A-MIGHTY-BIG-GIVEAWAY!!!!

How I wish I had some land!! I would so love to be a shepherd. Alas, though, my motley neighbors just wouldn't understand. For the right person, though, Susie's generous gift is a total treat! Go Susie!!! http://www.fiberfarm.com/2009/09/a-mighty-big-giveaway

Sharing . . . a few of my favorite thinsg

Since I haven't blogged for awhile, I thought it might be fun to share some of the stuff I've been looking at . . . wasting time? . . . exploring . . . doing when I might have been blogging. So here goes. How I spend my time:

I love reading this "magazine." There's just so much there to look at! It's just fun. http://www.wildfibersmagazine.com/

These guys have some great pictures. I think I want to go to sheering school at Cornell. http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/sheep/

This is pretty funny . . . http://probablybadnews.com/

And I think this is just about as cool as it gets . . . talk about being organized!! http://www.librarything.com/

I found this site yesterday. Yikes!!! Too many things to do, and not enough time to do them. I love, love, love looking at all these beautiful things!!! http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2006/05/enes-scarf.html

One of my favorite stores is Shabby Sheep. They now carry this yarn . . . I love it too, and I love this site. http://www.spudandchloe.com/

I love this idea . . . knitting from fiber that is instrumental in peacekeeping. Makes you feel like you're really part of the process, and not part of the problem. http://www.peacefleece.com/adult3.htm

This is pretty cool. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/at-email/trends-extreme-knitting-073567

These pillows are so beautiful, aren't they??? Yikes. http://www.flickr.com/photos/55397648@N00/3864382060/

Yikes . .

I've been so dang busy for the past couple of weeks. But I found this and HAD to share . . . sooooo cute!!
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/enlarge/squirrel-portrait-banff.html

I love this too . . .

I saw this video several days ago, but it was a shortened version. Here's the full length version of one of the sweetest wedding marches I've every seen . . . maybe THE sweetest . . .


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0&feature=player_embedded

What makes me happy . . .

I'm so happy that Stephanie Nielson won the Madsen cargo bike. If you haven't followed her story, go to the link above. She's a real inspiration to me, in many, many ways. Love her!!!

Aunt Margaret . . .

My favorite aunt was my mother's sister, Margaret. There are mixed reports, but from some sources I'm told that her real name was Margaret Gertrude, but I'm not sure what it really was. I probably should settle those rumors by checking with County records and confirming it one way or the other. There were similar conflicting rumors about her mother's name . . . was it Bertha Ellen or Ellen Bertha? Someone, I'm sure, knows the truth. Probably my cousin, Tim's wife, Anne. Bottom line is it really doesn't matter to me--she'll always be my sweet Aunt Margaret. And I miss her.

Oh, oh, oh . . .

I had such fun at Jacob's Reward Fiber Farm yesterday. What a great experience. It's hard to say just what I enjoyed the most because it was a multi-sensory experience. There's so much to talk about . . . the coffee was excellent (Cindy, you're my kind of girl); Cindy was so welcoming and warm and approachable--I think she's my new best friend; the Little Red Barn was cool and smelled so good; Smokey was soooooo sweet--she purred and cooed at me several times; Peggy, Linda, and Holly were fantastic (how blessed am I to have the opportunity to meet such fantastic, creative people???!!!); the spinning went ok--I certainly need to practice, but I think this is something I could get used to); the fiber was FABULOUS--yikes, the barny smell on some of the fleece was so out of this world perfect!!); the sheep were adorable; the new alpacas are so beautiful--they fleece is so different than I thought it would be like--I loved it--I think Micah is my favorite :o); and I think Zacchaeus is my favorite--and I love the name of the breed: BABYDOLL!!--how adorable is that???

Ok. So I can't go on forever talking about this and that--all over the map. I think I'll go on to the party, but I also think I need to blog later in depth about all the stuff I love about JRFF--stay tuned for that.

But the party for my birthday/father's day was so much fun!! Erin was there--she got ready for her date after dinner and Ryan, her date, picked her up here--he's such a nice guy. We've known Ryan for many years (he's Steve's best friend), and we've always liked him. Anyway, Erin was there, Steve and Riann and Rowan were there, and Phil and me. Phil barbecued chicken--he did a great job on it--it looked and tasted like it had been roasted, not grilled--and it was fabulous. We had watermelon, macaroni salad, potato salad, cherry pie, New York cheese cake. And we swam a LOT. Rowan loves the water--we all do, but she really likes it. I like that she shows her enthusiasm for things. Riann shows her enthusiasm, but I think Rowan gets that more from Steve. When he enjoys something, he enjoys it with gusto. Riann is a little more subdues. Anyway, Rowan really shows her enjoyment. She also finished her acrylic painting she's been working. It's drying now, so when it's dry I'll frame it and give it to Riann and Steve. They'll like that. I think the next painting we do I'll pick one group of colors and let her go with that group only. This one is a mix of ALL colors and it's great, but think I'll try just groups next time.

Ok. Gotta go. I know this is so rambling. I'll post more maybe later and tomorrow for sure. Got things to do, though--like SPINNING my green/blue fiber!!! Yay!!