Suburb of Heaven

The trip to DC was relatively smooth - no travel delays, and good service on Delta (nicer planes than I've seen recently, too) a nice time with my family and friends, some visiting time for favorite museums, an interesting and productive work conference, and a very comfortable, fun to drive, so-ugly-it's-cute Nissan Cube as our rental car (despite my overwhelming anger at how much the rental actually cost).

The conference was hosted at the National Archives:


( around town photos )

It was a short, but very good trip.

I discovered that sheep like scritches.

For that meme wot is going around.

Ended up going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Fair twice, on Saturday with eccentricartist (who had an ATM suck her debit card into the depths and not return it, poor thing) and then again with Bemo, who was so taken by our stories of various interesting farm critters that he wanted to go also. Although the prospect of deep-fried Twinkies may also have played a role in his decision, now that I think on it. eccentricartist and I didn't have quite as much time to spend there, so we stayed mostly at the sheepdog demos and then admired the alpacas and llamas, and then cooed over shawls that were way too pricy for our meager wallets. Bemo and I went to see the sheepdogs work also, but then we headed for the barn and looked at all the different kinds of sheep, and then headed for the bunnies and chatted up one of the breeders. I also knit a few rows on a charity afghan, and discovered that bamboo needles are really awesome.

Things seen at the fair:

Three sheep in a pen busily devouring the ribbon they had just won

A lady sitting in front of a spinning wheel with an angora rabbit in her lap, spinning the fiber directly off the bunny

A llama eying the baskets that were juuuuust out of reach, obviously pondering how they might taste

A sociable little sheep who wanted Bemo to stay and scratch his face all day, especially if he could get a few nibbles of Bemo's shirt in at the same time

The Jacob sheep with four horns

A little girl being tidied up by her mother before she went in to show her lamb, which was flailing at the end of its tether like a marlin

The broom-maker - I almost bought one, they were so cool

The sheep stuck in the back of the pickup truck, bleating woefully

The alpacas with their round little faces and tiny feet

The two Jack Russels in the car, one of which was so excited to see Bemo that it piddled on the driver's seat. Uh...oops.