Hot Summer Days

The dog days of summer are finally upon us.  After a long and wet Spring, summer was slow to arrive.  However these past few weeks, we've had several days with temperatures in the low 100s.  As you can well imagine, wearing a wool coat at this time of year is rather uncomfortable.  Our breeding groups will be put together in the next couple of weeks, so it is important to keep the sheep healthy and happy - and happy at this time of year means naked, if you are a sheep.  Below are photos of our shearer, Manuel Santana, hard at work.

Feeling comfortable and looking great!

On a Tear

I've been infused with more energy lately - who knows why.  It's not like I have less to do.  But I find there is a welcome and subtle shift in my life, a greater emphasis on the important and a move away from the trivial.  I am able to create again.  This skill left me during the time of my mother's illness and subsequent death from ovarian cancer during 2007-2008.  Mom would be glad to see that I am creating again; she was an accomplished photographer and was actively exploring digital media at the time she became ill.  She always encouraged me to become and illustrator because she loved my drawings.  And this fall I've enrolled in a class on the topic - who knows where it shall lead, but it feels right.  These past few weeks, I've worked on first spinning and then knitting this small shawl.  The yarn is a 60/40 wool/bamboo blend and the colorway is called Downton Abbey after one of my favorite TV shows.  It's the first time I've worked with bamboo and I like it.  It adds shine to the wool and is a great blend for our cool summer evenings.