Easter is coming

I have had such a nice time watching the lambs grow this year, photographing them for you and me, and documenting their progress. I knew what was coming next and have been trying not to think about it. For the past three Tuesdays, The Farmer has been taking lambs to the local livestock auction in Whately. With Easter approaching, this is the time of year when lambs are worth the most money. It is also the time that The Farmer’s other business, the one that pays most of the bills around here, starts to pick up. And so, many of the lambs have been leaving the farm.

Taking lambs to market is a total crapshoot. We never know which buyers will be there and how much the buyers will be paying. (Most of the buyers are middle men who truck the lambs to a slaughterhouse and then market them to butchers throughout the Northeast.) We don’t know what other farmers will be bringing their lambs either – the more lambs there are, the less they usually bring. Farm raised lambs come from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts to be sold at this market. All of these lambs are raised by farmers like us and are good quality, spring lambs.

The Farmer unloads the sheep and they are tagged with an ear tag to identify each one along with the newly required US Government National Animal Identification System Tag (read more about this here). The lambs are held in a pen and then late in the afternoon, they are individually taken into the sale room floor. They are weighed on a scale and then the buyers look and bid. It all happens very quickly – in about 30 seconds they are sold.


Each week, the selling price is quickly established – it is usually related to the weight of the lamb. Of course, how the lamb looks also helps. A sickly looking animal goes for barely anything (although I must say, none of the animals ever look sick.) Shortly before Easter, the magic weight for the highest price was between 30 and 46 pounds. (The guy in the green hat in the photo below was paying the most money.) On Tuesday, there were 300 lambs. Last week there were only 60. You can guess that we got a better price last week. But the price this week wasn’t bad and we can’t complain. After the Easter flurry dies down, the auction price of the lamb plummets.


I consider the auction a bit of entertainment in the countryside. When you walk into the auction hall, there is usually the smell of billy goat (the goats are auctioned just before the sheep). A bunch of retired farmers hang around all day shooting the breeze. The talk, as you can imagine ranges from farming, livestock, weather, prices, the government and more farming. There is a lunch counter which is busy all day.


For the past couple years, The Farmer, Julia and I have been going to the auction to see the lambs being sold late in the afternoon. When I see our first lamb enter the auction floor, my heart always sinks. But then I swallow hard and get over it and start to pay attention to who is bidding and how much the lamb is going for. I think it is good for Julia (and me) to see the process of selling of the lambs. It’s easy to get all wrapped up in the cute, sweet, fluffiness factor of the sheep and lambs and then forget about what we are really doing here. We watch them being loaded into the trailers and then wait for the check – hoping it will be decent enough to contribute to paying our tax bill. We don’t know where the lambs go nor whose table they will be on for Easter. We do know that we have produced a good quality product and can be proud of it.

We still have about fifty lambs and 150 (?) sheep left on the farm – it’s really hard to count. Some were too small to go to the auction. Some of the better ewe lambs we will keep for breeding stock. Some of the lambs we are going to grow out through the summer on pasture. We had two new sets of twins last week and there should be more coming later this spring.

I am seriously looking into marketing our grass fed lambs to the “foodie” crowd – either here in the Pioneer Valley or Boston. (I thank many of you for cheering me on.) On Tuesday, I ran into Diane Kanzler, the main organizer of Franklin County’s Fiber Twist and a party at our local yarn store Northern Woolies. She gave me some good starting points and we’ll see where it goes from here. I’m not sure if I will be doing the Farmer’s Market circuit or not. So, if you are interested in a grass fed lamb of know anyone who is, send me an e-mail and I will put you on my list.

Conflict

Conflict abounds in this world! We try to avoid it here in our corner of the world but it is pretty much impossible. Listening to the radio, I hear about it happening far away from us. In the local paper I read about neighbors squabbling endlessly. From Julia, I hear about conflict in the school yard and lunch room. Suffice it to say, it is pretty difficult to avoid conflict in this world of ours.

In my bucolic looking chicken pen, there has been conflict for over three years. I have two roosters – Mr. Black (an Aracauna) and Whitey (a Leghorn). (Mr. Black is in the back of the photo below.) In the world of roosters or cocks as they are sometimes referred to, there is always conflict. Last spring it became rather violent. (There’s something about spring that brings out the worst in roosters.)


Normally, my roosters sort it out by themselves and one becomes the king of the chicken pen. I observe their behavior from afar generally being quite entertained. But last spring, Mr. Black did all-out battle with Whitey. I watched the squirmish for the better part of the day. I had to step in. Mr. Black wouldn’t stop. Poor Whitey was bloodied and so beaten I wasn’t sure he was going to survive. I removed him from the pen and he convalesced in peace in the mudroom. He seemed happy enough. For over a year now, he’s been my “yardbird.”

Once in a while, I let all the chickens out to run free and eat bugs and grass. (Although this seems like a lovely idea, it often turns into deadly chaos due to my Border Collies' insistent herding and nudging.) Every time I did this last summer, Mr. Black picked a fight with Whitey and madness ensued. At night, all the chickens returned to the coop with the exception of Whitey who by then had taken up official residence in the both the dogwood tree and in the winter months inside the mudroom. He was safe there. (Okay - by now, you can picture the mudroom. We shut the door and don’t let anyone walk through it. It desperately needs an official hoe-out and washdown.)

Yesterday, with spring in the air, Mr. Black escaped at feeding time. I tried without success to recapture him and gave up. I was curious to see if he would attack his nemisis. Did he remember Whitey was roaming free? Peace seemed to be settling over the farmyard with Whitey just plain keeping away from Mr. Black. Whew!

I got home after dark. I asked Mark if he had seen Mr. Black and he said he was sleeping on the woodpile. Whitey was in the mudroom. Good, I thought. Peace was still reigning.

This morning, I went to tend the chickens. I looked for Mr. Black and found a pile of gray feathers. He was gone. Nature (probably a coyote or a fox) had sorted out my hen house problem.

Tonight, Whitey is going back in the coop. I can get back my mudroom and he’ll be happy to be King Whitey.

Spring is in the Air

Finally, spring is in the air in western Massachusetts. We've still got piles of snow on the north side of our house but the daffodils are beginning to pop their little tips through the soil.

I embroidered these Chinese slippers for the first issue of Adorn Magazine and to me they speak spring! Bright colors, cotton fabric, and carefree summer days are sure to come.

I just found a terrific embroidery blog that I want to share. It's called the Flickr Embroidery Blog. Check it out - there are some wonderful informational posts and it is linked to a Flickr Embroidery site that has been going for a year with over 500 members. I knew there were embroiderers out there somewhere! I'm really excited to look through all their work. But this dial-up connection certainly does make work of it. Maybe at the library this afternoon?

Mud Season has arrived

I never knew what anyone meant by mud season when I lived in New Jersey. Even in eastern Massachusetts it wasn't that bad. But here on the farm, it is another story. The color of the month is brown, brown, brown. Messy mud is everywhere. We live on a dirt road and most times of the year it is totally quaint and scenic. At this time of year though it can be a challenge to get home through the ruts. I have gotten used to it. I know where to watch out, go slowly and carefully. Choice of footwear is all important. I love my leather Australian Blundstone boots - my feet are never wet even though they are always walking around in wetness of some form or another.

I drive one of those awful SUV's - an Isuzu Rodeo. Actually it is small by SUV standards, but it does go through the gas worse than my old VW Golf (loved that car). Honestly, I can't imagine living here without it. It is high enough to not get stuck in the mud in that famous sink hole in the middle of the last big hill to our house. At all times of the year, it is covered with a brown haze over its lovely dark green base. As far as I can tell, there is never a good time to clean it as it will be dirty by the next time I go to town.


The scene I am showing here is one of the delights of mud season in New England. Our neighbors harvest sap from all the maple trees on our road. I love to see the sap buckets go up. When you walk by, if the sap is running good, you can hear the ping, ping, ping or the plop, plop, plunk of the sap dripping into the bucket. I love the color of the galvanized steel buckets and the tradition of the gathering of the sap. Our neighbors aren't "boiling" this year - they sell their sap to the Williams Farm in Deerfield. It is more efficient for them and at least it gets harvested.

For a few years after we moved here, we made our own syrup. It was a big job. We bought a smallish boiling pan and built a funky cement block temporary support to set it on. Then Mark boiled and boiled and boiled for days. He made some pretty flavourful syrup and we cleaned up the yard better than it has been cleaned in a while. But since Julia was diagnosed with diabetes, the fun of boiling has disappeared. Now we live vicariously through all the sap buckets.


Many farmers are now using "pipeline" to harvest their sap. Our neighbors are too in some areas of their farm. This is the huge plastic jug that collects the sap from several trees. You can see the size of it by comparing it to our dogs. It isn't nearly as romantic - there is no ping, ping, ping - but as with all life in 2007, everything is getting faster and more efficient. I'm glad though that they haven't converted all their trees to pipeline.

My part is finished - almost

I'm back after four days in photo shoot land. I was fortunate to work with a good team - here's a photo of Kevin the photographer across the street from our last shot, using a long lense on his digital camera. What a clever guy, taking his life in his hands, shooting from the middle of the road or down on his belly - all for the photos of my knits! Thanks Kevin. And Sheri his able assistant. And Cindy Book Designer / Art Director extraordinaire.

Here's Robin, the wardrobe stylist running out of the shot quickly after tweeking an outfit. Photos are totally of the moment - the light can change when cloud hides the sun and the opportunity is over. Everyone involved has to be quick.

Talk about an exhausting process! But I'm hoping that knitters will love this new book. It should be out in the fall if all goes well. There are 27 projects and I must say, I pretty much love them all - that doesn't often happen. I can't give you any sneak peeks right now except for the cover. (And yes, I know Amazon has my name spelled wrong. I am trying to get that fixed but that's another story.) But later in the summer - maybe! Believe me - the title of the book - Kristin Knits - wasn't my idea. I'm a bit embarrassed by it in fact having my face plastered on the cover. Those marketing gurus over at Storey love it. And what do I know? Basically, it is a book about Colorful Knitting - which was my choice for the title but that was a while back. It is a follow-up to Colorful Stitchery and almost every project has some embroidery on it!

I slept until 10 this morning and I am still wiped. I really don't know how photographers do it. I assume they get used to it. They also aren't tied up into the emotional aspect of making the product look good.

When I do a book, I put my heart and soul into it and then I hope someone out there likes it and buys it. It is a long process and by the time the book comes out, I am usually onto other things. It will be awhile until this book goes to print. I will still be involved - but not as involved as when I was putting all the projects together, writing the copy and just now, hoping the photos turn out okay.

When I got home, I was thrilled to find 3 copies of Colorful Stitchery in my mailbox in of all languages - Indonesian. Look carefully and you'll see some words you can't understand. I know there is a vast textile history within the cultures of Indonesia. But I'm surprised they were the first to translate the book. It is totally thrilling (but not exactly lucrative) to have your book published in another language. When they go through my stuff when I'm no longer inhabiting this earth, maybe someone will notice it amongst the bookshelves before it ends up in a dumpster.

p.s I'll be selling the new book via my website later this summer - much closer to publication date. If you'd like an autographed copy, I would love to sell you one!

Photo Shoot Land

I've been seeing a lot of this mountain this week driving up and over the Berkshire Mountain Range to get to the locations where my new book is being photographed.


I go back and forth through Florida. Florida, Massachusetts that is.


The snow has been lovely and totally unexpected.


Kevin Kennefick is the photographer, Sherry is his assistant (and sometimes model), and Cindy McFarland is the Book Designer/Art Director. So far, there have been nine models of many ages. They have all been happy and totally cooperative.


The lovely, ever helpful Gwen Steege is my editor. Here she is knitting a part of a mitten for a prop.


More coming tomorrow or Friday.

St. Patrick's Day Parade 2007

In South Boston, Massachusetts, the Irish immigrants celebrate their heritage with an old-fashioned parade which passes right through the charming neighborhood streets. The route is lined with families young and old. Julia and I have been lucky to spend the last five St. Patrick's Day Parades with the Payson and Hickey families along with all their friends.

These are the famous Hickey sisters - Nancy, Helen, and Ruthie - all now in their 70's and 80's but still celebrating the wearing of the green. (There were nine children in all.) Ruthie is Mom to our good friend Cathy Payson (the knitwear designer). Don't you love their handknit scarves and mittens?


The Irish love of family, tradition, kindness and general all-around good nature continue to overwhelm me.


I love the old-fashioned feeling I experience as the parade marches by. Being a knitter and textile enthusiastist, I am always drawn to the knits, crochets and fabrics I see every year. Here's a bit of the textile show.

White Inside, White Outside

There's a lot of white in my life right now. This lovely amaryllis has just begun to bloom - it has an amazing chartreuse and lemon center. I love amaryllis to death. I give them frequently as gifts and always have a few at different stages in our home all winter long.

We had a brief flirtation with spring at the beginning of the week. Today we are in the midst of a massive snowstorm. As they say here in New England, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a day." Nothing could be more true. Hard to believe that this morning all the snow had melted. Look what it looks like now.

Julia and I and the dogs took a nice late afternoon walk up the road. By the time we were heading home, our tracks were practically covered!


I've been working with a great new white paper for the roughs for my illustrations for my new book. It's called Borden & Reilly #110M Technical Vellum. Much nicer than tracing paper and I can still see through it. I didn't go to school for illustration and fine art and so I'm always in the dark when embarking on a project. I frequent an art supply store where they always seem to be able to help me out. I've only got two roughs to go and then, once approved, I can slog through all the finals. I can't wait to be done with this project. This book has been in the works for almost two years - don't ask!


I'll be missing next week. I've got four days of photography for that same new book and know I will be too exhausted to post anything in the evenings when I get home. Have a great weekend and week.

Life Outside and Inside the Back Door

Step out my backdoor 3 days ago and it looked very gray and white and black and neutral.


This hen has refused to go into the chicken pen all winter. She's been pretty happy running loose and finding her own way.

Vera, my first momma cat, and her handsome son Charlie are waiting for something.


In three days, the temperatures have been rising and now this scene looks like a very un-photogenic lake which is partly emptying into the basement. Mud season has officially arrived. The joys of country living.

Inside colorful stuff is happening fast and furious although I can't show anything until next fall when it will be in print. Thanks to Charlie for all his moral support as I go.


I even finished something for us to enjoy.

Winter Sunflowers

There is a certain stillness you feel in the winter. The cold makes you not want to move about – just to watch around you and stay warm. But you know that outside in the fresh air, other stuff is happening. The winter weather does things to nature – it slows it down to a slow crawl. But inside nature, things are still happening. Lambs are being born. Maple tree sap is beginning to flow. Leaves and blooms are starting to bud. Ideas are being hatched. Everyone is looking forward to what will come in the spring and then summer.

I’m feeling it too. It was so windy and cold the other day but I knew it was one of the last beautiful days of winter – when I really needed my wool coat, knit hat and scarf, and gloves. I love the feeling of being warm outdoors when everything else if cold. I stopped by the sunflower field and crunched around on top of the snow.

There were long sunflower shadows.


There were dried seed heads that fed the birds this winter.


There were hundreds of stalks that are dry and crisp and ready to shatter once the tractor plows through. The stalks will disappear into the soil to nurture the new shoots and blooms.


It’s good to know that everything comes around again – flowers, animals, fashion – nothing is ever over – it just gets re-cycled.

Lamb Update

It's still unbelievably cold here. The snow has got a thick coat of ice on it and it makes walking difficult for humans, much less sheep and lambs. They have managed to forge a couple of paths through the ice but most of them are just staying in the barn or just outside it where the enormous bales of hay are.


The lambs are growing - some more than others. The single lambs always grow the quickest because their mom's are only feeding one baby and they make the same amount of milk. The twins usually are smaller and so the grain helps them gain some size. The Farmer is talking about trying to separate the sets of twins and singles (and their moms) next year so he can better address this problem. I'm not sure how he plans to do that since there is only one barn and maybe it is best I don't ask.

Lambs love to be in high places. Frequently there will be 4 or 5 lambs on top of a large bale of hay munching away. Then they literally fly off the bale, run around, and climb back up again. I've been trying to get a photo of this but so far, no luck.


When The Farmer feeds out a bale of hay, it is a big event. Everyone gathers around and munches away. It gets pretty dicey, this feeding thing. The bales weigh more than 800 lbs. He picks them up with a long spike that is on his tractor, transports it to the feeder and then drops it. It's best if there is someone there to help out because the sheep get so anxious to eat that there is a real danger for them - especially the lambs. In this photo, his brother David, The Dairy Farmer, is helping to shoo away the sheep while the bale is dropping and Jeremy is looking on.


The lambs are genuinely eating the hay now - not just picking at it to see what it is. This little guy was so desperate for some hay that he was walking all over the backs of the mom's. He was trying his hardest to jump in the feeder to eat but couldn't quite make it. The adult sheep crowd out the lambs because they are so hungry. The lambs end up eating after their moms are through. There is always enough food left for everyone. I guess sheep are a little different than humans. It seems I always feed my family first and then get my own food after everyone is settled. But then, the ewes are feeding their lambs all day long so I guess it is no different.

Right now I am reading a fabulous book by Michael Pollan called The Omnivore's Dilemna: A Natural History of Four Meals. I love his writing - he makes what could be a very dry subject interesting. I'm about half way through it. If you have any interest in your food, how it is produced, and how the agriculture industry - both organic and regular - has evolved, I highly suggest it.

Easter is coming up on April 8th this year. Many of the lambs that we are growing will be going to an auction where they will be sold to processors and become Easter dinner. After reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, it makes me realize what a good quality product The Farmer is producing. At this time, we sell the lambs into the normal chain of supply and really don't get as much money for them as we should. But for right now, it's the best way to keep farming and fitting the sheep operation in with the other parts of our life. I keep toying with the idea of going to a local farmer's market and selling the lamb direct to the end-user but I just haven't gotten my act together. Maybe when Julia gets a little older? Something to think about.

Last blast of winter

We’re having one of those last blasts of winter weather. It was 6 below zero when I woke up yesterday. The sun was just peaking over the mountain. It was one of those remarkably clear and cold late winter days. Somehow the low temperatures and wind chill of 20 below zero didn’t seem so bad. I have been reassured daily that spring isn’t far away - the days are getting longer quickly. My pale geranium in my studio is blooming beautifully.


It’s amazing how the amount of sunlight makes me think of things to come. I’ve got to get looking through the seed catalogs, planning the sunflower varieties and thinking about purchasing some new chicks. Last fall we bought a bunch of dahlia tubers from a Vermont farmer and we’re planning to grow them in front of the sunflower field to diversify the selection. We're not sure what we bought - I think they are red, purple and yellow - they are all loosely packed in unmarked sacks in the one little storage room we have in our dirt cellar with a fieldstone foundation. I can’t wait to see how they work out and when they will start blooming.

Our house has lots of small paned windows in it. We were lucky that in the 1950’s an architect named Mr. Britton restored our home. From what I understand, if he hadn't have fixed the place up, it probably wouldn't be standing today. Although our house dates to 1751, the windows were most likely made in the 1950’s. Those were the days when there were custom shops throughout the area. Mr. Britton had beautiful panes of pale colored glass used for the windows. The glass has bubbles and waves in it and can sometimes be disconcerting when you are trying to look out it. But its beauty outweighs this one small problem. We don’t know how old the glass is – if it is a reproduction or genuinely antique but it sure is beautiful.


We did quite a bit of work on our house before we moved in. We weren’t planning to live here for several years. But then things changed and the best choice for our family was to relocate from eastern to western Massachusetts many years before we had planned. I had already started renovating bits of the house and ordered a few windows trying to get them as close in design to the ones that were already in the house. For some silly, unknown to me right now, reason, I ordered french doors with single panes of glass and a window for above my sink with single panes. Perhaps it was a moment of economy - who knows. They match the old style windows pretty well when it is really cold – they look like this - like Jack Frost is living inside our house. It’s kind of magical but I know I am losing heat like crazy. It’s only for a few days a year.


One day, if I ever have enough money, I’ll find some old colored glass and have someone custom make some new windows to replace these. But til then I’ll enjoy the frost.

Yesterday Phoebe, Ness and I took a quick walk. They don’t seem to mind the cold – they were too excited smelling all kinds of wonderful counry scents. I gave up quickly when my nostrils froze together and my cheeks started to sting. I found these turkey tracks not far from our house. Poor bird – I hope she is warm somewhere today. Today it isn’t as windy so I can’t wimp out and disappoint the dogs.

Teaching Embroidery

I spent a lovely Saturday at Sit 'n Knit in Old Weathersfield, CT teaching a bunch of knitters how to embroider. What a great group they were - full of laughter, questions, and enthusiasm. Don't they look happy with their finished swatches? They all mastered lots of embroidery stitches and duplicate stitch which I hope they will use on their knitting. As the class ended, I think they were enthused with the possibilities that adding embroidery to any piece of knitting poses.


I can't tell you how nice the venue was. It was everything a teacher likes to find when she arrives at a class. Lots of times teaching can be a real drag - stuck in a lousy hotel with bad light and cranky students who want to learn but are so exhausted from taking in all the information they have already gotten that they can't soak up anything more. It's never their fault - it is usually just a case of information overload. I like these small venues much better - they are way more enjoyable for students and teachers.

At Sit 'N Knit, we all were treated like royalty. The class was held in a cosy Danish cafe called Crown & Kringle on the main street of Old Weathersfield - a lovely, antique town. The cafe is on the first floor of an old house that was built in the 1700's. There were beautiful windows, the walls were painted a sunflower yellow and there was a lovely fireplace in the room we used. The tables were close together which made it easy to get around and help students individually. Sometimes when there is a very large table with students sitting all the way around it, it's impossible to get to everyone. As a teacher, I want to do the best for each and every student. I never want anyone to go away disappointed. Lots of times I can't quite tell how each person is feeling but on Saturday I left with a positive feeling. It's hard to put yourself out there -- everyone expects an author to be something she's not. Face it - we're all just knitters who are teaching and we all don't know everything. I have honed my skills by combining lots of different interests to put them all into a "Kristin Look" that I enjoy sharing. I am definitely not an expert on every knitting technique. And underneath it all, I'm just like everyone else - doing wash, balancing a checkbook, taking out the trash, and trying to balance a personal life and career.

Sit 'n Knit Too is owned by Barbara and Richard - a dynamic husband/wife team. This is their second store - their first is in West Hartford. They employ a lot of enthusiastic women who all afternoon were helping the knitters in the crowded store choose projects and yarn. Jodi Lewanda, one of their stellar employees, was the driving force to get me to teach the class. She has been bugging me for over two years to get off the farm and out into the real world to spread the embroidery word. Her persistance paid off and we all had a really fun time. I may even go back this fall when my next book comes out. Barbara treated the entire class to a lovely Danish lunch. Talk about feeling like a princess! The lunch reminds me of the recent posts on this fun blog - Hygee House.


I don't go out and teach much these days. I like to spend time with The Farmer and Julia doing the things we like to do together. Weekends seem to fly by and then it's back to school and the work week. I always hope we did enough together to end up feeling like a family. While I was gone, Julia had to be assistant farmer. This is a stretch for her because she is just four feet tall. Farming The Farmer's Way (there's a book?) involves lots of animals who run every which way, constant feeding of the 250 sheep, and lots of heavy equipment which isn't exactly kid friendly. But they made it through the day and I got home for dinner and a nice Sunday with them and the critters. Julia is even learning to drive the tractor.

Doesn't Julia look like she is starting to like this lambing thing?


After Saturday, I think my students, Julia and her dad, and I all felt a little bit like this cute Scandinavian cut-out which was in the the window of the cafe. Thanks to Barbara, Richard and Jodi for talking me into it - and then giving me such a nice day.

Snowy, Slushy, Seussy Day

Today it was a messy weather day. School was cancelled so Julia and I confined ourselves to the house. She was upset not to be going to school because Friday is art day with Miss W - one of her favorite days of the week. I thought it would be best to give her some art activities to fill the Miss W void. Recently I discovered this great Crayola product called Model Magic. It is easily manipulated and you can really make some amazing little sculptures with it. The best part is it is quite clean - no little bits break off and get ground into the rug. We rolled, blended, and played with it and generally had a fun time.


Today is the 50th birthday of Dr. Seuss's Cat in the Hat. We celebrated the crazy guy making some sculpture to bring to school next week along with a poster which Julia colorfully decorated with her favorite Sharpie markers.


Tomorrow we are going to surprise the librarians at Cushman Library with their very own poster too.

We've all been enjoying the movie version of Cat in the Hat this winter. I was skeptical, to say the least, but now I am so into it - the colors, THE CAT, the talking fish, slimy Alec Baldwin, and those two adorable kids and the colorful adventures they go on. The art direction of the picture is amazing - that is what sells a movie to me - beautiful , colorful, thoughtful art direction. This one has got it hands down.

Isn't it hard to imagine being a kid without The Cat? Thank you Theodor Geisel.

p.s. In Springfield, Massachusetts where Dr. Seuss was born, there is a Seuss sculpture garden. Huge characters from the book were cast in bronze. Kids can climb all over them. What fun.

News the Old Fashioned Way

I read the NYTimes a few days of the week for the Style, Dining, House and Home, Business, and Magazine sections mostly. Since Streeter’s closed, I now buy my NYT at the Country Corner in Bernardston. They have been kind enough to hold it for me three days a week. I usually don’t get to reading it for a few days but today I was stunned to see none other than “fat-tailed sheep” with shepherds in the center of Cairo on the front cover. After my post on tail docking the other day, I though some of you might want to see what an honest to goodness fat-tailed sheep looks like. I wonder how the shepherds control flies there, much less keep the speeding trucks away from the animals in the center of the city. Take a look for fun – the article is quite interesting too.

Back in the business section, I found an article about digital cameras. The Farmer bought me a new camera for my birthday last fall which I have been using like a crazy woman. Picture after picture of cute little sheep and darling little Julia are overloading my iPhoto folder on my iMac desktop. My camera is reviewed in today's NYT article and since everyone seems to like my photos, you can read about it there = it's a Canon PowerShot S3 IS. And yes, it has come down in price since last fall.


Here are some of the “Julia” yarn photos I took for my web page re-do last fall. Unfortunately, they were too busy for the Julia web page – I went with a simple PDF-able color card shot instead of the artsy, blurry photos. These show the range of the camera and how pretty the Julia colors are together - all taken by a complete amateur. The camera has lots of programmable and the manual options make it similar to shooting on my old Nikon FM with film. It has a fabulous 12X zoom. I can do the faded out, fuzzy background thingie easily by adjusting the f-stop. It takes awesome close-ups in its SuperMacro mode. It also takes pretty great movies and the sound isn’t bad either – maybe one day I’ll be able to post our very own “Lampede.” Generally, I haven't found anything I dislike on it yet. Thanks to Hunt Camera in Hadley for steering me in the right direction.


Back to the NYTimes.... All for a buck - and I don't have to wait forever for the homepage to load on my computer which is shear torture. I just don't have the patience. I'll gladly keep paying the dollar so I can feel the paper, smell the ink and relax for a few brief moments with some old-fashioned newspaper technology.