Michael Stipe breeding alpacas?

Well we've only had a dusting of snow, last thursday, and as it is what I call, 'face-grippingly' cold, it is still hanging around, though you'll need to look very closely - but it sounds like most of you don't need to see any more. To supplement the feed, we've made a corral on the lawn to give a weekend treat of lush grass - like all cria, Bramley gets so excited by the change of surroundings, she managed to levitate this aftenoon:


Then after charging around for a bit...
She asked Mum to join in...
"Darling, I'm stocking up to make more milk for you, run along and play"...

We were very lucky in travelling to Scotland last weekend, with good weather, and the highlight of the journey being a break at Beckbrow Service Station -Barbara kindly took a large chunk out of her day to introduce us to her lovely herd, the farm and the charming canines, and also to 're-fuel' us - the 'royal' couple didn't arrive until wednesday, so at least there was no distraction from the core herd - thanks again Barbara.

I was privately amused (and I have to say, thrilled) at another service station, when drying my hands under a hot air blower, and looking at my reflection (always have been vain) in the stainless steel casing, it caused a 'hall-of-mirrors' distortion, and I got Michael Stipe from REM looking back at me! The thing is, if he looked in the same machine, would he see me, and would he know it was me? ...somehow think not.

Mrs. Smallholder held a fleecce and fibre product evening for a lot of girl-friends from the village and surrounds, with wine, nibbles and home-made cake - yours truly was engaged to answer the door, take coats, serve wine and be hospitable - it seemed very successful ( a bitterly cold night helps, though of course the products are excellent) and she's got orders so the spinning wheel is notching up the miles.

I've been at the computer drawing a sketch design for a project which can't be revealed yet, so more on that hopefully in a month or two.