I realized I’m overdue for photos of the Boyz! Here they are in the snow yesterday. They are SOO happy that winter has finally arrived. They are overjoyed being able to play in the snow. Kit had a birthday in October so now he’s 4, and Kanab will be 3 in January. Kanab has matured and his coat has grown in, and now the two of them look so much alike that when I see them from the top or back, I often can’t tell who’s who:

News from the going-to-England front.
We are in waiting mode for the British Gov. to approve Paul’s work visa. We can’t make any travel plans for him until that happens. It certainly is looking like he won’t be starting work over there on Jan 1st!

I did get the rabies-testing process going with the Boyz. You can’t take dogs into the UK unless they are proven to not have rabies. They got the initial blood test right before Thanksgiving, and they have to wait 6 months after that in order to fly. Just to make it more exciting, I learned that British Airways in Denver has a heat embargo on live cargo from June 1st to Sept 15th! I was really scrambling to get that bood test in November!! In order to get on their direct flight out of Denver that I was counting on, we now will have a window of about 3 days in which to all fly at the end of May. If we had waited even a few days before starting the rabies process, me and the Boyz would have to book on another airline to get to another city like Chicago, then connect to a BA flight without a summer heat restriction. I really really didn’t want to subject them to a plane change—the less opportunities for things to go wrong in the air travel process the better. I will finally relax when I’ve got my ticket and the dogs booked on that BA flight…!

I had to get a Mac laptop so that I can continue to do my health care mag every month while in the UK. We bought a used/refurbished powerbook G4 so that everything is exactly like my current desktop computer. It was brilliant of Paul to think of a used! You’d never know it wasn’t new, and it is actually about 5 times as fast and has more memory than my other one. Fortunately I can plug in my existing mouse and keyboard if I want. But I’m trying to train myself to use just the laptop. I just have to stop hitting the CAPS LOCK…! It’s so cool that thanks to the web my editor in Denver, my publisher in Santa Fe, my printer in Northern CO, and I, will still be able to work together as if I hadn’t moved!

We’re still thinking about options for whether to rent the house or not.
We came to the pretty startling realization that we don’t need to bring much to England with us besides a year’s worth of clothes! (And for me, that’s not much! Fashion-slave I ain’t!) We’re renting a furnished house, and all the small incidentals of life will simply be purchased over there. I won’t bother with things like hair dryer or a TV since they can’t use the same electrical current over there. For some reason I was sure we’d need to fill a cargo crate with our stuff. So it was pretty interesting to really look around rooms and realize that nothing but clothes, my computer stuff, some art tools and the dog’s things need go! I’ll have to do without all my collectibles and books, etc. I am a totally “low-maintenance” woman and easily travel all the time with just a backpack (the older I get the less I care what people think about how I look). This really isn’t all that different!

Don’t forget to participate in my little essay contest. The deadline is next week. There are 16 participants already and all are fun and interesting reads. And some nice prizes up for grabs!

I am holding a little giveaway contest for my faithful blog readers this month as a token of my appreciation and a bit of Holiday Cheer. So here goes:

This is an essay contest!
To be eligible to win one of 3 prizes, you must post in the comments section of this blog post, your answer in 50 words or less, to this question:

What is it about equine art—created specifically in ceramic—that makes it so appealing and desirable to you?

I will be the judge and choose first, second, and third prizes. You MUST sign your full name to your entry in your blog comment, so that I can identify you in order to name the winners! Anonymous comments will not be considered. If your comment goes over 50 words, it will not be judged. 50 words isn’t very many so you will have to really distill your thoughts down to the essence!

The prizes are shown in the photo above. I will custom glaze each of these pieces to the winner’s choice of realistic or art glaze color.
First Place is the Sarah Rose “Hadrian” mini-scale sculpture cast by Pour Horse.
Second Place is the bone china “Boreas” head (which has a hole in the back and can be mounted on a plaque, wall, etc.).
Third Place is the Kristina Lucas Francis mare and foal piece (which can be finished as a pin, magnet, or medallion, etc.).

I will do the glazing work in January.

Deadline for all essays is Friday, December 19th, 12 pm (noon) Mountain Standard Time.

All comments made to this blog posting that contain an essay answer posted by noon that day will be considered. I’ll announce the winners in a blog post on Monday, December 22nd. Posting your essay answer in the comments is the ONLY way to enter this contest. Emails will not be accepted.

I will delete any rude or offensive comments!
I think it will be fun and entertaining to read all the comments… and everyone can read them since they will be public.

I would like to also do a “Readers Choice” award from all the essays where you can all vote/choose the winner, but I can’t come up with another bisque prize! I just don’t have anything else in stock. If I find something cool to give away, I’ll announce that contest addition in another posting.

Thanks and let the writing begin!

I finished glazing the first of the 6 earthenware Optime’s last week. I need to ask my ceramics colleagues whether they think that earthenware china holds details in the bisque casting better than bone china. Because it sure looks like that is the case when I put them side by side! There are little sculptural details in the earthenware I realize I haven’t seen for a long time (that are in my original sculpture) because I’ve only had bone china copies of it for years. I suspect also that Donna Chaney, being an equine sculptor herself, is doing a better, more painstaking job of leaving in or restoring details, etc., when cleaning the castings.

If seen side-by-side, you’ll be able to tell the difference between a bone china and an earthenware Optime, by the whiter whites and smaller size of the bone china. Either way they glaze up beautifully!