre County, start and finish of my self-set 10K race in early November.  (11K 122 minutes!)

Back to horses!  What would you expect from a model tack shop famous for silver parade sets?!  This parade set is very old, part of my own collection:  TSII #12, originally built in 1983, rebuilt in 1997.  The bit is by Sue Rowe.  Sorpresa hasn't worn anything else yet!  I just think this is a good horse for both parade and harness.  I'm really hoping to play with more harness next year...

Here is a piece of tack made this year, so you'd think I could fit it in somehow, but there wasn't room.  It's the new romal reins for the restoration of TSII #413.  Not much about this challenging tack project got into the Christmas letter; part of the reason is because I started it so late, and had so much else going on.

Down to the Ws, here's yet another view of my entry for Morgen Kilbourne's Wycked Wynd Coloring Contest, in May.  I had way too much fun with this!  Like all my coloring contest entries (all 2 of them so far), a single photo does not do the job!

Last shot.  This is the one that is in my Christmas letter.  This is a very appropriate picture for 2021, as it depicts something that I spent many, many hours watching, from March to September.  Can you guess?  It's Fagradasfjall from the air, a drone shot of the Icelandic volcano at night.  This particular view is pretty early in the progression, April, when there were the two original vents.  By September I had bookmarked more than 270 videos of this volcano.  I was mesmerized.

photo credit:  The Reykjavik Grapevine

Now you have seen a wide sample of my 2021.  It was a strange year and not what we expected.  Much was learned.  I am hoping that 2022 will be a more positive year for everyone; we deserve it.  I look forward to more time with my dear husband and more time for my beloved hobby.  Hope springs eternal that I will be able to meet with more friends and family more often.  Stay safe, seek understanding.