And the painted ponies go up and down...

...we're captive on a carousel of time.... -- Joni Mitchell

I've been chasing this carousel on its truck around the neighborhood for the last couple of weeks. Well, that's not entirely true -- it just seems to show up where I am, and I've not had an opportunity for a decent shot of it until today, when it was sitting in the park (the park I'm beginning to think of as magical, since so many fun and interesting things happen there). The owner of the carousel was there letting his dogs run and I asked him if he'd mind opening the back of the truck so I could get a clear shot of it - he was happy to oblige. The thing is for sale ($2,695 USD) but until a buyer can be found, it travels around the neighborhood or sits in front of the Dollar Store. He says on nice days he fires it up and offers rides to kids.

"It's quite a collector's item," he tells me, "from the 80s. They used to have these at all the small malls around town." And this one is unique because one of the animals is a seal and another, a lion. "Most of them just have ponies," he says. (By the way, the one on the right that resembles a duck is the back end of a pony.)

Do you call them carousels or merry-go-rounds? Or something altogether different?

Have a look at it large. More views of the carousel can be found here.