Nora and I are back from our fabulous weekend in Vermont. As the old joke goes, "Why do people live in Burlington... to be close to Vermont." and while my city is technically within state lines, we saw a whole lot of the real Vermont over the course of three days. In fact, by Sunday evening, we had travelled through 57 towns! My sister-in-law's farm is just lovely. Her home is an early 19th century colonial with a "new" addition: new meaning late 1800s-1910s. Her 10 acre farm is home to horses, chickens, quail, rabbits, turkeys, sheep, goats, and a black labrador. Nora has been anticipating barn chores for weeks and was thrilled to sweep the aisle of the barn and gather eggs. She stayed up very late each night, but waking up to hot chocolate made with raw milk from the farm across the road was totally worth it!
On the way to the Wool and Sheep Festival (every thing's a festival in VT), there was a row of cars pulled over. It took us a moment to figure out what was stopping traffic, and then we saw him! A moose!!!
Okay, I've never seen a moose before; a fact that my husband, an Alaska native, finds hilarious. (Don't get me started on the aurora borealis either. I'm sure it's a myth!) So, I was snapping away with my camera from the safety of the car. Some folks were not so cautious, and one woman was bringing her child closer to it. Then, a trucker laid on the horn of an 18 wheeler -maybe due to the traffic congestion. Yikes. It was time to get outta there!
So, we continued on to the Vermont Wool and Sheep Festival. It was fun to go with people who have sheep as well as angora goats as my sister-in-law (a knitter) and niece (a weaver) asked questions to vendors that I wouldn't have even considered. So, I wound up learning a lot. Although I'm pretty sure that the question of owning my own flock of sheep is decided: no, there is a rich amount of to be learned about all of those fabulous natural fibers that will keep my quite busy for a lifetime!
Jacob sheep
Falling in love with angora rabbits. She had to settle with a Folkmanis puppet. Though, I think it's just a matter of time...
Weaving at the children's table
Border collie trials: my favorite!
and on the way back, we saw a lovely horse team passing us on the road. I whipped out my camera fast enough to prove it. Oh, it is clear that I am a city girl. I don't want to be, but I am. I'll give it a year or two before I settle into a life of felting, taking care of the angora rabbit Nora so desires, and I'll be so country, I'll just leave my camera in my bag when a horse team trots by... but I'll still take it out if there's a moose!
Thanks again, Wen and Heather, for another wonderful woolly weekend!