Oh God.  Blogger must have updated something because it looks different.  I don't deal with change very well.  I like to turn on the machine and know what I'm doing and not have to think about it too much.  I'm just not that adventurous with the technology.

Yesterday will go down in our family history as The Day We Spent More Time On The Road Than At The Event.  It started innocently enough.  When I called Em to make sure we were still on for the Sheep Show, she said she had a problem with her car and her direct deposit hadn't gone through and she might not be able to go.  This made me sad because we had been looking forward to this for a while.  So, I did the only thing I could think of and said, "Not to worry.  We'll pick you up on the way".  (Snicker, 'on the way'.  It would be at least an hour out of our way and add almost 3 hours to the total trip.)  It doesn't make any sense but I'm the Mom, it's what I do.  I help. I was helping by making sure Em had a ride to the Sheep Show. 

Pk, Kate, my cousin Cheryl and I left our house at 8.   This is what Philadelphia looked like as we went over the bridge.  The clouds were so low, the tops of the buildings were obscured. Very cool looking.  It was spritzing but not too bad.   We got to Em's at 9:15 and left her house at 9:30 after everyone went to the bathroom.  We followed the GoogleMap directions and got to the fairgrounds around 11:30.  Not too bad, really.  We parked and trekked through the mud (I wore my old hiking boots and was glad I did) to the show area.

There were of course, sheep.  Lots of 'em and lots of baa-ing going on.  The Jacob's sheep were especially noisy and they have these high little voices.  Then the Shetlands chimed in and they have very deep impressive voices.  It was funny.  And then there was this guy.  Can you see what his skirt says?  "Champion Meat Breed".  We felt sorry for him and offered to help him find his freedom but he wouldn't look at us.  I think he was worried.

We spent about 2 hours roaming and petting animals.  The llamas were shy except for this guy.  He stood and gave us his profile.  "I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille.....".  He wouldn't let anyone touch him but he did seem to like getting his photo taken. 

I bought some small goodies including some soap made from goats milk, mint and rosemary.  It smells heavenly.  I gave it to Elanor.  She likes scented things for her bath.  Kate and I bought some llama/romney blend, llamney, (I gave mine to Em) and we also bought some beautiful purple merino and some alpaca to spin with it.  Kate is deciding if she wants to spin it all (we were supposed to split it) and I'll use it for her sweater. 

As we were wandering by a booth filled with alpaca, Pk was casually pointing to a bag filled to overflowing with alpaca that felt like putting your hand into a cloud.  It's a silvery grey color.  He had seen a plain roll neck sweater at one of the booths and decided he'd like one.  And it should be made out of this.  I bought what I think is enough to spin for a dk weight plain sweater.  If I need more, the woman will sell me more and mail it to me.  I started to spin some of it last night and it's gorgeous.  Dark grey and very light grey and silver run through it and the singles are pretty.  I can't wait to finish a couple of bobbins and see it plied up.  This will take forever because my bobbins are so small.  Pk has promised me that when he makes me a wheel, I'll get large bobbins.  Who knew size could actually be important?

We left the fairgrounds around 1:00 deciding not to get some of the sausage and peppers (which smelled gooood) and very virtuously skipped the funnel cake, which is a favorite but really really bad for you.  I wasn't driving and can often get car sick so I opted to wait to eat. 

We got into the car and Pk decided he wanted to take a more express route back and not the meandering road we had taken earlier.  (Cue the ominous music here).  After much driving and many turnings around, we dropped Em off at home around 4:30 and we got home at 6.  Ten hours after we left the house.  We did stop at a McDonald's to use the facilities and get some food sometime around 2:30.  I'm not sure what happened except at one point, the road we were on was closed for repair and we had to detour and that seemed to take forever and it was downhill from there..  All's I know is, by the time we got out of the car, we were exhausted.  But I enjoyed the Sheep Show.  It's cool to watch the kids show their animals and see how they interact. 

Today, we did laundry and grocery shopping and now are relaxing and getting ready to face the work week.  Pk and I also did something that was bittersweet.  We took the leaves out of the dining room table today.  We realized it's only 2 or 3 of us most meals and we don't need the table stretched out to it's full size all the time.  This is a reflection of our shrinking family and a little sad.  It'll take me a while to get used to the smaller table.  And the leaves are close by so that if we need to, we can extend that sucker right out again.