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This Wednesday…inside.

And outside!

The first of two shearing days.  We thought that spring was coming this week….the blackbirds had returned, there was some open ground, and the chickadees were singing their spring song.

Happily we were able to keep all the sheep in their respective barns and do our skirting under cover. The cloudy skies kept the temperatures relatively warm for this time of year, and the sheep seemed unscatherd (granted they were bedded heavily and fed up well, but this year, they were almost relaxed).

In two of the barns, the shorn sheep were put back into the pens instead of being turned outside  as usual. They were cozier that way, and out of the wintery weather.

The Border Collies had two great days of sheep-watching…notice those bright eyes:

Angus thought that a dog could fit under this gate, and proved it…..but was busted immediately!

Everything had to be done under cover; we set up our skirting table inside the barns:

We were cozy if not all that warm…..

Again the star of the show was Clint Godwin, who comes all the way down from Northern WA to shear our flock.

The best shearer that we have ever had…thank you Clint!

And thanks to all our dear friends who help us at shearing….we love sharing this time with you!

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How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints — I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning to her future husband, Robert; one of the sonnets that she gave to him as a wedding gift.

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I have been traveling again…and am just on the way home from my latest week of work on the Reservation. I have held this dream-like image of our farm in my mind….and Brook and all the animals in my heart.

On my way to Tuba City, I always stop in Flagstaff to visit Kathy and Ralph who have made me so welcome over my time in AZ. The Flagstaff climate is almost identical to ours in Pine Valley, and being there always feels like home. Flagstaff has had a deep snow winter so far (unlike us) and the night that I arrived, their farm was graced with another 6″ or 7″. I say “graced” for my benefit; it was beautiful.

But at this point, they likely don’t feel the same!

When I arrived in Tuba City, I brought to my room there the loom that my friend and weaving mentor Betty Nez set up for me a few months ago. I forgot to take a photo this time…but here is what it did look like at the beginning:

While I am there in Tuba City, I weave, knit, spin and read…but after a long day of work, I seem to only have enough energy to weave. I am in a learning curve that is longer than I would choose, but the weavers around me have spent a lifetime doing this, and have generations of tradition behind them. I have much to learn…

In her kindness, Betty has given me some of her handspun and wound a warp for me to take home. Her yarn is spun traditionally on a Navaho spindle, but her choice is to spin a more bulky yarn. I LOVE it; the weaving has such character and will go faster…a great thing for my impatient-to-experience-it-all self.

I borrowed the loom frame from a friend in our valley, saving me lots of work, and I have set up the warp on the frame. But I only had time to weave a little before I left for AZ. I am excited to get back to it…

This evening I will be home and back to my “real” life. But in the meantime, everything about my AZ home is a blessing.

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