KARABOUTS

a day at the track

Mike and I were fans of the Animal Planet show "Jockeys" so we decided to make a jockey doll.  Today we took our jockey to Belmont Stakes, the racetrack that will host the third and final leg of the Triple Crown in about two weeks.

Our jockey stopped by the stalls.

Then he checked on his horse.

He finished the day by watching a couple of races from the stands.  

We got a lot of attention from the "real" jockeys.  These three guys were pointing and smiling as they rode by where we were standing.

It was a good day.



 

Year of the Rabbit

This is the Chinese year of the rabbit. Or more accurately the year of the hare, since China has seven native species of hares, but no native species of rabbit (Wikipedia told me this!).  A rabbit year is a placid year, very much welcomed and needed after the ferocious year of the tiger.  In honor of the year of the rabbit, Origami USA offered a class on how to fold John Montroll's origami rabbit during their March fun folding session.  I made a rabbit in class, then came home and folded up a few more to send to my nieces and nephew.  If you want to make a rabbit to celebrate the new year you can find the pattern in Montroll's book Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami available on Amazon.com.

I had such a good time at the fun folding session that I decided to join Origami USA.  Because I'm now a member I get their magazine, The Paper.  The Autumn issue of The Paper had a pattern for this Northern Cardinal by Roman Diaz.

Roman Diaz's designs are ingenious and elegant and since every crease has a purpose, they are fun and satisfying to fold.  You can find more of Diaz's interesting work here.  I've ordered his book so expect to see more Diaz models showing up on this blog.

I'm looking forward to the big Origami USA convention the end of June.  It will be held at F.I.T. here in New York City.