The ever lovely Snowdrop, who'll sleep late and long at home, wakes up at the farmhouse shortly after dawn and by 7:20 she clamors to come down. Well, that's fine. I'm up with the cheepers anyway.
The little girl is just a bit under the weather -- an expected thing, given her first exposure to school this year -- but you would never know it for the enthusiasm she brings downstairs!
It's too early for all of us to sit down to a farmhouse breakfast and so I give her her beloved yoyo's (aka yogurts) first and, too, her bath and even now it still seems a tad early to rouse grandpa Ed and so we take a little stroll outside.
She's fine with that, but I'm not. Still too buggy for my liking. We give the cheepers their scraps of bread and come back inside and guess what -- the big guy is up and willing to play and that just makes the little girl so happy.
Play ball?
Yes....
And then I tell her that she can join us now for our regular old breakfast and her cup is beyond full!
Yeah, I like everything you guys eat!
Everything!
She is to go back home this morning, but I give her parents just a little more time to sleep in -- they're the ones rising early all week to get her to school on time -- and Snowdrop of course is in full play mode now. We dance...
... she reads...
You say that's a cake, grandma? Do we have cake?
She is an absolute delight (says unbiased grandma nina).
Snowdrop returns home. And now, Ed and I have this hankering to head out. Jefferson, a town just about 30 miles to our east, hosts the annual Wisconsin sheep and wool festival. We've been to it before (Ocean is a good reminder of such things!), but that was seven years ago and you, of course, know that I've recently taken up thinking sheepish thoughts and making up sheeply rhymes. Basically, I find sheep lovely to behold and terrifically interesting to inspect up close.
Sheep, about to be herded by the ever brilliant border collies.
The collies, anxious to get to their job.
The preparation at the festival, the excitement...
The competition.
The sheep.
We must stop meeting like this!
Ed and I watch the sheering demonstration.
Come on out, babe!
I got her in position!
... Get that wool off!
There!
Me, I like to keep my wooly face wooly!
The festival is about sheep, but it is also about their coats and the yarn we spin.
This spinner struck me as so beautifully fitted to the task...
And there are vendors, selling everything imaginable related to sheep. We don't ignore them. We buy five chunks of sheep cheese.
And there are the lambs. These are not yet a day old.
mom, nudging...
And oh, those hairstyles!
Finally, the herding competition...
The end of a full day. Should I buy Snowdrop a t-shirt? No, I mean -- what are the chances of her loving sheep all the way into adulthood?
Sheep like to sleep.
Goodnight sheep!
Goodnight, good night...
Goodnight!
The little girl is just a bit under the weather -- an expected thing, given her first exposure to school this year -- but you would never know it for the enthusiasm she brings downstairs!
It's too early for all of us to sit down to a farmhouse breakfast and so I give her her beloved yoyo's (aka yogurts) first and, too, her bath and even now it still seems a tad early to rouse grandpa Ed and so we take a little stroll outside.
She's fine with that, but I'm not. Still too buggy for my liking. We give the cheepers their scraps of bread and come back inside and guess what -- the big guy is up and willing to play and that just makes the little girl so happy.
Play ball?
Yes....
And then I tell her that she can join us now for our regular old breakfast and her cup is beyond full!
Yeah, I like everything you guys eat!
Everything!
She is to go back home this morning, but I give her parents just a little more time to sleep in -- they're the ones rising early all week to get her to school on time -- and Snowdrop of course is in full play mode now. We dance...
... she reads...
You say that's a cake, grandma? Do we have cake?
She is an absolute delight (says unbiased grandma nina).
Snowdrop returns home. And now, Ed and I have this hankering to head out. Jefferson, a town just about 30 miles to our east, hosts the annual Wisconsin sheep and wool festival. We've been to it before (Ocean is a good reminder of such things!), but that was seven years ago and you, of course, know that I've recently taken up thinking sheepish thoughts and making up sheeply rhymes. Basically, I find sheep lovely to behold and terrifically interesting to inspect up close.
Sheep, about to be herded by the ever brilliant border collies.
The collies, anxious to get to their job.
The preparation at the festival, the excitement...
The competition.
The sheep.
We must stop meeting like this!
Ed and I watch the sheering demonstration.
Come on out, babe!
I got her in position!
... Get that wool off!
There!
Me, I like to keep my wooly face wooly!
The festival is about sheep, but it is also about their coats and the yarn we spin.
This spinner struck me as so beautifully fitted to the task...
And there are vendors, selling everything imaginable related to sheep. We don't ignore them. We buy five chunks of sheep cheese.
And there are the lambs. These are not yet a day old.
mom, nudging...
And oh, those hairstyles!
Finally, the herding competition...
The end of a full day. Should I buy Snowdrop a t-shirt? No, I mean -- what are the chances of her loving sheep all the way into adulthood?
Sheep like to sleep.
Goodnight sheep!
Goodnight, good night...
Goodnight!
