"Summer Silence"

"In summer, I do not come to worship

So much as worship comes to me

In the morning, golden light splashed across my rooms, and roses the color of wine greet me in the alley

As they bow to me in the breeze, I bow back




At noon, Sunflowers refuse to turn their face from me

Until again, I give a slight bow

What else was I to do?"







From "Sonata for Voice and Silence: Meditations" by Mark Belletini, copywrite 2008 by Skinner House Books in Boston. Mark Belletini is the senior parish minister at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, Ohio.

It's been a "week" that's for sure -

First off, my assistant at work is having "back problems" - so far, she's been to her Nurse Practitioner 2 or 3 times, a chiropractor a couple of times - unfortunately disasterous - and then there were the three trips to the ER - to top it all off - she's only worked about 1/2 time in the past 10 days and word on the street is that she won't be coming back for another week!! Eeek - we are so, so very far behind.

Secondly, The Shepherd and I had planned for a month or so to go to Yakima (in eastern Washington) this past weekend for the one year anniversary memorial service for my Brother in Law. In the Native American culture of the Yakima Indians, the family of the deceased gives a sort of mini "Potlatch" where the family gives a feast for the guests, proceeded by singing, stories, and a "give -away" of items to the guests - some items which had belonged to the person who passed away, some items which were purchased new. It was really wonderful to hear the stories that his friends told - a very nice service.

We received a ceremonial canoe paddle and a beautiful fleece blanket (ironically the pattern on the blanket was by an acquaintance of ours, Bellingham artist Jodi Bergsma).

It was just an "overnight" trip (about 5 hours driving each way) - although we had time to stop in Monroe and take some more fleeces to our friend and Washington Wool dot Net member, Gretchen Wilson, and our house sitter worked out well - she had a good time and even Sinda slept with her on the bed at night.

And these beautiful pears came from my sister's in-laws orchard. Yes, they are as sweet and juicy as they look.

Haircuts in September?

Last spring, before we could get Pearl's 9 inch fleece sheared, it got so heavy that she started rolling (in an attempt to roo it?) on the ground and rubbing up against things, which totally felted it right on her body. So, as her fleece was already measuring 4-6 inches, The Shepherd decided that he was going to have her sheared, now. Unfortunately, our regular shearer Marsha was not available, but she recommended a young fellow named Zander, who lives on Guemes Island - about an hour & a half's drive and a 10 minute ferry ride away. He called Zander and he was going to be available Saturday morning "anytime before 11:00" - so we made our plans - get up early - he loaded the sheep (did I mention that we brought Luna too?) into the trailer - I had to get up early (on a Saturday!) and off we went. Well, there are many beautiful places on the way to Guemes (pronounded guay'-mas) and you will have to trust me on that, because I left my camera at home (remember what I said about getting up early?)

Guemes Island is served by the Washington State Ferry system - They have a little ferry that probably holds 25 or so cars - we just made the cut for the trip over, and had to wait a crossing on the way back. But it was a nice day and surprisingly the girls were very quiet (probably so stunned by what was going on that they couldn't speak!)

Anyhow, Zander seems to have taken naturally to shearing sheep - he wasn't bothered much by their squirmy-ness (I however, was about ready to have a fit because Luna was thrashing around so much I thought she was going to break her silly neck). Even so, she got a beautiful haircut, as you can see, with nary a nick.





He got so close her skin looks like corduroy! Actually with the warm weather we are having this week, I hope they don't get sunburned.






So, sheeps were shorn, and we got back to the mainland, stopped and had a quick sub sandwich, then we headed to Camano Island (this time, accessed by a bridge, not a ferry) where The Shepherd was going to check on another one of his landscaping jobs.





He did these raised beds last spring. Don't these folks have a fantastic view!








And this bed along side the driveway, with another "dry streambed"











And this bed by their garage - these pictures were actually taken in April - everything looks very healthy and "grown up" now.

We were there for an hour or so, while he confered with the homeowners - I sat in the nice sun in the truck and read a good book. And the girls were very quiet.

The trip home was a straight shot up I-5 - Sheep unloaded and back in to the barn - where everyone looked at them and went "Eeek - who are you?" (no matter that they had all been together less than 8 hours before).

The other thing that was planned for the afternoon (before the detour to Camano Island was on the docket) was going over to my friend Den and Sharon's to look at, and hopefully, purchase some Alpaca fleeces to blend with some of our Shetland wool. Here is one of the fleeces we bought - this one is actually for Kathy at Sheep Thrills Farm in Arizona. The three we got were white, rose grey and a little lighter than this one. Hopefully they will mix well with our Shetland fleeces and be fun to spin as well.

And now for something a little different

Some of you may know that in his "everyday life" The Shepherd is a landscaper. He has worked for the same company here in Whatcom County for almost 20 years. We often will take little drives around to see the jobs that he is working on, sometimes to check on the job, sometimes to admire his handywork.


Last Sunday, we got to just go admire his handywork. The company has done a couple of jobs over the last few years for this nice little lady. She has a beautiful place and you can tell that she works very hard on it.

She wanted an "island" put in her driveway.

The Shepherd/Landscaper helped her design how she wanted it to look. Then they started by piling up the dirt, added some BIG rocks and a huge old stump and a "downed log".

Then they made a dry stream bed with river run rocks and and it end up along the edge.

The homeowner will plant the soil with ground covers and ferns and other plants. She has already tucked some ferns in around the downed log.







And they've planted some pines and another little tree to get her started.

Wouldn't it be fun to be able to do stuff like this all the time. He doesn't always get these creative projects, but it makes it all worth while, when, like today, he got back to the nursery and the homeowner had sent a very nice note to his bosses saying what a wonderful job he had done and how happy she is with it.

Wasn't me -

Nope, it wasn't me, up at the crack of dawn taking this spectacular picture - it was The Shepherd. Did a nice job, didn't he?

A fun thing to do -

We have two main local grocery chains in town that compete for our dollars - actually it isn't too much of a competition - one is far superior in it's produce and its deli especially - the other used to have pretty good prices but they have been through some hard times and have had to close a bunch of their stores - It had OK store brands (Western Family), but horrible produce and now they've changed to a second rate store brand and they still have horrible produce. But that is where we shop because we've been shopping there for 14 years and know all the people who work in the one particular store.

The "superior" store company has 33 other stores in Washington and Oregon. It is nice, because where ever you go to one of their stores, you can be sure that the deli is going to be one of the best in town - and it is also nice because their stores are essentially laid out the same so you don't have to go hunting around to find what you need. They have a store in Yakima that was very helpful to me last year when my bro-in-law passed away, cause I promised my sister that I'd provide some sweet breads and fruit for after the graveside service (which was at the break of dawn)


Oops, sorry, I digress - anyhow, the "superior" store also buys out ALL the peaches from an orchard in Eastern Washington, guaranteeing that their customers will get the next best thing to actually going right out to the orchard. I love fresh peaches. LOVE them - I can still remember some fresh peaches that I bought in the fall of 1974 on a trip up the Methow river - they were just big and sweet and juicy. I don't know about you, but I find it interesting how such a small thing can still occupy a spot in my memory almost 35 years later... Oops - digressing again.



Anyhow, Saturday I went to the "superior" store to get some peaches, but when I pulled out a cart in the parking lot, I noticed a flier that said something about Hair Cuts to benefit Agape' House (a local shelter for homeless families and battered women) 8-5 at "the superior store" - why, that was where I was! - It was just 4 pm, it was for a good cause, and I've been needing to get my bangs cut for a while and get my hair trimmed in the back ever since I got my ponytail sucked up in the vacuum cleaner a few months ago - (and no, I'm not going to go into the story behind that - let's just say it was an incredibly stupid thing that happened, and leave it at that).

I wandered over to where the hair stylists were, they directed me where to pay - and a young lady walked up and said "I'm Julie and I'm going to cut your hair, and please, please may I braid it when I'm done?" I love having my hair braided, so whis was even going to be a better deal. And here I am, modeling my new Washington Wool dot Net T-shirt and here is the finished hair-do. Pretty cool, huh?

She put enough hairspray on it that it stayed nice over the night and I was able to wear it like that for our church BBQ yesterday too. It was just a fun thing to do.

Sleeping spots...

gri·mal·kin (gr-môlkn, -ml-)n. 1. A cat, especially an old female cat

Saw this word on a "Word a day" calendar many years ago - funny how some words stick with you. Sinda is definately a grimalkin. She has gotten a little ecentric in her later years (she was born in April 1990 at the home of a co-worker - the result of a tryst between their little lady cat and the good looking Siamese lad next door). Although she and Neelix didn't really see eye to eye - I think she misses having another feline around, and has been crying a lot lately. She doesn't want for food, or water, (sometimes for clean kittybox - oops) - but really likes to have constant company. I have to be careful, because she picks the most unusual places to sleep - recently it has been a spot on a counter in the dining room right in front of the telephone answering machine.


Last month she decided that she liked a spot in the very corner of our bedroom. I didn't always look there before I left and one day, I locked her in the bedroom for the WHOLE day while we were at work.

She showed her displeasure by doing something she has never done before - She peed on our bed - MY side of the bed, to be exact, and because it didn't look messed up, I didn't realize it until I went to bed at 12:30 a.m. - by that time The Shepherd had been asleep for three hours - Luckily she didn't pee gallons - just enough to dampen the sheets a little - so I ended up putting a thick bath towel over it - I'm not one much for sleeping on the couch - next morning all the bedding got stripped right down to the mattress and transported to the back of my car. Strangely enough, I had an "appointment" at about 3:00 that afternoon - and left work to go to the laundromat & wash all the sheets, blankets and matress pads off our KING size bed. Nonetheless to say, I check in that corner now before I leave the room in the morning.


She really liked this spot on top of some boxes in the dining room for a while - she could lie here and look out the window. She seems to have abandoned that spot, although I noticed her jump up there this afternoon. I'd much rather have her in this spot than on the dining room counter - but what can you do when that's where they want to sleep, and they are (just a little) spoiled.

She also seems to be a little bit of a seismograph - Wednesday night she talked and talked and talked and talked (remember she is part Meezer) and tried to get into closets - very strange behavior - but turns out that Thursday a.m. there was a 6.1 earthquake northwest of here off the north end of Vancouver Island. And by Thursday night, she was all calm, like nothing was wrong. Gonna have to keep a closer eye on her - maybe she'll let us know when "the big one" is on its way...

Busy, busy, busy...

First it was the Olympics (loved the platform diving and the synchronized swimming!) then it was the Democratic National Convention (fell in love with Michelle Obama and was greatly inspired by the grace of Hillary Clinton) I am excited and proud to have our candidates transcend gender and race. It will be an interesting fall.

Got my church newsletter done tonight - to the printer tomorrow - and I'll finish my timecards for payroll in the morning before work. Whew -

But this is what I did for relaxation - I turned this (it's Regina) -








into this - (this is a real close up picture - I need to remember to put a coin in the picture like Leigh does.)

Not as good as my blue ribbon yarn - I didn't prep the fiber good enough on the first bobbin - Learned my lesson - hope it's one I'll remember because it makes life (and spinning) a whole lot easier!) Prep, prep, prep! (although there is something to be said by spinning from a bump of pin-drafted roving vs. spinning from a bat... even if it's been pulled into roving...hmm)

And, then maybe...

Yesterday, I showed you how well H.B. does on a halter and a leash.



When The Shepherd switched the boy's pastures out last week, he decided to try Taylor out on halter and leash.







Taylor wasn't exactly what we would call "thrilled" by the whole experience - this is what we call his "dead sheep" imitation.

Does a pretty good one, doesn't he?






Needless to say, The Shepherd wasn't too thrilled either - so, back to moving sheep the old fashioned way.

No more halter "training" -

Let's go get the paper, dad.

Three "Bleautiful" Things......

This was the sky last weekend during the heat wave - it was the most beautiful color of blue.

And here is my beautiful blue yarn - (that won a blue ribbon)

And here is the BIG blue ribbon that I won for my crocheted "hobo" bag. I used all the yarn that I spun "learning" to spin - including some Pitt Island Merino and some Gottland from New Zealand from Kathy, and lots of different samples from my teacher Yvonne (check out her "chicken house adventure"!) including alpaca (- a dream to spin), some Correydale and and a whole bunch of colored Angora locks that I hand carded and plied with the Correydale and some other pretty white wool which escapes me now. (the reason it escapes me is because I DIDN"T WRITE IT DOWN, ok, there I said it!) Anyhow, I still got a beautiful Blue ribbon even if I (oh, how embarassing) forgot to tie up a few loose ends...

We interrupt this blog to bring you an IMPORTANT message!

This handsome young lad is Marietta's Louie, and he is FOR SALE!

Louie comes from a line of prize winning fleece sheeps and, he took fifth place in individual Shetland Ram Lambs at the recent Skagit County Fair and he and his brother Danny took the BLUE ribbon for best pair of ram lambs.









He has a fantastic horn set. Probably the best of any ram lamb that we've ever had here.










He was, as you can see, born brown, and now has a very pretty, lusterous fleece. The Shepherd says it is musket, but I think he will be more of a fawn myself. It is very much like Luna's fleece that won first place at this year's Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene Oregon.

His mother is an unusual copper colored moorit, and his brother Danny is quite dark - darker than the brown tips on Louie.






He has a very nice tail and is actually quite "square" (although this picture doesn't show it very well).















He is good natured and is halter trained.

He needs a new home, SOON!

We need to find him a new home, because:

#1 - We don't need three rams - The Shepherd will be putting one girl in with HB and three in with Danny, who like his mother is moorit all the way thru.
#2 - We don't need another fawn colored sheep - sometimes you just have to make those decisions and somebody, no matter how sweet they are, doesn't make the cut.

I hope you will consider adding Louie to your flock. He is one sweet boy. Leave me a comment if you are interested and I'll have The Shepherd get right back to you!

Whew, it's hot

It's only 78 degrees here today - cool by comparison to other places in the state - where three 100 degree days have practically cooked the blueberries right on the stem at my sister Wisten's farm south of here in Lewis County, or 102 degrees in Yakima where Merrill and her family lives. (that would cook me on the stem, to be sure) Nance, in Tacoma has a bearable 82 degrees today - not much warmer than we are.

So to offer up a little cooling breeze, here is a picture of our front yard from last winter. Breath in the cool air? Ha, nice try - I don't think it's working.......

In Memory of Violette Noelle -

Please take a moment in your day to send healing thoughts to the family of Tracey & her kitty Monty Q who lost their sweet child Violette Noelle in an accident last week. Her funeral was this morning in their home in Maryland.

I have colored my words violet in her honor.

I'd also like to thank The Cat Blogosphere for their lovely tributes to Neelix. It was very much appreciated.

We went to the Animal Fair ~ ~ ~

The fun of our trip to the Skagit County Fair was somewhat pre-empted by Neelix's passing - but here is my report (finally, you say?)

Here is our little "corner" of the world - between two big pens of Suffolk sheeps - or pens of BIG Suffolk sheeps, I should say - the little gals on our left had market lambs who were also being shown in open class - cut short by the processor's arrival on Saturday morning. Many tears as they said good bye to their sheep friends - (and that would be why I could never raise market animals - you work so long getting them tame so they will show well, then, it's like the Queen says in Alice in Wonderland - "off with their heads!"




Here are "the inmates". They were surprisingly well behaved for the whole time that we were there. Of course there were lost of treats involved with the whole process too...









The Shepherd had worked tirelessly on halter training - so to test out the situation before the show, they went on a little jaunt around the fair -

They boys were perfect gentlemen out on their walkabout - and good Shetland ambassadors!!














No fair would be complete without a visit to the chickens, would it now?










John shares a few last minute hints with our friend Margot, who helped show Danny.

Our friend Nancy G. showed Louie for us. Thank you Ladies - we couldn't have done it without you!








Our Judge was Amy Wolfe, who judged last year as well. She makes a point of giving the breed history and telling what the breed is used for before she judges each class. Very nice young woman. (She is also a shearer and a spinner - so she definately knows what she is looking for)








In the Ram Lamb category, Danny placed third and Louie placed 5th. Louie, who is the fellow with the WIDE horn set in the second picture is for sale. Anyone want to add some Flett to their flock?









Our boys also got the BLUE ribbon for the best pair of ram lambs. They were so evenly matched, she said there was no other option.

Luna's fleece (blue ribbon from Black Sheep Gathering) took second place in the Shetland lamb fleeces - although he would have been happier with the Blue, the fact that she came in second indicates that it is a truly superior fleece.





Here is a picture of our motley crew - NW Shetland Breeders and Washington Wool dot Net Board Members.

Starting back row going clockwise -
Me, Nancy G., The Shepherd, Tom S, Dave & Franna (in the red), Sally T., Donna S. & Joyce T.

Joyce & Nancy joined me with their spinning wheels - we were quite the little "educational" display for people.

It was, all in all, fun. And we met many nice people, made new friends and got to see old friends - that's what the fairs are all about, isn't it?

A brighter note - BLUE ribbons for ME!

From my spinning class last spring I got lots of wonderful fibers to play with - I spun up this and then decided it would be really pretty if I plied it with











THIS -

I spun up this hand carded fiber from some angora locks that I bought a couple of years ago at Black Sheep Gathering.







And plied it with the grey to make THIS - which, along with a whole bunch of other samples, I crocheted into a "hobo style" bag. (which, of course I don't have a picture of ...but you'll see it soon!)

Long story short - I entered the bag in our local NW Washington Fair and got an email from a friend who was nice enough to check on my entries for me and I got a BLUE RIBBON!

I also go a blue ribbon on a skein of handspun from some of the fiber that I brought back from BSG this year. I am very excited! WooHoo!

Summer is back

Well, we are back to summer - the mosquitoes are so big they cast shadows on the wall and although it is no where near the heat that some have been having, it's too hot for me. It was, at least, blissfully cool this past weekend for the fair. And as I watched the raindrops fall onto the pond on Saturday morning after we buried Neelix, I could only think that Mother Nature was as sad as we were -

I will be posting some pictures and stories about our fair adventures in a couple of days. It doesn't seem appropriate just right now. And, I need to take a little break - It is still so hard - coming home from work, there was no fluffy buddy to meet me at the gate - when I went thru the cat food aisle at the grocery store tonight I got this wave of sadness - I had to do some deep breathing in order not to make a spectacle of myself!

We've had over 250 visitors in the last couple of days. The kind words from everyone who left comments are so appreciated and comforting. There is much sadness in The Cat Blogosphere right now as several kitties have crossed over the bridge recently and Monty Q's "bean sprout" Violette died as a result of a fall. As sad as we are over losing Neelix, I cannot help but think that the pain of losing such a sweet child would be incapacatingly immense...

Take care, all. T.

Neelix peacefully passed over the bridge early this morning in his sleep and now rests in a quiet spot in the Shepherd's Garden where he can snoopervise the comings and goings as he always did.

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and left messages, as well as emails that I have received. We are tired beyond words from not getting much sleep last night and from being at the fair with the boys since 7:00 a.m. today, but I wanted to check in with your comments as I knew they would be loving and help me sleep on this very sad night. I will be by in the next week or two to say thank you to all of you who left your kind words.

We received the following picture and poem from our friends Karla and Miss Peach - No one could have said it any better. Close your eyes now, my longtime friend,
and let this time of suffering
come to a peaceful end.
We'll walk together soon, I'm sure,
as winter turns to spring,
when snow gives way to budding leaves
and birds begin to sing.
The gentle breeze shall call your name
along the water's edge.
For what we shared and what you meant
shall never be forgot.
Your friendship spans the years behind,
your memory ahead.
You'll always be there next to me,
companion and good friend.

I have sad news

My heart is breaking and my eyes are past leaking. We came home from the fair tonight and Neelix is not able to stand or walk. I tried to give him water with a syringe and he was not able to swallow. He is losing his fight.

We have an emergency vet here in town who said they would put him to sleep for us, but John doesn't want to stress him further by taking him on a car ride. We will see what happens overnight - if he is still here at 5:00 a.m. whe he gets up to do chores, we will take him in then.

I don't want him to die here alone tomorrow. He has such a strong heart and is so full of love, I'm sure that is what has kept him going this past week or two when any ordinary cat would have gone to the bridge. I know that those who came before, Frank, Delores and Jaxom are waiting for him so they can show him all the special places to sit and watch the angels.

I'll post some special pictures of him in the next day or two - I think I'll go sit with him a while before I go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow, and whatever the outcome of the fair, it will be tinged with sadness at the loss of our sweet boy.