Would you like mustard, too?

Because this is a ketchup post. 😉

Seems like there's nothing to post about and then a machine-gun of 'postables' goes off with no time to sit down and compose my thoughts. When I do sit down, like right now, I feel guilty because of all the other stuff I should be doing. Actually, right now I'm buried under a mountain of melancholy (more about that later) so composing a post might help distract me, so here goes. Lots of catch-up . . . and you may need some Kleenex, too.

First, here's the final shot from the Tour de Fleece showing all that I spun on my horn spindle and miniSpinner for the event:

I am continuing to spin alpaca on my horn spindle, and plan to start plying the Shetland on the miniSpinner soon. I want to get it done so I can spin THIS:

That's an unexpected treat from a friend that arrived just when I was feeling the need for some pink accessories in my wardrobe. In fact, I'd just ordered this:

Obviously my friend is a long-distance mindreader!

On Tuesday, thanks to my friend Kate, I delivered Butler to his new home in Auburn, WA. Here he is after I took his coat off before loading him in the truck:

On our way back, we stopped at the Black Sheep Creamery to buy some sheep milk cheese, and then visited the farm itself:

Kate has been investigating getting a few dairy sheep, and after meeting some of the ladies at Black Sheep, she's sold! She's become quite the knitter in the last year; I foresee spinning in her future, too.

Fortunately for Butler, the weather moderated in time for our trip. It was hot and smoky right up until the day before, making for a weird sunset during my evening ride around the vineyard, and an odd sunrise that morning:

Then we had a couple of pleasantly moderate days followed by two days of cool clouds; it was cool enough this morning to have a big, hairy lapdog,

and it even sprinkled a bit! Not enough to really settle the dust, but enough to make the dust stick better to a certain chunky mustang who likes to roll. 😏

Harvesting in the garden is now a regular, if not overwhelming, occurrence. The other day I picked our first zucchini and more tomatoes,

and this morning I went out to pick the first green beans but ended up burying them under cucumbers and snow peas, plus a few cherry tomatoes and peppers. Not more than I can carry, like this bee,

but enough to make a wilted cucumber salad and a smashed green bean salad (a new recipe a friend let me sample; yum!), along with deviled eggs and a chocolate orange zucchini cake as soon as I post this.

As long as I don't start watching videos again, I should be fine.

Last night Rick showed me a video on Facebook – and suddenly I GOT what my co-worker asked me yesterday! She asked if I was following "Kelley's kids" on America's Got Talent, and I said no, because I rarely have time to turn the TV on in the summer. I didn't realize she was talking about the Humlie kids, whose mother Kelley was a homeschool co-op board member, co-worker and friend until she died way too young from cancer a couple years ago. Her talented trio attended homeschool co-op with my son (I designed Manny's senior yearbook page!), performed locally, and now they are on the national – yea, international stage with songs they've written. These videos break my heart every time I watch them – and I've been watching them a lot since last night . . . because Kelley can't.