Friday, June 08, 2007

Distracting Sheep

This is not my new house. Don't I wish it was! Doors Cottage is a B&B in Haltwhistle, Northumberland. We stayed here just inside that white door. I loved this little side garden. My garden in Camarillo will, of course, be a Mediterranean garden because Ventura County has a Mediterranean climate. I will sneak in some English cottage plants, though. Roses and lavender.



Sheep to distract you...a lovely unshorn specimen on the rugged unshorn hills of Northumberland near Hadrian's Wall.



One of the few sheep that let me get a close up. Usually the sheep would see me coming, pose nicely as I adjusted my lens for close up, lighting, focus, and then just as I was snapping, they would turn their backs on me. They wouldn't usually move away, just turn away. I wonder if somewhere along the line, sheep were crossed with cats.


And now you know. I dream of the day we can return to England for another visit. I spent only 15 days there, but I know that my blood still runs English even after all those generations.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cats are just humble and don't like to be camera hogs like dogs can be:)
~Rea

Flea-Bites said...

Hi Willow
I'm having a bit of trouble keeping up with blog reading, so had to play catch-up with yours. You certainly have been busy - I love the blue skirt and the cashmerino will look wonderful with it.

Congratulations on your house purchase! When we exchanged contracts for ours, the solicitor sent us a bottle of champagne - we still have it waiting until we move into our new place.

In answer to your question about packing - what packing?! I did a bit of a throw out in the grandchildren's room and thought I'd pack it up, but until we chose a removalist I had no boxes. We had to wait to get a removalist's quote until we had decided what furniture we could take with us ... and then, just when I was ready to get quotes and starting to panic about getting it all done in time, the person buying our house asked for an extra six weeks for settlement - until 15 September - which suits us down to the ground, as we are going to India on 14 September, and had the prospect of six weeks of living out of a suitcase before we went away. That was really playing on my mind as we would have been spending time here and there and trying not to get in anybody's road. So, now we have an extra six weeks, the urgency has gone off again - but I always procrastinate and leave things until the last minute, so I am determined to write myself a schedule this weekend, and at least have a plan.

One of the hardest things is to let go of the junk - you know, all those desk drawers filled with staples, pins, half pencils etc which are all "good" but never get used; all the small bits of left over wool; all the things that we have acquired over 40 years, be it things we have bought, been given, rescued from our children's throw-outs, and things we have inherited when our parents died - things that we don't really want, things that have no use, things that have limited sentimental value, yet things we can't bear to throw out.

So, I haven't been much use to you, I'm afraid. At least you have moved around over the years and have sorted and decluttered in previous moves. We will be disposing of far more than we will be taking with us - so you begin to ask, why did we accumulate it in the first place? Our children will all be home for a day in a few weeks time to see if there is any furniture they want. The irony is, that of the only three things I have an attachment to, we can only fit one - my mother's sideboard - into the new place! C'est la vie.

Good luck with your move. I hope you will be as happy in your new home as you have obviously been in your old one.

roxie said...

Love the unshorn Northumberland sheep. Animals tend to present their nether ends to me as well. So I started a photo album of ends. Now that I am always on the lookout for backsides, animals are less likely to flaunt them at me. Except for cats. "Talk to the butt." is classic cat communication.