This year I went to the Sheep and Wool festival instead of looking for housing in DC. I know what I should have been doing, but the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival happens once a year, and the shitty housing situation in DC is my daily frustration, so off the the wool I went. This weekend it's been a steady 90 degrees, 32c for the rest of the universe, and man it felt awesome! I love the heat, the more heatier the more better...( yeah, I said it wrong, and wronger) I slapped on my crappy favorite jean shorts, a loose tank top, my hiking boots, my cash and camera, dropped the hounds off with Chris and went to go laugh at some sheep and grope some wool... and I had the best damn day in May so far... yeah yeah, so it was May 1... but still... it rocked.Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY Grandma Fran! 90 years old, holy moly! Good for you girl!
So, sheep and wool, it's a outdoor festival with livestock, plants, a bit of ceramics and jewelry, but mostly it's the spot that once a year, bit huge fat ladies, skinny ones, religious ones, tattoo'd ones (or just me, hey represent!), ladies of all backgrounds and ages come together to push and shove one another out of the way so they can finger, sniff, photograph, rub against their face, talk about, calculate and find the best wool out there from all over the country. The past few years I've dragged Chris to the festival, and I asked him this year, but he laughed and said something to the effect of, hey, we're no longer dating, so I'm no longer obligated to being molested by knitters...cool, just asking... hahaha.
When I finally parked and made it into the festival, I went for the animals first. I take great joy in walking slowly past the stalls and making eye contact with as many natural wool makers as possible... there's something that sucks so much about being penned and on display (zoo style, I hate zoos), yet I can't help but stop and rub these critters and say a few nice words about how lovely they look, and make a picture here and there... eeh, I feel bad but so good when I'm at the fair... such is life. Anyhoo, the critters were all panting and unhappy and I loved every second of hanging out with them... Merv calls it forced fun... and forced fun is good for you... so Merv tells me...
hahaha, once out of the sheep, I bee lined for the alpaca... I still think that June and Hank would benefit from a new alpaca sibling, and if I weren't moving back to DC, they might have gotten a new brother or sister this weekend... hahahaha, look at these guys!! They're awesome! They'd keep my grass cut, and me in hysterics watching them in the summer, keep me warm and busy knitting in the winter, and June would have someone to play with... where's the bad part of any of that!
Look, I even found the Hank of Alpacas...
hmm, they do get to be pretty large though... I might need a king size bed... Hank and June sleep with me at night, it would be unfair to have Noodle (the best name for an Alpaca ever) sleep on the floor...
anyhoo, on with the festival... I was there for 4 blisteringly hot and glorious hours, filled my eyes with loud and beautiful colors everywhere, drank a rootbeer float, felt the sun on my shoulders and ponytail, walked the fair twice and came home with some good loot that will keep me occupied this fall once the summer breaks and football season begins... Yay knitting and football!!
Sheep and Wool makes it feel like summer is finally here and the weather is normal and warm again and the days will last forever. I love this time of year, and Sheep and Wool sets it off for me every time I go.
So one of the crazy things at the festival is the amount of lamb that is for sale... I mean, right next to the livestock stalls is this smelly monster... WTF!! How crazy to have your fellow species smoking away in savory glee while you are locked in pens right next to them... What's wrong with People! I wonder how many people eat a big ass lamb roll with all the fixings and then crouch down to talk to some damn sheep in the barn 20 feet away... it's like a cannibal hahaha'ing in your face while you're locked behind bars awaiting the same fate... People are crazy and suck ass sometimes... anyhoo,
here was my view while waiting in line for the rootbeer float, which I must say is the next best thing to a Miller Highlife on a 90 degree day. Oh, and I bought a poster this year! YAY, if you look hard, the bottom of the poster roll says sheep and wool! hahaha, the ladies behind me were talking up a storm until I made this picture, and then they were completely silent in the way that they want to talk about what just happened but they're too polite to talk about someone in hearing distance but also too disaffected to ask you what you just did and why... oh people...
and here's what I bought this year at Sheep and Wool... oooh, apparently it was an orange year, I bought a beautiful rust colored wool, a tangerine wool, and a gorgeous sea creamy coral wool, oh and a seafoam crystal blue wool... I cannot wait to make some bad ass scarves...
I picked up all the hounds on the way back from the festival and Chris followed me back to my place for dinner. Hahahah, that's not a cloud on June's neck, that's her big slobber mark that landed on my camera while I had it out the window making pictures of her... the drool came out of her mouth and splat, hit my camera doing about 65 mph (or 104 km which makes speeding spit seem so much faster!)... life is good!
Chris took a break from working on his house to go fishing Friday afternoon and he brought over two beauties which he grilled up along with some chicken wings and a huge salad that I made.I'm going to miss the luxury of eating meat from the wild and the farm and not from the store when I move into the city, and I've been thinking of cutting out Red meat and fowl, it just feels safer than buying hormonal mass grown and slaughtered meat from the stores...
Today is another hot day and Hank, assessing that he was still out in the country, went back to the couch and is snoring the afternoon away.
June, on the other hand, has not been inside all day, and although both front door and sliding glass door are wide open, she's spent the day outside, sleeping under the trees, harassing the carpenter bees, playing with sticks and walking through the house to make sure we're still here and then out the other door back into the open... I love open doors...
I am going to miss this little house something awful...Cheers!
