Day of Delirium #329 - 5 Fandom Friday 4-29-16

Fandoms You Hold Dear But No One's Ever Heard Of

I don't need 5, I only have one and it is my absolute favorite.
I have belonged to this fandom since I was 7 years old.
My sister started the craze followed by my Grandmother.
I have loved horses since I can remember. 
I could never have real horses so this fandom satisfied my craze...

Breyer Model Horses

My first Breyer was the Family Arabian Stallion that my sister bought with green stamps for my Christmas present. If you don't know what green stamps, google it ;) I named him (although at the time I had no idea they were boys/stallions or girls/mares) Holly. Although part of the fandom is creating cool longer fancy names for the horses in addition to their stable names.

Holly

S. Stonewall's Fancy

Then my Grandmother bought me for Christmas what became my favorite mold, the Proud Arabian Stallion, I named him Angel.

Angel

Grandma's Angel

In the Breyer world this a conga line

It is all but one of the Proud Arabian Stallion variations over the past 40 years.

In 5th grade my teacher saw a brochure for a magazine called Just About Horses and immediately thought of me. I asked my parents if I could subscribe and I don't remember if it was a problem or not but I do recall starting to receive the magazine. I subscribed to them until they stopped publishing just a few years ago.

I had my little stable in the room I shared with my sister and I am very lucky she shared the space with us.

There were photo shows and live shows and I did it all. I never went to Nationals but I had tons of fun with all the local shows. I was lucky that my family supported this crazy thing and I love them all the more for it.

The ribbons are from various photo and live shows that we placed in.

Then I learned about Breyerfest. A HUGE convention, show and sale in Lexington KY at the Kentucky Horse Park. My first trip was to help someone run their table during the show. It was sooo much fun and I even won one out of 25 raffle horses...with just one ticket!

I then returned for Breyerfest's 20th Anniversary with my husband 5 years ago and again we had so much fun. It was great to show my husband all about my fandom and how much I love my Breyers. He also learned that I am not allowed to say anything about his collection of comic books as I collect plastic model horses :)

Just one corner of my Breyers currently in our house.

My hubby built me my dream shelves to show off my horses.

Fandom? Obsession? yes, yes

I would have to say as much as I would love a real horse, I am so happy that I have my Breyer models that have always satisfied my craze. I am forever grateful to Green Stamps for offering Breyer model horses oh so many years ago and to my sister for starting a craze that makes me so happy and has lasted a lifetime.

I truly could go on and on about my horses, Breyer, Breyerfest, etc but I won't but if you want to know more, please let me know in the comments.


cross posted on Bookended By Cats

Day of Delirium #328 - Ch-ch-ch-changes

I made a decision today.

I do not like change.

I love routine.
I love knowing where everything is.
I love knowing how everything works.
I love knowing what I will do in a day and that all will be well.

I do not like not knowing what is coming
I do not like people moving on without me.
I do not like not knowing what I am doing or how things will turn out.
I do not like change.

This does not mean I won't go through it
This does not mean I won't make it through it
This does not mean I will not change

I just know I do not like change.

Details are not needed, just making this conclusion today helps me a lot.

Day of Delirium #327 - A Profound Bow

This seems timely to me:

"All streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. Humility gives it its power." ~ Lao-Tzu

There is a Yoga mudra, a kneeling posture of exercise, where by bringing your head to your chest while extending your arms up and out behind you, you can practice placing your head beneath your heart. And from this humbling position, you can't help but tire, and so, you must put your arms down. With your head beneath your heart, you must stop doing.

Soon after learning this, I came upon a woman who had been a nun, and she told me that she would practice for days upon days similar postures of Gregorian Chant: incline, bow, and profound bow - each bringing the head lower and lower to the earth.

This holds a powerful lesson: Time and time again, the head must be brought beneath the heart or the ego swells. If you do not bend, life will bend you. In this way, humility is accepting that your head belongs beneath your heart, with your thinking subordinate to your feeling, with your will subordinate to the higher order. This acceptance is key to receiving grace.

Lay your head down and the world of being will open its joys.

- Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Day of Delirium #326 - 5 Fandom Friday 3-8-16

Please see me post on my other blog Bookended By Cats to see my Fandom Guilty Pleasures.

Day of Delirium #325 - The Courage of the Seed

All the buried seeds crack open in the dark, the instant they surrender to a process they can't see. 

What a powerful lesson is the beginning of spring. All around us, everything small and buried surrenders to a process that none of the buried parts can see. And this innate surrender allows everything edible and fragrant to break ground into a life we call spring.

In nature, we are quietly given countless models of how to give ourselves over to what appears dark and hopeless, but which is ultimately an awakening beyond all imagining. 

As a seed buried in the earth cannot imagine itself as an orchid or hyacinth, neither can a heart packed with hurt imagine itself loved or at peace. The courage of the seed is that once cracking, it cracks all the way.

— Mark Nepo from The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have