Well, my daughter, Shannon has done it! It's been 12 years since she purchased a pony, but she couldn't resist the urge to purchase a leggy 2 week old baby foal at the Wild Pony Auction on Chincoteague Island this year. Because it was so young it was a fall pick-up. She went to pick it up, courtesy of our friend Robin Pool, and ended up coming home with two foals! Here is what happened:
A lady in Connecticut bought a foal, but she could not afford to ship it home. The Buy Back Babes (the group of ladies who purchase buy back ponies on the island, including the $1750 colt this year) decided they wanted to buy the foal and donated it to The Feather Fund, the charity my daughter and I are very involved with. So, while Robin and Shannon were picking up Shannon's foal, they also went to pick up the donated foal, who has been named Gideon. Robin volunteered to keep the foal until the Feather Fund found the perfect home for the tiny chestnut. The Feather Fund decided to make this foal a special award foal.
If you are a child age 10 to 18 who has always dreamed of owning a Chincoteague Pony foal, who has been saving and wishing and praying and reading horse books and dreaming ponies.... you can apply! If you're interested in the foal, go to http://www.featherfund.org/ and print the application from the website. Write SPECIAL AWARD FOAL on the top and mailing it to the Feather Fund before NOVEMBER 15, 2007. Wouldn't it be awesome to take home a precious colt before Christmas! Everyone would have to give you horsey stuff for Christmas, like halters and brushes and grain and treats!
Shannon's colt has been named Second Chance. This is her second chance to get a Chincoteague Pony she doesn't outgrow! Chance is out of one of the tallest mares on the island, a bay named Spanish Eyes and one of the better known stallions named Surfer Dude. In the meantime, her son, Matthew (my perfect grandson!) is still riding Sea Feather, and Summer Barrick is borrowing him to show, too!
Chance and Gideon look a lot alike. Chance is chestnut with a small white marking on his forehead and four long white stockings. Gideon only has a little white on his feet, but he has a lovely big white diamond on his forehead. Gideon is 3 months older than Chance, but the pair get along just fine.
I hope you are having a great autumn, and I hope all your pony dreams come true!
:>)
Lois
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Booksigning Tonight
Tonight I have a book signing at one of my favorite places, The Ghosts of Gettysburg Shop (http://www.ghostsofgettysburg.com/ ) on Baltimore Street in G-Burg. A bunch of my favorite writer friends will be there signing their books, too, which always makes it like a reunion of sorts. Cooler still, we are all going back to Shelley Sykes house to join a group around a bonfire in her yard to tell homespun ghost stories, roast marshmallows and hot dogs and stay up long past this old lady's bedtime! Ooooh... I can't wait!
Spring has sprung in the biggest way and I am loving it. How can anyone stay depressed when God's beauty is blazing all around us? I mowed grass today and kept stopping the mower to look at the baby birds in two nests, at a yellow and orange butterfly that was like none I'd seen before, and to admire my gigantic flower garden which is just now bursting into its own. This garden is my baby. It was started by my daughter as her 4-H project many years ago. A few of her original perennials remain; a rose bush, a butterfly bush, a pair of variegated Hosta and two baby's breath plants (which end up like big bushes by summer's end). I've added a line of Dianthus, which comes back every year and blooms all summer. In the front I planted some pansies, petunias and purple heather and it is all blooming now, looking like summer is here!
To add to the theme of spring, I walked outside yesterday afternoon moments after the mare foaled in the pasture that is right next to my yard. The owners weren't home, so I raced for my camera to take lots of pictures of its' first wobbly attempts to stand, and to find the teat and nurse. It is a chestnut filly with a white face and feet. The second foal this year. The first one is a palomino colt with four white feet, a flaxen mane and tail and a whirl of white in the middle of his forehead, born to his mother, Sassy about two weeks ago. How lucky they are to have one of each, a filly and a colt. The colt is big all over, but the filly is so tiny she walks under her mom, Foxy's belly! It cracks me up.
Well, it's time to get ready for the booksigning. If you are around, come over and say hello to all the authors and sign up for a ghost walk! We'd all love to see you!:
Yur Friend,
: >)
Lois Szymanski
Spring has sprung in the biggest way and I am loving it. How can anyone stay depressed when God's beauty is blazing all around us? I mowed grass today and kept stopping the mower to look at the baby birds in two nests, at a yellow and orange butterfly that was like none I'd seen before, and to admire my gigantic flower garden which is just now bursting into its own. This garden is my baby. It was started by my daughter as her 4-H project many years ago. A few of her original perennials remain; a rose bush, a butterfly bush, a pair of variegated Hosta and two baby's breath plants (which end up like big bushes by summer's end). I've added a line of Dianthus, which comes back every year and blooms all summer. In the front I planted some pansies, petunias and purple heather and it is all blooming now, looking like summer is here!
To add to the theme of spring, I walked outside yesterday afternoon moments after the mare foaled in the pasture that is right next to my yard. The owners weren't home, so I raced for my camera to take lots of pictures of its' first wobbly attempts to stand, and to find the teat and nurse. It is a chestnut filly with a white face and feet. The second foal this year. The first one is a palomino colt with four white feet, a flaxen mane and tail and a whirl of white in the middle of his forehead, born to his mother, Sassy about two weeks ago. How lucky they are to have one of each, a filly and a colt. The colt is big all over, but the filly is so tiny she walks under her mom, Foxy's belly! It cracks me up.
Well, it's time to get ready for the booksigning. If you are around, come over and say hello to all the authors and sign up for a ghost walk! We'd all love to see you!:
Yur Friend,
: >)
Lois Szymanski
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Remembering the "Good Old Days"! (NOT!)
Yesterday, I looked over a middle grade novel I wrote not long ago, one I am still trying to sell to a publisher. It takes place during the Kennedy era. It made me think about how much things have changed since my childhood.
I admit, my family was definitely behind the times, but still... Back then, we had a ringer washing machine and no clothes drier. After running each piece of clothes through the ringer to squeeze the water out, we'd hang them on the clothes line to dry, propped up with a birch tree sapling. Dress pants had to have metal pants-stretchers pushed into them so they would dry with a nice crease down the center! Who remembers pants stretchers?
We had a black and white television. We'd run next door to Grandma's to watch color television! There were no dishwashers or microwave ovens. (How did I survive without microwave popcorn and fast baked potatoes?!) Dogs and cats lived outside only, and were only on the property if they had a job and provided something to the family. No pets! Cats caught mice and dogs hunted the food that went on our table. Yes, I have eaten racoon pot-pie, fried squirrel and baked rabbit.
My dad was very much an old school farmer who grew up during the depression and had those frugal habits. We were only allowed to take a bath and wash our hair once a week. (Eeewww!!) Even then, he came into measure the tub water, not over 2 inches in the tub. Of course, we didn't have a shower. Sometimes we had to share baths. I always hated being the second one in the tub, sliding into my twin brother's dirty bath water.
The house was dark all the time, to save electric. Bedtime was 8 p.m. sharp and you better not get caught reading a book under the covers with a flashlight. Sometimes I'd slip out of bed in the summer, kneel by my dormer windows and watch the lightning bugs coming out, and the neighborhood kids still playing kick-the-can. Occasionally, I even fell asleep there, listening to the tree frogs peep. It was the one place we could catch a cool breeze on a hot summer night in an attic room with no fans and no air conditioning.
My dad wasn't keen on book learnin'. He often said, "Get your nose out of that book and get some chores done," and "You'll never learn anything from a book!" Today, I laugh when I think of how I make my living! He also often said, "You kids'll never amount to nothin'." I'd like to think that we did, and I know, at least for me, the books I was addicted to made a big difference. They still do!
I admit, my family was definitely behind the times, but still... Back then, we had a ringer washing machine and no clothes drier. After running each piece of clothes through the ringer to squeeze the water out, we'd hang them on the clothes line to dry, propped up with a birch tree sapling. Dress pants had to have metal pants-stretchers pushed into them so they would dry with a nice crease down the center! Who remembers pants stretchers?
We had a black and white television. We'd run next door to Grandma's to watch color television! There were no dishwashers or microwave ovens. (How did I survive without microwave popcorn and fast baked potatoes?!) Dogs and cats lived outside only, and were only on the property if they had a job and provided something to the family. No pets! Cats caught mice and dogs hunted the food that went on our table. Yes, I have eaten racoon pot-pie, fried squirrel and baked rabbit.
My dad was very much an old school farmer who grew up during the depression and had those frugal habits. We were only allowed to take a bath and wash our hair once a week. (Eeewww!!) Even then, he came into measure the tub water, not over 2 inches in the tub. Of course, we didn't have a shower. Sometimes we had to share baths. I always hated being the second one in the tub, sliding into my twin brother's dirty bath water.
The house was dark all the time, to save electric. Bedtime was 8 p.m. sharp and you better not get caught reading a book under the covers with a flashlight. Sometimes I'd slip out of bed in the summer, kneel by my dormer windows and watch the lightning bugs coming out, and the neighborhood kids still playing kick-the-can. Occasionally, I even fell asleep there, listening to the tree frogs peep. It was the one place we could catch a cool breeze on a hot summer night in an attic room with no fans and no air conditioning.
My dad wasn't keen on book learnin'. He often said, "Get your nose out of that book and get some chores done," and "You'll never learn anything from a book!" Today, I laugh when I think of how I make my living! He also often said, "You kids'll never amount to nothin'." I'd like to think that we did, and I know, at least for me, the books I was addicted to made a big difference. They still do!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Happy Spring!
Happy Spring to EVERYONE!
The weather here in Maryland is sunny-luscious today! I finished writing a picture book manuscript, worked on my young adult novel, and now I am going to go outside and set up my dog agilty equipment and play with my Sheltie dog, Ryley.
I hope you are all enjoying good weather!
Your friend,
:>)
Lois Szymanski
The weather here in Maryland is sunny-luscious today! I finished writing a picture book manuscript, worked on my young adult novel, and now I am going to go outside and set up my dog agilty equipment and play with my Sheltie dog, Ryley.
I hope you are all enjoying good weather!
Your friend,
:>)
Lois Szymanski
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Catch the wind?
Catching the wind... is it impossible? If you ask the windmill he will tell you that he does it all the time. Sometimes what seems impossible is not. It's all in how you look at it.
As a writer, I try to catch the wind on a daily basis. Story ideas spin like seeds floating from pods, catching an updraft and drifting along to find a new life in a new place or time. How do writers find good ideas? I am asked this all the time. I am here to tell you they are as tiny as seeds, drifting in and out of our lives on a daily basis. The hard part is teaching your radar to locate them. Then you can lasso them in and turn them into your own creative work!
Years ago, I started an IDEAS FOLDER. If I had a great idea I jotted it down and put it in the folder. If I saw an article in the newspaper that would make a great story I'd tear it out and put it in the folder. Inspirational letters from friends, pictures in magazines that inspired me.... they all went in the folder. I learned to quickly record the dreams that spang from my inner conscience at night. They went into the folder, too. That folder is now an entire file drawer of catagorized ideas and you can bet I turn to it often.
Find your own ideas and let the writer inside of you grow strong. Sometimes it takes work. I wrote lots of awful stuff before my work grew strong enough to share with others. Writing is like anything else in life. The first time you rode a bike you probably fell off, but you stuck to it and learned to pedal fast. The wind blowing in your face as you raced down a hill was the reward. The first time a body-builder works out with weights he is weak. Over time his muscles grow strong. Writing exercises, rewrites and editing will help your writer's muscle grow strong. Never give up!
In this blog, I will share fun stories, inspirational moments from my life, and occasional writing advice, and share new book releases. I hope you will stay tuned. Writing and reading will change your life!
As a writer, I try to catch the wind on a daily basis. Story ideas spin like seeds floating from pods, catching an updraft and drifting along to find a new life in a new place or time. How do writers find good ideas? I am asked this all the time. I am here to tell you they are as tiny as seeds, drifting in and out of our lives on a daily basis. The hard part is teaching your radar to locate them. Then you can lasso them in and turn them into your own creative work!
Years ago, I started an IDEAS FOLDER. If I had a great idea I jotted it down and put it in the folder. If I saw an article in the newspaper that would make a great story I'd tear it out and put it in the folder. Inspirational letters from friends, pictures in magazines that inspired me.... they all went in the folder. I learned to quickly record the dreams that spang from my inner conscience at night. They went into the folder, too. That folder is now an entire file drawer of catagorized ideas and you can bet I turn to it often.
Find your own ideas and let the writer inside of you grow strong. Sometimes it takes work. I wrote lots of awful stuff before my work grew strong enough to share with others. Writing is like anything else in life. The first time you rode a bike you probably fell off, but you stuck to it and learned to pedal fast. The wind blowing in your face as you raced down a hill was the reward. The first time a body-builder works out with weights he is weak. Over time his muscles grow strong. Writing exercises, rewrites and editing will help your writer's muscle grow strong. Never give up!
In this blog, I will share fun stories, inspirational moments from my life, and occasional writing advice, and share new book releases. I hope you will stay tuned. Writing and reading will change your life!
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