Finally, Some Ponies!

I was both expecting and not expecting to see the Rhian and Cadell set: expecting it because it’s both a British Pony breed and a Mare and Foal set, and not expecting it because it was featured as the Sunday Raffle item last year.

Back to back BreyerFest releases on the same mold aren’t unknown – most notoriously the Silver releases Valentino in 2001, Ahote in 2002, and both the Live Show Prize S’Wonderful and Strawberry Fields in 2003 – and most recently, with Bristol’s 2018 Raffle release Jackpot, and last year’s Customs Contest prize Leap of Faith.

As a few others might have pointed out by now (or at least, I hope so), Brighid and Beltane do bear a passing similarity to Misty and Stormy, which may well be intentional, considering it’s an “anniversary” year and the only other nod to history in this year’s BreyerFest lineup so far has been the inclusion of the Sham Lugh.

This set is on my maybe list: I love the Foal mold, but the Mare mold seems a little soft and undefined to me. Like anything, a lot of it will depend on how they look in person.

And of course, there’s the whole issue of whether we’ll even get that chance.

Even though my life, as it is, has so far been relatively undisturbed by the pandemic, fret and worry have my traveling companions during this journey too. All this uncertainty about… everything is definitely taking its toll on me and my own.

(Even Vita: she is Not Happy about all these dogs walking past her territory on a daily basis. Not one bit!)

Most of my other extracurricular activities – including, today, the Comicon I had substituted in lieu of the Soiree – have been either postponed or cancelled outright. I spent a considerable chunk of time on Sunday looking up alternative events to participate in in the late Summer or beyond, like Quilt Week in Paducah, or Youmacon, in case the worst case scenario comes to pass.

(FYI: I genuinely don’t know any more about that situation than most of you do. So don’t interpret this as anything other than my reaction to the stress we’re all experiencing right now. I come from a family that prepares for even the most obscure of emergencies: contingency planning is just something we need to do to cope.)

I am grateful to have other activities that don’t depend on going anywhere or even interacting with anyone – like my gardening and my quilting – and I did promise myself to wrap up a lot of “unfinished business” around the house this year.

But I do need some social interaction with people I don’t have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. The prospect of doing without… is not one I want to think about.

Not one bit.