Exciting News!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "Kissing A Fool" by George Michael
The new website is officially up and running. Bay Colony Farm went online Monday, and I'm thrilled with the results. I want to thank Audrey for doing such a fantastic job and all of her hard work.

Actual fiber content!
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: "The Politics of Dancing" by Re-Flex
First, a big Happy 35th Birthday to my younger brother Luke! I hope he has a wonderful day today! :)

Last weekend was full of fiber related stuff. First, I made my felted vessel. Here is the picture.



I really enjoyed this class. I'm hoping that I'll get the chance to make a few more bowls before Rhinebeck, to use as displays.

Sunday was felted fantasy creatures. I hate to say it, but I'm *not* into needle felting. At least not a needle felter for small detailed items. While the head of my mermaid looks kind of cool, I'm just not into making the body. So I'll have another bodiless needle felted head on my shelf.

And this is the nice surprise I found in the nestbox on Tuesday morning.



Samson's Annie gave birth to a litter of 8 babies; 7 were alive when I found them in the nestbox. All seven are doing well, and Annie is being the model mom. These babies were sired by Samson's Merlot, so I'm expecting great coats on these babies.

I've had an incredibly stressful week, so tomorrow I'm taking off to go to Brimfield for the antiques. The show ends on Sunday, and I've never been to it. A friend of mine (Carol) and I are going. If our men don't join us, we'll go by ourselves. I believe that this is the biggest antique show on the east coast, and rumor has it that when you go the last weekend, anything that is left is heavily marked down, or the sellers are willing to bargain. And I do love a good bargain!

The only other thing I've promised myself that I'll do this weekend is knit or spin. It's time to get a new project on the needles (something portable and easy, like socks), and start spinning for a project. What I'll spin, is up in the air, but I need to get back into the fiber groove.

Fiber stuff happening soon!
Mood:  flirty
Now Playing: "Drive" by the Cars
The three H's make one even less inclined to pick up fiber of any type (especially when one does not have A/C). But, Leslie Samson will be coming down this week, and teaching the felted vessels and fantasy creatures on Saturday and Sunday.

I'm really looking forward to the felted vessels class. I have visions of green/blue bowls sitting in my living room as decoration.

But first, I must get the new curtains hung in the LR, clean, and plan the menu for the weekend.

Back from the beach!
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp
It is hard to get back into the grind when you've been gone for 11 days, soaking up the sun and sand at the south Jersey shore.

We had a nice vacation; spent with my entire family; 2 brothers, sister in law, niece and nephew, parents, my husband and children. The weather was perfect; sunny every single day except one, the water was in the 70's, and an off shore breeze which kept the bay flies away. What could be better?

We were vacationing on a barrier island halfway between Atlantic City and Cape May. This is the view of the bay from the deck of our house.



And this is a view of the ocean to the east from our deck.



While we couldn't see much of the ocean, it's a mental state for me to be able to at least SEE it, which I could. I was born under the sign of Cancer the Crab, so I'm very water orientated. :)

Vacation is as much of a mental state as it is a physical state. So I was thinking that since I was physically on vacation, my stomach would agree to that, and I started to eat all kinds of things I've been avoiding for months now; chocolate, coffee, tomatoes, and the like. My stomach gave me exactly 2 days until it rebelled, and reminded me that I am NOT supposed to eat those things, no matter how much I like them. The only thing it did agree to allow me to have which is on the forbidden list is the Icewine I brought down from Canada. So I was able to partake in that, and found that the Legends Estates Cabernet Franc wine was the best of the bottles I bought.

One of the things we do during vacation is take turns cooking. My brothers and I each cook 2 nights during the week. It started out very innocent 16 years ago, but has developed into a competition on who makes the best meals. One night we do a complicated meal, and the other night is a slightly easier meal. My two meals were spaghetti and meatballs (the easy meal) and grilled tuna, the hard one. I think my brothers will agree that the spaghetti and meatballs was one of the best meals that we ate (although Luke will say that his grilled lamb surpassed that meal, but I don't like lamb, so I'm not agreeing). All of this is done in good fun, and provides us with wonderful meals throughout the week.

I'm now tanned, rested and ready to return to work. Who says family vacations can't be fun?

Back from Canada
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: 'When It's Over" by Loverboy
Forty-eight hours up and back. :) We had a wonderful time! Left on Friday evening, made it as far as Syracuse, and then continued on Saturday morning. Our first stop was Niagra Falls on the Canadian side. It is truely a lovely place to visit (and I want to go back when we have a few days to wander about).

But who would guess that it would be so packed with people? O.k, yes, I was foolish to think that we'd easily find a parking space, and walk to the falls. But no, we had to park about 1 mile away, but for $5 US, all four of us took the tour bus to the falls and wandered around for about an hour.

Yes, we were wet.

But the kids loved the falls, as did my husband and I. Here is a picture of some of the hotels which overlook the falls.

After leaving the falls, we continued to Leslie's house for the party. We met her wonderful family; parents, in-laws, and friends. I think Martha Stewart could take lessons from Leslie in hostessing. The food was fabulous! I had my first fire roasted ear of corn (beats boiling ANY day!). After eating fast food for the past 24 hours, Leslie offered us a true feast; grilled tri-tip roast beef, spicy pork, salad, burgers and dogs, and more food than I can remember. All of it was delicious! The evening was topped off with Icewine and Champagne with raspberries (this is to die for!) after dessert.

Oh, and should I mention that if Leslie ever asks you to play croquet, that you should run? No, really, I haven't played croquet in probably 30 years, but this was the most fun game I've ever played. It didn't hurt that most of the participants (except Leslie's Dad and I) had been drinking David's margaritas, so as the game progressed, the antics on the croquet court grew more animated. :)

Leslie also breeds Border Collies. My kids are terrified of dogs. But after Leslie sitting down with the boys, and showing them how they could play with the dogs, this is what happened for several hours.

Thats Calvin throwing a tennis ball to three of the six BC's that were there on Saturday night. :)

Of course, I have to show you the coat that Leslie is making for the Felted Coat/Vest class. Here I am modeling it.

This coat is floor length on me (as you can see), but I've had windbreakers that weighed more than it did. It is wool infused on silk. The final embelisments are not yet completed, but that is the basic coat. I've already decided that I'm going to make a swing coat as my project in the class.

And here are a couple of pictures of the felted vessels that we'll be making in September's class.

Sunday morning found me back at Leslie's place, picking up the rabbit food, and saying our goodbyes. I had told Leslie's husband that we planned to check out one of the winery's that you'll find all along the QEW (a major road going up to Toronto from Fort Erie). David suggested one to us, and then we were off. Our first stop was here, at Legend Estates Winery. This winery over looks Lake Ontario. Here is a picture of the growing vines and the lake from the store/tasting room.

I now have several bottles of their Caberbet Franc and Vidal Icewines. :)

Jumping back on the QEW, we then headed down to Chateau des Charmes. Located in a newer chateau, this winery is surrounded by aces of vines. They have two "wine boutiques" and a tasting room. I did try their 2003 Ros?, Cuv?e d'Andr?e (V.Q.A. Niagara Peninsula), which was wonderful. But again, my quest was for Icewine. I tried both the Riesling and the Vidal, but settled on the 2000 Vidal Icewine (V.Q.A. Niagara Peninsula), which was slightly sweeter.

Incase you are wondering just what Icewine is, it is made from grapes that were allowed to freeze on the vines. The grapes are picked after it reaches -8 to -10 degrees Celcius, then crushed before they have thawed. The resulting wine has a sugar content of around 20, while dry wine will have a sugar content of 0, and a fruit wine might have a sugar content of 2. So this is incredibly sweet wine.

We also purchased these tiny wine glasses made especially for icewine. They look like little cordial glasses.

After leaving Chateau des Charmes, we headed home. It was a long drive, but we finally made in back to Bay Colony Farm around 7:15 p.m.

It was a wonderful weekend, and Leslie is the hostess with the mostest! Dale told her that we were going to have a hard time topping that party when she's down again in September. She's a hard act to follow. :)

Miracles of nature
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" by the Spinners
Yesterday, I was able to spend the afternoon outside, watching the boys in the pool. While walking across the yard, I spotted a beautiful butterfly and was able to put it on my finger to show to the boys. They loved the colors. Here is that little miracle of nature.



He/She flew over to the side of the pool, where I was able to get this wonderful photo.

Surrounded by Fiber Friends
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: "I Know There's Somthing Going On" by Frida
Yesterday I held a small gathering of fiber friends, including some that aren't on ST's, but they fit right in.

Linda provided a lovely picture of us at the gathering on her blog. :) Those in attendance were Marcy and Deanna, Joyce, Spindlerose, Rachel, Becky, Linda and Amy. Everyone brought food (ask Spindlerose for her wild rice and turkey salad!), and we sat, spun and talked for hours. The highlight of the day for me (besides meeting Joyce for the first time) was that Linda taught me how to crochet. This is a picture of my new hook and what I learned.



Isn't that Tulipwood hook gorgeous?!

And here is what I bought after the gathering was over, and I was able to get to Barnes and Noble



Linda suggested a couple of projects in either book to help me get the hang of crocheting (I like to call myself Crochet Impaired). ;-)

Becky took home her doe, who is Bay Colony Farm's Isis. Isis is from Annie's litter, born in March. I know that Isis will have a wonderful home with Becky. Becky is one of my favorite IAGARB people; she has a wonderful kind and caring way about her, and treats her rabbits like royalty. Joyce and I talked rabbits and spinning, and it was really wonderful meeting her.

We also got to see Linda's hatbox wheel by Louet. It is a shame that Louet is no longer making these; they are a marvel of engineering work, and so compact! I know that if they were still made, I would order one for travel.

Oley made a short appearance too. I adore Oley, but due to possible complication with the hall, he couldn't stay long (no pets allowed), but I'm sure Oley enjoyed his trip out away from his temporary foster siblings. And Oley is always very well behaved. If I ever get a dog, I want him to be like Oley, only a little smaller. :)

Big day out yesterday
Mood:  chillin'
It's too hot right now to consider doing anything but "chilling'", but I'll talk about our day out yesterday.

DH had the idea that we'd drive down to Mystic, CT to the aquarium. The boys loved it! Much to our dismay (and my unspoken prediction), the place was mobbed since it was alternating between really cloudy, and bursts of rain. But once you get wet, it really doesn't matter, does it? Anyway, we were able to watch the beluga whales fed small fish, which delighted Cal and Nate to no end. They adore the Raffi song "Baby Beluga", and this just made them love the song even more.

And for those of you that love funny pictures, here is one that I took at a local dairy that has an ice cream shop. This cow likes to climb up on this dirt mound, and survey the land.

New fiber magazine (well, it's issue #3)
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners
In case you don't get Wild Fibers Magazine, there is a nice article in there about angora rabbits. It was very nice to see that Charlene Schultz had one of her does in there, along with a buck owned by Ann, who is another Thriller. My ad appeared in the magazine (which I'm quite excited about; I guess it doesn't take much to make me happy!), along with the back page ad for angora rabbits.

If you haven't seen Wild Fibers, please check it out. It is really a nice magazine. I love the heavy paper, and good, quality articles about animals and fiber.

Hazy, Hot and Humid
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: "Fantasy" by Aldo Nova

Describes our weather today. You don't want to be out in the direct sun, unless you are in the pool, which is where I plan to be later this afternoon. But until then, I'm attempting to keep cool in the house.

I've been looking over the rabbits, and trying to decide which one I want to keep from Annie's litter. I think I have my doe picked out. Mia's litter is easy; I'm keeping the smallest one, because I bonded to her when she was just 17 days old, got out of the nestbox early one chilly morning, and then nearly froze. When I found her (with Mia leaning on her to try to keep her warm), she wasn't moving. I brought her into the house, warmed her up, and she snuggled into my chest, falling asleep there. That is all that it took for me to fall in love with that little face. Here is her most recent picture (and I still have to find a suitable name for her).



And here is a picture of the mohair that I washed this past week, as promised.



Is that gorgeous or what?