BIG ANNOUNCEMENT #2!

Oh Dearie!  I know I was supposed to have posted this yesterday, but as usual, the TimeSnatchers seemed to have whisked it out of the realms of possibility.....so here it is today!

When I was a child, I remember exacerbating my parents with the declaration "I am going to have an interesting and unusual life."  I think my well-meaning parents just chuckled at this, at first, then later shook their head as I hit adolescence, and did not falter in either saying this,  or doing things that fell in line with this mantra.

I strongly suspect that these poor WWII era folks, whose dreams were satiated simply on the ideas of being able to sleep, eat, and live FREE without FEAR could not understand such a willful child who wanted to do art, theater, and have an animals sanctuary (I actually still have my little-girl drawings of the acreage and which animal housing went where. My older self still chuckles at the ten-year old's scrawling of the "monkey cages" and "giraffe house.").  Shouldn't I be preparing for becoming a doctor, an architect, a lawyer? Something PRACTICAL, for heaven's sake?

 Baby Zan, rarin' to take on the world!

But no, my brain and heart were not geared toward the sciences--they were instead mired in a thing that I have seemed to instinctually love from my first memory: I was always telling stories and drawing from my first recollection; to this day I have never taken a formal art class, and have been a self taught artist all my life (although I can see many instances where this has made it difficult for me tofully grasp composition). I have always been naturally curious and a self-learner in things such as painting, knitting, embroidery, woodburning, sewing, and more.  Eventually, because my parents were so adament,  I went to a riotously expensive and prestigious theater and film school, and thought myself lucky to be AN ARTIST, all the while realizing that it would be a hustle to make it in New York. And it was...and is. I managed a group of dancers and created dance and theater events....for almost no money. And worked a day job--which was very stressful. And then started working in folk art creation....almost at the same time I rediscovered my parents' gift for thrift--which made me quite happy. I love embroidery and knitting and baking bread (or rather, eating it!) and the simple things that made life more bearable, especially in this topsy turby metropolis.

This sort of old-fashioned love led me to research old fashioned living, the creation of my farm-loving-blog, and THIS site, which was dedicated as a sort of reconciliation with the lost art of old fashioned living, horses, and my own fears about doing something that brought together all of my quirky loves and talents.

This would be great, except somewhere along the line, last year, I let my old nemisis, FEAR, sneak up and cast doubt on the whole thing every getting done. But could you blame me? As I said, I come from solid people who have drilled me to do the PRACTICAL thing. Work work work, worry about money, worry about how you will be perceived, etc.  Now, I am not criticizing them; indeed, their sort of philosophy allows me to have a reasonable saving, whereas there are people who make MORE THAN I DO, who need to be *ahem* bailed out, in this country.  In other words, taking things on a responsible level should be a consideration of life. However, I was not thriving fully, and this is because I wasn't fulfilling my inner self.

So, my *SECOND BIG ANNOUNCEMENT*(if you missed the *FIRST BIG ANNOUNCEMENT*, click HERE) is that we are BACK on TRACK for the actual horse-drawn carriage project! Actually, I am hopeful this will happen by next year, when my birthday officially indicates that I will be an "old lady". 

I have already picked out a wagon that I think is suitable:

And look at this team of horses? Aren't they beautiful? I have no idea if I can buy them by the time there is funding, but they are something to look forward to...

But wait! I'm getting ahead of myself! I would love for YOU to participate, and to help. I aim to do my beekeeping journey to Iowa this month as a sort of "prep" for this, as I am thinking that perhaps teaching that, and other old fashioned skills would be a nice combo for these horse wagon tales (and perhaps a nice way to pay my way along the journey), and when I mentioned my idea to several of my local friends, various people thought I should make a documentary of it. I have no idea, although I plan to at least blog about it here (along with the other down-home subjects I have been currently blogging about), but I'd love some thoughts...

What do you think? Is this crazy? Exciting? Interesting? A bad idea? Any particular notes you'd like to leave in the comments section?  Haha, this should be interesting, planning this AND a wedding. Actually, I've had about THAT MUCH PRESSURE planning for performance art events!

Hmm...off to find a local equestrian center, next....