Lang Bay Picnic

This is what we did yesterday.

It was a lovely day with the sun shining, so off we went to the beach with our handy little barbecue, dogs, buns and fixins for a picnic. This isn't our first picnic of the year. We were out a couple of weeks ago, with our friends, Randy and Fern. I didn't get a pic of it unfortunately, but it was a good time just the same and the sun was shining just like this.

Lang Bay is always so beautiful.

This bald eagle joined us for a while. You can just see him perched on the tree behind the arbutus.And one last shot looking the other way along the beach and Tika, enjoying the outing.

Bits and Batts

Today we worked outside in the yard again.

And I'm pleased to report this.......

But, I hear you say, that's a photo of nothing,

Which is why I am pleased because before, it looked like this.

It took a lot of clearing up to get rid of that lot.

In other news I've been carding batts.

Of various colours, as you can see. There are more pics on flickr.

It was a year ago today....

...that I went into the barn to let the sheep out and give them their brekky and found this.

Our lovely Anise, just new born. We were all taken a bit by surprise. The ewes all came charging out of the barn and she was left on her own. It took a little investigation to find that Marmite was her Mum and had just forgotten her momentarily.

Here she is again, sporting her rainjacket which she wore when the weather was inclement.

Here is the proud Mum Marmite as she showed Anise off to the rest of the flock. They were all quite impressed I think. This was a cold day so she was wearing her woolly jacket.

So Happy Birthday Anise from us all.

Anise has gone to live with April and David, along with Tansy. You can see more of their adventures on April's flickr, which is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498905@N00/

Spinning into Spring

Yesterday was quite a busy day.

Here's what I did in the morning.

The Powell River Library hosted this session. The idea was to show people how to make a drop spindle out of "what you have". People brought a variety of fruit, oranges, apples and potatoes, (yes, I know a potato is not really a fruit !) and volunteers from the Fine Arts group showed them how to spin. It was very successful, and as you can see everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.

In the evening I attended the Rod LeMay photo exhibit, put on by the Powell River Historical Museum. It was a wine and cheese opening party for the exhibition which is open for the next week or so. It was very well attended and the photos are absoloutely amazing. I would thoroughly recommend going to see them. - I didn't take any pictures of the pictures !

I just had to include these shots of some first signs that Spring is on the way.

The first Periwinkles at Periwinkle.

These dear little snowdrops.

And these little purple primulas that flower year after year

They all make me happy to see them returning at last.

Saltery Bay Sunday

Today we decided to head out to Saltery Bay in the motorhome to cook our breakfast and just hang out. When we left the sun was shining but it did not stay like that. Never mind, we had fun anyway !

Here is Tika having a bit of a wander around the park.

This was what I took for entertainment, some of the dark Wensleydale fleece Simon brought back from the UK, some romney fleece and some grey angora. I plan to blend them together on the hand cards, just to see how that would work. Also you can just see a couple of drop spindles poking out of the basket. I will spin up the blend on a drop spindle.

Here's a picture of the blend on the card. Aren't the colours lovely together.

While I was carding and spinning, Simon read his motorcyle magazine. All in all we had a very nice day.
There are a couple more pics I put on flickr, if you care to take a look.

The Traveller Returns

Simon got back from England yesterday. We are all very pleased to see him.

I had to take this picture of all the stuff he brought me back.

There are all kinds of sheepy things, lovely pink wellies, walkers crisps, Bovril, among other things.

And then there is this.

Gorgeous Wensleydale fleece. Greasy with that wonderful smell of sheep.

I've been washing it and it is now drying by the woodstove. The black fleece is particularly lovely.