When I arrived here in Acton Massachusetts after a 13-hour journey between storms, I walked into a household that seemed bright and cheery. Son Sean and daughter-in-law Sue and I started to hang out in the kitchen with wine —
— when, unbeknownst to us, puppy Shadow was being detained in another room and forced to pose —
And it only got worse.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Kiera and Drew disappeared again, and this time when they reappeared, Kiera, using her mom’s makeup, had transformed Drew into a zombie, complete with wounds —
And then of course, one more torture shot with Shadow.
Drew loves to dress up and act out. Sue showed me a few more recent vamping shots . . .
That same first evening, Kiera brought out a bunch of her recent creations, little critters —
They join the myriads of horse-related images that decorate the house, inside —
and outside; the windows next to the front door —
Her often tiny, meticulous creations spring from her imagination messily sprayed onto her craft table near the kitchen —
— outfitted with flexible lights with tiny thingies strung on them —
Meanwhile, 13-year-old Kiera is starting her transformation into the next stage of her life —
But oh wait, not yet! Here she is on B’agen, a Connemarra pony, yesterday, taking a lesson at the nearby pony club she’s been involved with for three years.
This pony club sponsored the trip she made to a horse show last summer where she underwent a thrilling adventure:
Granddaughter Kiera’s scary, true, thrilling, tremendously informative tale: “I had been told that every horse had its wild side . . .”
Sue and I watched Kiera’s lesson for awhile from across the paddock fence, then went to get groceries before picking her up. She told us on the way home that she and two friends have a secret hiding place in the loft of the barn, it’s walls of straw bales. There they can spy on the inside of the barn through a peephole and out to the parking lot to see us when we drive in.
Yesterday, at 5 p.m., Sue and I and Sean piled in with Drew for a scary trip during yet another snow storm with bald tires to a recreational center where Drew played in his weekly soccer game with the Honey Badgers, his team. They won! First time ever. Drew’s on the left.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in this case the two-story, freshly painted Colonial home in Acton, Massachusetts, daughter-in-law Sue this morning was quickly making breakfast, prior to dropping off Kiera for a 9 am meet-up with Girl Scout troop for an outing to Harvard’s Natural History Museum.
Kiera was not happy about it. “Why do they schedule things so early? We need more sleep.” I agreed with her.
And meanwhile, Drew has resumed his usual position, on screen.
