Grow Your Blog Party!

Today is The Day! It's Vicki's, at 2 Bags Full, Grow Your Blog Party...WOOHOO! I'm excited, can you tell? What? You forgot to sign up? NO WAY, surely you didn't!? Oh gee, I am so sorry...   Please visit Vicki's blog to see all the participants and to leave a nice comment for Vicki...the hostess with the mostess...yeah, it's cheesy but hey! I'm in a party mood and, down on the farm, it's simple pleasures that please best.

Welcome to Thistle Cove Farm where it's beautiful one day and perfect the next. Yes, the header photo is the view from my window, photos change seasonally, and, yes, I am greatly blessed. Dave, my husband, and I bought and established Thistle Cove Farm in 1995. We've spent our time renovating the house, re-siding the barns with rough cut hemlock and, in early days, I bred and raised rare American Curly horses and Shetland, Merino, Romney and cross bred sheep. The Curly horse link is for information only.

Our lives took a turn when, in 2004, I had an opportunity to teach in Russia and that jump started our traveling adventures. Since then, I've taught in Armenia, Georgia, Morocco, at fiber festivals in the USA, at Concord University in Athens, WV and on the farm where I held workshops and conferences. I'm in process of putting together my curriculum in a book, Increasing Farm and Small Business Income, that teaches how to develop your farm or small business by using tourism and networking and partnering with other folks to increase profits. Essentially, it's a how-to manual to help you succeed.

In November, 2011, Dave passed away and the ensuing months have been spent on a very steep learning curve. He and I were going to sit down, me with a three-ring notebook, and I was going to compile "everything" he needed me to know. He died, very unexpectedly and quite suddenly, two days before. Since then, it's been a Very Steep Learning Curve and my hard earned and hard won experience is going into another book...Putting Your Affairs in Order ~ "death comes to us or for us, it's best to be prepared". I'm not trying to be morbid but there's a ton of stuff to know and it's best knowing it and preparing before you need to so you don't waste or lose so much money. Trust me, the only people who couldn't possible use this information are the Gates or Buffet families! -wry smile-

This blog is about life in general and, in particular, life at Thistle Cove Farm. I try to encourage and enable people to do their best work, live their best life and, whenever possible, prepare for the future. You'll find blog posts on how to DREAM LARGE, PDS or Pretty Darn Smart Goals, and, sometimes, You Just Need to Know where I push you in the direction of other folks who offer excellent advice or simply fun stuff worth knowing.
There are posts to your good health -Coconut Oil and Lower Back Pain Relief
and, every Sunday, there's Sabbath Keeping dedicated to the wise words of other folks and each Sabbath Keeping post ends with Prayer Keeping where we pray, one for another.
I am a practicing Christian and, even so, life is still hard; it's been a lot harder since Dave died. I'm just trying to lighten your load and help us both along life's path. I invite you to sign up on the follower's side bar on the right; you're very welcome here!

Okay, more good stuff...there are 5...FIVE...giveaways on this post! Yep, five people will have their choice of goodies starting with ...

~on the left, a skein of purple, blue, muted red Socka, 75 percent virgin wool with 25 percent polyamid yarn made in Austria! It's 30 meters and would make a lovely pair of baby socks, trim for a pair of adult socks or any number of beautiful things.

~on the right, a skein of red Sunbeam Aran Double Knitting Pure New Wool, made in the Republic of Ireland! There are approximately 1 and 3/4 ounces or 50 grams and it's vintage. It's enough yarn to make a small hat, neck cozy or add some color to a pair or socks or fingerless mitts. Then again, it's your choice as to how you use it.

Creating Keepsakes is a scrapbook magazine from May/June 1997; yep, another vintage prize! Along with great ideas for scrapbook projects, this issue still has the "FREE cut and Copy Insert from Design Originals". The magazine is intact, as far as I'm able to ascertain. 

~Summer Cottage magazine is from Summer 2011 and is lovely. The photographs are beautiful, the recipes are delightful...last week, I went to town to the library so I could copy the recipes...no tearing out of pages in this Special Collector's Issue! It's from the publishers of Southern Lady Presents Tea Time and Hoffman Media Publications. You will treasure this special treat!

~Quilters...attention, please...the last prize is a Collins Sneak Peek Preview of 5 Charm Shapes. "A charm quilt is traditionally made of pieces all cut from the same shape, and each cut from a different fabric." The Sneak Peek Preview may be used to design quilts by using as is or rotating designs for varied interest and impact. You may also make special effects with border prints, stripes and florals or develop your own patterns by alternating prints and solids or lights and darks. The templates include the following shapes: Tumbler, Hexagon, Diamond, Equilateral Triangle and an Apple Core. You'll have unending fun using this charming collection.

Winners will be notified on February 1 and chosen randomly. These prizes are open to everyone...domestic and internationally; you only have to leave a comment and a way for me to contact you. No anonymous comments and your e-address has to be linked with your name or in your comment. 
You're invited to follow my blog but it's not a requirement to win and your kind, thoughtful comments are most welcome.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ~ Albert Einstein ~

Today's Miracles ~ Vicki, 2 Bags Full ~ you, a visitor ~ prizes ~ American Curly horses ~ my wooly sheep ~ Thistle Cove Farm ~ 

Giveaway 3: Yarn

 ~ yarn ~

 Lion Brand Jiffy - a quick and easy mohair look yarn, machine washable and dryable. These four skeins are three ounces each, 85 grams and 135 yards of yarn in each skein. At 540 yards total, there's enough to make someone a lovely shawl or perhaps a child's sweater. One skein has come "undone" but has been wound back around the skein, I seem to remember the entire skein is intact but memory could be wrong. If there is any missing, it's not much and while the color is labeled as "taupe", it's more of a light chocolate brown.

 What you need to know:
-one comment = one entry
-contest ends one week from today, Tuesday at midnight
-winner notified the next day, Wednesday
-leave your contact information!

For additional chances to win:

-one entry if you mention the giveaway on your blog
-one entry if you mention it on Facebook

Please comment separately for each time you enter; that's the easiest way for me to Random.org pick the winner.
Blessings ~ knitting ~ crochet ~ yarn ~ weaving ~

Dei Gratia,
Sandra

Ennui and Give-Away

 Lately, there's been a sense of ennui around here. Nothing definite, nothing I can, quite, put my finger upon but, a very real, air of ennui. The dictionary says ennui is "a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom". I am not bored nor do I have a lack of interest; in truth, I have so many interests I tend to be scattered without focus or concentration. As to "satiety", that's not true either except in the idea of being satiated with work. There's always work to be done and I am overwhelmed with work, to the point of being so far behind, I feel I'll never catch up. I owe people yarn samples, have for some time, and am kicking myself to 'just do it!'


Perhaps the ennui stems from the political scene: it seems so overwhelming and unbearable. We, the voters, are so divergent, so contrary in our opinions and beliefs and seem to have a hard core idea of where, how and when the direction this country should be headed. We don't seem to listen anymore, especially our "elected representatives"; they especially seem to be listening solely to WIIFM radio. They only want to know, "What's In It For Me" and no one else matters, especially constituents.
I'm fearful. For us all.

Perhaps the sense of ennui comes from living in a haphazard state. Regardless of what I, or Dave, wanted, our house is still not finished from the water damage of eleven months ago. We're headed into winter with things left undone even though I asked, begged, pleaded and, eventually, demanded the work be accomplished. All for naught but I'm still going to "fix up" like everything has been accomplished to my satisfaction. The dining room will have furniture moved in, hopefully, this week and the drapes and sheers have been hung. I'll unpack those many, many boxes of porcelain, china and "precious goods" that Dave's mother left behind.


Hmmm. Wait a minute. Perhaps that's also a cause of ennui. Dave's mother passed away a year tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if my body is responding to what my mind pushes away. That was a time fraught with overload; she became ill on 3 Nov and passed away on the 19th. A short, furious illness that was caused, essentially, by old age; she was well beyond 95 when she passed away. She died on Wednesday, a few moments before midnight, and was buried on Saturday; that time was full of details, details, details that are now, mostly, forgotten. Not the day though. That Saturday was bitter; the temperature was about 24F, wind chill was around 15F above, snow snugged the ground and sleet split the sky. The only good thing about that week were the people, family and friends who gathered to support, pray and love us through that time.

~ Mrs. Mary Crockett Bowen Bricker ~

Yesterday, we took Boscoe to the vet and there's yet another mystery. He wasn't getting better as quickly as he should have and a vet visit was in order. Dr. Anne hasn't a clue what the underlying cause of his epizootics are but she thinks environmental. She also thinks his immune system has crashed and his paws look like he's been "introduced" to chemicals that have eaten away the top layers. He was full of ear mites and fleas - both signs of a compromised immune system - and she stuffed him full of antibiotics, flea treatment, ear mite treatment and steroids. She thinks he'll pull through, we should know in a week to ten days. Bos is already feeling better; he greeted me this morning as a cat should, by stretching and taking notice of what was going on around him. His appetite is excellent and he's shown an enormous appreciation for the canned tuna we've been feeding him. Bos is eating dry cat food but we felt he could do with some pure protein as well; he agrees. He also thinks he should be allowed to go outside but, not yet, perhaps not ever again.

~ Bos Man ~

In the past week, I've mailed a baby quilt, three hats and a fleece throw to folks; have almost finished the quilt top for my nephew's Christmas gift and have knitted two mobius scarves.  I'm thinking some serious studio time might put me to rights or, at the bare minimum, leave me with something to show for my time. There are several quilts to finish as Christmas gifts, some more knitting, some mini-art quilts and a few other smaller projects. I'm having to plot my time carefully so things will be finished and received by folks by Christmas day.

~ Deer quilt, in hunter's colors, for nephew ~

Two days after Christmas I leave for Tomsk, Siberia where I'll spend time in an orphanage and then go to Moscow where Christmas will be celebrated with Russian Christians on Epiphany, 6 January. I love celebrating Christmastide, more so than just Christmas. It's an entire Season from Advent, 1 Dec., through Epiphany, 6 Jan., and prepares us, Christ's disciples, to look ahead to world missions in light of the Nativity.

In the western world, we've gotten away from the Christmas SEASON and are focused solely on the material aspect of the day - the buying, wrapping, giving and receiving of gifts - and not The Gift that makes the rest possible. Christmas begins what Easter finishes: God's Divine Plan.

One suitcase is being filled with little gifts for both children and adults and it makes me so happy to open it and think of the joy they will bring. The Children's Home, as orphanages are called, houses children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Down's Syndrome and those with physical handicaps. Gifts include small hand lotions, vinyl shopping bags, stuffed toys, balls, packets of flower seeds, bubbles, New Testaments, yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks and whatever else can be found before Christmas. If you'd like to send a little something, let me know and I'll give you my snail mail address. I'll try to blog from the road so pray that and the trip will be a success.


A bucket of walnuts, soaking in water, will be used to dye some naturally colored Thistle Cove Farm yarn. I always enjoy using walnut dye on dark yarn as it gives a richness and depth of color that caresses the light in a way man-made dyes cannot.

~ Nut Bucket ~

  
I visited family this last weekend; we met at Mother and Daddy's cabin in Webster County, WV and rode over to Randolph County to visit my brother. Fairview Farm, his farm, is for sale and is absolutely beautiful! It's about 130 acres, bordered on two sides by National Forest, about 19 miles from Snowshoe, has some pasture, some wooded, all fenced, a pond, outbuildings, two-vehicle garage and much, much more. It's Very Private, with a quarter mile driveway that juts off from a dirt road that juts off from a two-lane, un-lined secondary road.

 Probably, the house and other buildings cannot be seen, photo on right, but this is from the top of the mountain, looking down upon the house.
The house and other buildings are in a small enclave, photo left.

 ~ Fairview Farm ~

 
It's not good, I don't believe, for me to focus upon myself too much; self reflection tends to result in too much belly button gazing and serves to compound what niggling little problems I think I might have. I much prefer to use my blog to focus on the Good Things but, if you've read this entry and said a prayer, please know you have my gratitude. That's one thing I enjoy about blogland - "meeting" other folks and tucking you into prayer as you are brought to mind throughout the day and week and, hopefully, y'all do the same.

If you're interested in having a first edition copy of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift From The Sea, leave me a comment and your name will go into the drawing. Please note there is a name and address on the inside cover and that, probably, detracts from the value but it's still a free book, shipping included.

From Gift From The Sea:  
"...I want first of all...to be at peace with myself. I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. I want, in fact - to borrow from the language of the saints - to live "in grace" as much of the time as possible...By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony...I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace from which I could function and give as I was meant to in the eye of God..."

I'll take names until midnight Friday; draw will be Saturday and book mailed Monday.

Until next time,

Blessings ~ Advent ~ Christmas ~ Epiphany ~ Christmastide ~ giving ~ spiritual grace ~ dyeing ~

Friday Fiber Arts Carnival

In Marrakesh the dyers of yarn hang heavy skeins overhead in order to dry in the hot, bright sunlight. As we walked in the souk amazing sights were on all sides and above!

It's been mentioned before, Dave and I love to travel and one of our favorite places is Morocco. We've spent many happy times there and in various places including Marrakesh, Tanjer, Ouarzazate -pronounced wherezitat or "where is it at" said rather quickly - Zagora and Mhamid which was our jumping off point for our camping trip into the Sahara Desert with the Bedouin and the Touaregs sometimes know as the Blue Men although that's not quite factually correct. At any rate, we had fabulous times, great memories and if you're interested in hearing some traditional music played by Touareg nomands, click here. We didn't travel with this particular company, the Blue Men link, but they look interesting and bring back lots of my own memories.

Yarn is not precious, the way some consider it here in the USA or ooo-sa as it's pronounced around the world. This yarn looked to be a down breed type yarn and took heavy abuse of all sorts. I bought some skeins in a deep brown shade. Above, it's piled up outside the shop, spilling onto the path so visitors and shoppers had to side step around the pile. This shopkeeper also sold scarves and other pieces of material.

The first time we went to Morocco, we spent time in Marrakesh before heading to parts south and east...specifically, Ouarzazate, Zagora and Mhamid and then into the Sahara Desert about nine -9!- miles from the Algerian border. We did not get as far as Timbuktu but are saving that for another visit...or perhaps not as that area tends to be a bit dicey. Wikipedia call the Tuareg nomands a "pastorial" people but other sites call them warriors, They are nomads, perhaps the most nomadic of all tribes left and have a favorite saying, "houses are the coffins of the living". More truth than beauty there, especially if one has spent time in the company of nomads, living amongst them even if for a short time.

Dave and I live in an area where the night sky stretches into where the horizon meets the earth but is not truly visible due to the mountains. The Sahara Desert is where the horizon meets the earth and the stars tumble into the sand dunes. In a word: AMAZING. Or incredible, tremendous, awesome...and I've never, ever used the word 'awesome' lightly...the sight is, literally, breath taking. There, in the company of Bedouin and Blue Men, Muslims all, I felt as close to God as I've ever felt. Remember the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo painted the finger of God touching the finger of Adam? That's what I thought of, standing in the Sahara Desert...if I stretched up my hand, toward heaven, God Himself would reach down and touch His finger to mine. Corrie ten Boom was right, paraphrased, "there is no place, God is not there".

There, in the Sahara Desert we had delightful discussion about my God, their Allah and how we individually worship, how we see other religions and other people. We found out we're not all that different. We want to live our lives, worship as we see fit, raise our families, celebrate weddings and birthdays and bury our dead. We talked about how the fanatics around the world make the world an unsafe place for everyone...this especially interesting as we were SO close to the Algerian border!

Some of their concerns included the encroachment of the Sahara Desert and how their nomadic lifestyle was being threatened by change, desert and oil cartels. How much their world had already changed since they were toddlers, only a couple of decades ago. I was a bit older than the mothers of several of the young men and listened as their voices held a tone of sadness as they recounted changes come and yet to come.

Even though we were in the desert a short time, when we returned to Marrakesh it was culture shock. The women wore clothing that was suggestive, especially the tourist women, and even some of the Moroccan women were smoking and wearing mini-skirts. It was strange how I became, in such a short period of time, so used to modest clothing and behavior. Marrakesh is an old, modern city where Muslims, Christians and Jews live together peaceably. One can hear church bells and the call to prayer within minutes of each other; I found it pleasing. While I am a Christian and truly believe heaven is through salvation in Jesus Christ, I enjoy learning about other religions because I enjoy people and am not threatened by other religions nor cultures.

Remember the abuse I alluded to earlier? The dyer has a large pot over a wood fire and the yarn is poured into boiling water...yes, boiling!...and left to boil the dye into the yarn. All I'd ever heard about hot water, friction and wool came to a screeching halt. This stuff was NOT felting, it was having the dye boiled into the yarn; mind enlarging indeed!

I keep getting closer and closer to the dye pot, my eyes unwilling to see, my mind unwilling to comprehend the Boiling Water!

I remember walking out of the little shop...really, no more than a stall about six by eight or, at the most, eight by eight feet, and saying to Dave, "He's BOILING the yarn!"

The hand carved wooden spoon is for swishing the yarn around so it can absorb all the dye, then for lifting the yarn out of the pot and sitting it aside so it can begin draining.

I wanted to buy a skein of this orange yarn but it was several, several thousand yards and luggage space was limited. Next trip, I'm sure...


More lovely yarn hanging overhead, partially blocking the hot sun.


Yet another shop keeper with dozens upon dozens skeins of yarn spilling out of his shop. Again, you can see the yarn is simply laid on the street, not put delicately into a crate where it can be fondled by hoitey toitey knitters -smiling and poking fun at myself here-.

I have no idea what the pink dye material is but the red is, I believe, henna as cochineal is native to the western hemisphere.

These skeins of yarn combat the sun for beauty while the blue yarn may be purchased by a Blue Men tribal woman.

Above a typical aisle in a souk which is, essentially, a small village within a village...a shopping mall, if you will.There are places to purchase clothing, footwear, food, drink, leather goods, silk thread, head gear, bags, rugs, carpets, antiques, kitchen supplies, home decor...the list is endless! I'd never, ever been in such a place and loved, loved, LOVED it! The sights, smells, sounds...the haggling, bargaining, the hot tea and the ceremony wherein it's poured out for guests, the noise, the tactileness...yeah, yeah, I now that's not a word-before now! smile- The souk is the heart of the old part of the city and was steps away from our riad or bread and breakfast as it's otherwise known. Dave was a Master Haggler and haggling is something that's expected when shopping in a souk. The better haggler one is, the more respect the merchant shows; basically, it's just a big game one engages in, although I always "hid behind Dave's trousers" and watched him at work -smile-. The shop owners had more respect for both of us as I was a "proper, traditional wife" and let the husband conduct the business. I strive to show respect when we travel and generally wear a scarf, keep arms and chest covered and, when possible, wear long skirts. When I show my "host" country respect, I find they treat me as a valued guest as opposed to an "ugly American".

As we left the souk we saw this fellow pulling a cart loaded with yarn. He was taking it into the souk to various dyers and we were amazed at the load he was pulling. We had scarcely finished talking about this fellow when we left the souk, entered into the center hub of Marrakesh and saw this fellow pulling his own heavy load of yarn. He would steady the load from behind as it would, sometimes, shift and come perilously close to upsetting.

Have I mentioned how much I love Morocco and the Moroccan people? -smile- We've visited the southern part of Morocco once but have been to Tanjer -using the old spelling- two times and that's because we were in Spain on holiday. Tanjer is only a thirty minute ferry ride across the Strait of Gibraltar and is fairly exotic in itself as it seems all of Europe goes to Northern Africa via the inexpensive ferry. There's a lotta world left to see but another trip to Morocco still ranks pretty high up on my "bucket list"; I find too much of a good thing is Simply Wonderful! -smile-

Blessings ~ travel ~ Morocco ~ yarn ~ Dave haggling ~ souks ~ riads ~

Friday Fiber Arts Carnival

For the longest time, I've had nothing on the knitting needles. I've been in a bad place with my knitting and just couldn't find the wherewithall to either start nor finish one of the many UFO's lying about. For those who don't know, UFO means unfinished object and I've several that have been on the needles long enough to have their own zip code.

This week I visited Millie, Master Knitter Friend, in Columbia, SC. She always knits like there's going to be a world shortage of yarn; she always has something on her needles and it's always beautiful and, usually, tough to knit. She went to Stitches last month and took a class with Susanna on Brohus knitting. I am in AWE, I tell you! Millie has even knitted a Most Beautiful Sweater with steeks! Here, I'm giving you the Kids Knit info page for steeks because I figure if they can explain it so a child can understand, I may, possibly, have a small glimmer of hope. HA! BTW, the Kids Knit steeks info page is "only" seven pages long so, be prepared, there's lots to learn.

Millie always encourages me to knit, sometimes to learn something new and is always gracious with her knowledge, time, patience. Even so, I've shocked her before when she was attempting to teach me how to knit socks. Apparently, I've "un-invented"...get the Elizabeth Zimmerman reference, eh?...a way to knit socks inside out and backwards. Trust me, I didn't know what I was doing and the lone sock has since been put into the back of a drawer somewhere. I trust my nephews will run across it when I'm long gone and they are weeding their way through this maze of a farmhouse with steamer trunk in every room. I keep thinking I'll find someone who has only one foot and would like a wool sock for their remaining foot but, thus far, no joy there.

Millie helped...ahem, meaning she actually cast on the start of this moiebus shrug shawl. It's a lovely pinky ruby purply wool acrylic blend yarn that, when finished, should sit on the shoulders, "shrugging" one in a warm hug. This is actually yarn that is to go to the Russian orphanage but in a finished state not as mere yarn. I wanted to send something to the woman who runs the school and hope she finds this acceptable.

The Komi Kids Yarn Project is one I started in 2004 and I'll tell you about it in another post. For now, gaze at the beauty that's, eventually, to be a warm hug. Dave took me to the eye doctor yesterday as I thought I'd scratched the cornea of my right eye. It's been bothering me for several days but not enough, really, to be worried about. Until Wednesday and then I got worried. It turns out I've several, more than a dozen, eyelashes growing into my eye ball and the doctor had to pull, cut and shave them so they eye would be pain free. Let me tell you...it takes GREAT faith to sit there, eyeball wide open, still as a mouse while the doctor comes at you with sharp instruments. The eyelashes were white, blonde, gray or something like that so they were difficult for me to see when I was peering in the mirror. I'm told this will reoccur so welcome to old age -smile-.

While in Bluefield, we went to Tuesday Morning and I found this lovely Araucania yarn. Again, it's in a purple ruby color and is a bulky blend of 70% Merino 20% alpaca 10% silk. AWWWWWW, OOHHHHH, touchy feely, moaning noises, sighs, sounds of joy and bliss. I bought all they had, a bit over 600 yards and I want to make something for me. Any ideas?

Also found this delish cashmere yarn by Elsebeth Lavold and it's incredible! There are three small hanks but enough, when combined with the tobacco colored yarn of same name and content, to make lovely hand warmers. Oh goodness, won't they feel like heaven when cold weather returns?

It would appear my knitting slump is over and just in time for warm and hot weather. Am I good or WHAT!? -smile- My timing seems to be a bit off but as long as I'm knitting it's okay. I've missed having yarn running through my fingers and as much as I adore quilting, it's just not quite the same as wool or other animal fiber.

Blessings ~ Millie ~ knitting ~ cashmere ~ wool ~ alpaca ~ silk ~

A Fine Fleece Winner!

We have a winner...but first, the disclaimers. We don't go for that high tech, fancy pants method of picking a winner. Nope, with us, it's simple and easy peasy as pie. I merely wrote the names on pieces of paper, tore them into, approximately, the same size and dropped them into a plastic bag. Dave had the pleasure of pulling a name out of the bag, so to speak.

A Fine Fleece was won by a Ravlery sister as well as one across the mountains...Iris. There were about fourteen folks who wanted to win so the chances were a whale of a lot better than any lottery I've ever seen. For those who didn't win, there will be other opportunities as I'm downsizing my library and will, about once a month, give away a book or books.

Hey Iris...I'm sorely tempted to say, come pick up your book the next time you come across the mountain but a deals a deal so I'll drop it in the mail this week. -smile-

The rest of y'll, stay tuned for more chances to win.

Blessings ~ books to give away ~ folks who enjoy books ~ yarn ~ knitting ~ rain ~ winning ~

Sheep Is Life

There's some sort of epizootics going around and, lucky me, I picked it up. I've been flat on my back and the days have, totally, run together. Today is the first day I've been at the computer in a week, maybe longer, and I'm still weaker than the new kittens playing in the barn loft.

The 12th annual Sheep is Life Celebration is in a few weeks but, alas, I can visit only via i-net. It's one of my dreams to visit this celebration, held at the Greyhills Academy Campus on the Navajo Nation in Tuba City, AZ. It's presented by Diné be’ iiná, Inc., a nonprofit organization and workshops, hands-on demos, vendors, rug auction and sheep and wool show round out the festivities.

Sometimes I think we should have our own sheep is life celebration in the southern Appalachians. Sheep have provided meat and fleece in these old mountains since they were brought over from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. In days past, sheep gut was used to make condoms and violin strings but was, erroneously, called cat gut. Clinton, neighbor and shearer, has one of the largest sheep flocks in the Commonwealth of VA; probably east of the Mississippi for that matter. He runs about six hundred ewes and lambs in the spring and less than that as he sells to market. He also runs a few goats as there's a large ethnic market for goat meat. Somehow I doubt any of his sheep or goats have names and he looks askance when I say, "oh, that's Sophie you've just finished shearing."

But, differences are what makes us alike and it takes all of us to make the world go 'round. It's only in western, "civilized" countries that we name, tame and keep our animals as pets; in other parts of the world those same animals are knows as "supper". I tell Dave we can't save them all so we save the ones we can.

Did I mention he's gone over the mountan to feed a stray dog? He's been trying to gentle this dog for a week, ever since I've been sick, and feeding it twice a day. Dave thinks she, the dog, would respond to a female voice and as soon as I'm able, I'll ride across the mountain with him. We don't need another dog, our dog girls are in double digit numbers now but Dave says this stray is beautiful and has tugged at his heart. What the hey. We'll do like we do at supper and put another potatoe in the pot. There's always room at the table for a hungry belly.

St. Francis of Assissi would be proud.

Blessings ~ spring ~ well health, coming again soon, hopefully ~ the i-net, keeping us connected ~ good books ~ zinneas ~ animals on the bed, keeping me company as I heal ~