Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Rainy-day pleasures

After flirting with snow on and off through the weekend,

someone turned up the thermostat (a tad) and turned on the faucet.

It poured all day yesterday and last night, and is till raining steadily today. Between the frozen surfaces, slick ice, and soaking, there has been no 'mental health mustang time' since last Friday, and I'm getting cagey. I thought Lance might be, too, so last night I took him out to that shallow lake of an arena to run around, but he said, quite clearly, "No, thanks." 😕 In fact, all the herbivores seem 'off.' The girls have gone off their hay and water for the last couple of days, and even Lance, chowhound extraordinaire, isn't cleaning up his hay like usual. At first I thought it was a particular bale they all disapproved of, but that's not it, either.

This morning I didn't spot the boys in the wooded lot and could only come to the conclusion that they had holed up in the Ram-ada Inn. You know it's a special kind of nasty when Shetland sheep seek shelter! I walked through the lot so I could shut the alleyway gate and confine them to quarters; I've been wanting to give the wooded lot a rest. Of course, then they wanted out:
To keep the wet, gray blanket from weighing too heavily on my mood, I turn to this between to-do tasks:




It's pure pleasure to play with!

On Sunday I surprised my Valentines with an early treat:
That's Jim Malcolm in house concert. I first heard of, and heard, Jim in a public radio segment around four years ago. I fell in love with his tenor voice, sweet guitar, and harmonica lilting Scottish folk tunes, and ordered his current CD, The Corncrake, which Brian and I have listened to in the car and enjoyed together. That got me on his mailing list, and I got occasional notices that he was traveling from Scotland to OREGON for concerts! The timing never worked out – until last Sunday. The venue was a private residence in Salem, and we sat on the front row (there were only three rows); I was close enough to touch him with my toe! Then followed almost three hours of utterly delightful music, humor, and history. Here's a meaningful tune he wrote and shared in the concert courtesy of YouTube:



That search led me to this; oh joy!


That's it for now from . . .

11 comments:

Michelle said...

First comment.

Retired Knitter said...

Wonderful music. I can see why you love it. Thanks for sharing.

Jeanne said...

I'm glad you were able to enjoy that concert. Sounds like fun.

I had no idea that Shetland Sheep don't mind rain. At least most of the time...

Your yarn is lovely!! My daughter would go nuts over it!

Leigh said...

That's my kind of music! What a treat for you both.

We've been getting a lot of rain too and our critters are tired of it. My goatie girls holler at me as if I can do something about it!

Lovely spinning as usual. The color blending is especially nice. :)

Susan said...

Your spinning is so beautiful! I think, even sheep, can get fed up with this wild weather. My two usually don't mind weather of any kind. This morning, they were yelling for breakfast from inside the barn. What a wonderful concert that must have been! Lucky valentines.

wyomingheart said...

That is just the perfect song for the end of my hectic day! Thank you!

Susan said...

LOVE IT - THANK YOU!!!!

MiniKat said...

We keep getting precipitation here too, but it's snow. Then it rains and everything freezes so there's ice everywhere. Then it snows again. ;-)

Gorgeous color blending in the spindle! I hope you get some mustang time soon! <3

A :-) said...

I love that Proclaimer's tune! Here's another wonderful Scottish folk singer for you: Dougie MacLean. Here's his website. https://www.dougiemaclean.com/

You might like Caledonia; Restless Fool; and Resolution. Those are some of my favorites of his.

Michelle said...

Glad you enjoyed it too, Elaine!

Jeanne, the Shetland Isles get far more wind and rain than they do snow, so I guess you could say it is in their genes.

Leigh, it was a treat for all three of us! (Brian went, too.)

Susan, TBH I probably enjoyed my gift as much as anyone. (Does that make me selfish???) After attending my first house concert, I'm not sure I want to go to a regular venue again!

You're welcome, wyomingheart and Susan!

Ice and snow are far worse, MiniKat! I hope you stay safe and warm. We're getting a break from the rain right now, so I'm getting in some riding time. :-D

Thank-you for the recommendation, A! Listening to Dougie now.

thecrazysheeplady said...

Beautiful music. Thanks for sharing!