I am embarrassed at how long it has been since I posted here.  My weak excuse is the unusual summer weather.    I know it was not limited to our part of the world, that is why it is such a weak excuse.  You would think since I was nearly housebound for 3 months that the number of new felted items or hand dyed yarns would be substantial...not.

After I did the morning chores trying to keep the sheep and horses comfortable, it seemed to take half a day to recoup from that little exertion.  By then it was time to feed us and do the animals all over again.

Thankfully that passed, in August Michigan Fiber Festival had lovely weather and the shop was busy with their workshop members before that weekend, then visitors coming just for the Festival weekend.  In Sept. our son and his SO came home for the 10 days of the Allegan County Fair...yes, we love the Fair.  Also hosted a book club for Suzanne Jenkins, author of the Pam of Babylon series.

The fall has been beautiful so we have most everything around the farm ready for winter and I am trying to keep caught up with the wonderful "wool season".   Next weekend, Oct 20 and 21 is ARTS AND EATS, a back roads art, food and farm tour of Southwest Michigan.  I am excited to be a part of it and ready to talk and show lots of wool and hand made items.

Fall and the Allegan Co. Fair

You can plan on fall weather arriving during the Allegan County Fair.  The Fair opens the first Friday after Labor Day and lasts for 9 days.  This year, we had lovely weather for me - in the 70's until time for the big parade Tuesday eve, it dropped 20 degrees.  Still we wouldn't miss it.

Tuesday before the hour long parade, I shared an Elephant Ear while walking around all the displays in the Ag and Commercial buildings - saw a pumpkin that weighed over 800 pounds!  Wed. during the Harness Races, I gave in to a bit healthier fare - smoked almonds, oh, almost forgot the vinegar french fries.  Maybe all the walking through the animal barns balanced that out.  Great fun for any age and durn, only a day and half left.

September has Lazy Days

The song says the "lazy days of summer" but to me September has the perfect lazy days. The garden has slowed down so no frantic picking of veggies every night and then doing something with them. Now I can appreciate every thing I pick, thinking it won't be long and it will be gone.



The glads above are left from 3 of my greatest lazy days this month. My friends, Karen and Diane, along with other goodies brought this gorgeous bouquet. I only wish I had taken the picture right away, this photo was after 7 days. We talked and knit till late at night, ate alot, walked the pier to the Big Red Lighthouse at South Haven and waded in Lake Michigan. Really relaxing for all of us.

The Allegan County Fair is on for 10 days and since we don't show sheep or goats now, I can attend and enjoy the noise, people, other people's animals and the harness races. The races were really good last Wed. Air was cool and the track was fast, the 14th race was a dead heat (means two horses tied for first place) and the last race was run at 2:02 - that has to be close to the track record for pacing horses.