The Cute, it Burns

[summer_jackel]

corpsefairy and starchy are fostering a couple of Incredibly Cute Kittens, and on my recent visit with them, I got to play with these kittens at length. My brain hasn't solidified yet, it melted so entirely.



I also had the opportunity to visit the Tilden Park carousel, an old favorite of mine and probably the machine I have ridden most in my lifetime. It's a turn of the century Hershell-Spillman.



I wish this one hadn't come out blurry. Alas, the kittens, being kittens, were not great at sitting still for pictures.


Play!


What do the resident cats, Yakko and Dot, think about the tiny houseguests?




Yakko is a noble beast and gives a great profile.




Carousel shots. I love this face!




Love the flag horse's expression


















I think that this is my favorite photo from the set.




Three friends




And on to some non-wooden horses. Equinox is growing so big and powerful! Alas, the greaseweed in their pasture is in full bloom, and the two of them look like they've been doing engine work. Still, so pretty.


Noble Dancer face. In the summer of his fourth year, my boy is starting to fill out, muscle up and look less like a weedy youngster and more like the horse he will be. Pretty fellow!


He's not the easiest horse to photograph, though, more's the pity. When he's bored...which usually happens when he sees the camera...he yawns. This horse yawns more than any I've ever met.


Bored now. Please do something interesting like pet me or give me treats.


On a roll.

Comments

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Oh, consider it a gift from me to you as a life-long NorCal resident with a carousel fetish. I've often thought that a day tour of the 4 SF machines would be awesome, though it would involve a lot of driving and would probably be impractical, if only because the SF zoo is a day of its own. Still...tempting, innit? And if you just hit the 3 American rides and ended with the zoo, it could be a very nice (albiet still tiring) day.

I wish the American Carousel Museum was still open to the public. I volunteered there as a young teen, and thereby learned quite a bit, to say nothing of the pieces I met. (Dentzel hippocampus, which had survived a fire that seared only its paint, making it looked barnacle-scarred. Swoon).