Rainy Shaker day...

9/24 5 34 pm

It was wool day at the local Shaker village, so I went with a couple of friends yesterday while Sausage, who is not very well and is having surgery on Monday, was having his afternoon sleep. It was so beautiful, I thought you'd like to see....



It was a rainy day - dark with intermittent heavy showers. We started out at the entrance, where the green house is:



and where the purple house is:



At first, all the Shaker Houses were painted white, but then, a few years ago, when they were excavating one of the houses they hadn't fixed up yet, they found something that showed them that the Shakers had used colours in their paints - both inside and outside - and some of the colours were quite vivid: yellows, golds, lavender, and greens... I don't know what they found, but it might have been paint samples, or plans...

Next we went to the Farm Stand, and I bought some chrysanthemums to put by my door.



The Farmstand was watched by a young girl about the age of my sister, and since the barn was open-sided, she was shivering in a red hoodie. I asked her if she was going to be there all afternoon, and she said yes, she was the only one and wouldn't even get a break. I thought, "I wouldn't want my sister to sit for 5 hours in the cold and rain without a break", so I went to the Summer Kitchen cafe and bought her a big Orange Spice Tea and chocolate cookie. When I brought it back to her, she got tears in her eyes, and said "that's the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me!" (which is pretty sad when you think about it). It made me think how much I love my little sister, that I would be kind to strangers because of her... She's such a wonderful person who inspires goodness in others.

Across the street and up the hill were the sheep and wool exhibits! Here is the lovely red storage bin where you can see the huge sunflowers drying... a very autumn scene:



At the top of the hill was a pen for the sheep dog exhibition. The sheep dog was young and frisky but so obedient. When the shepherd wanted to call him away from the ducks, he said gently "that's all good now" and the dog would run and lay at his feet. It was so gentle and kind. The ducks were pretty too! Here in this picture are the shepherd's children walking the sheep on leads...



And here is a closeup of Miss Ellie the sheep:



My favorite views were at the top of the hill; when you stand beside this house, overlooking the pond, you can see a swan pair glided serenely.



And of course, here is the herb and flower garden. Both are used for natural dying of the yarns:



Yes...I confess. I did buy yarn - just a little handspun and dyed from the lovely flowers. But I can't show it to you, because its going to go in a special package to Nad, in Germany!

Sausage is not very well today and not very happy. I spent a long time sitting with him outdoors at noontime, while he lay in the sun. His white muzzle and squinting eyes scanned the neighbourhood - always watchful and protective of his beloved Mum (me). Now he is sleeping. I want to get a photo of him in the flowers tomorrow morning before he goes to his surgery.