Divinely Crafty

We have had a couple of snowy days here this week. Little flurry outside my window right now. Not enough to disrupt life too much beyond the occasional late running bus. (of course the busses run late on a sunny dry day so that is no big oddity)

But it sure is pretty!

Tags: family life, nature

We arrived home late Saturday night from 23 days camping, hosteling, and visiting relatives. We started out from our home in SE England and over 2500 miles later, we had spent time in Germany,Swizterland, Italy and Belgium and drove through France and The Netherlands in the course of it all. Phew!

The best news is that we all had wonderful time. There was literally something for everyone in each place we went. It was no Brady Bunch adventure but it was no Simpsons either. (Southpark….maybe)

My family rocks.

We took hundreds of photos, so sorting through the winners and losers will take some time, but as soon as they are ready, anyone who has nothing better to do can see them. I am loving our new camera and am eager to get busy taking pics of my work. Focus is a marvelous thing.

So for now you can see the picture above, which was taken by Anja. (yes, she is 5 years old) It is at the Bridge of Love in Cinque Terre (Vernazza). I overheard a very enthusiatic tour guide tell their group that lore says if you have your picture taken there with someone you will be together for all time. I don’t know if it is true or if it is just tour-guide trivia, but not ones to miss a chance at stacking the odds, Axel and I enlisted Anja to snap a quick shot of mommy and daddy. That girls has a great eye!

Our 3 week holiday starts in 10 days. Bright and early on the morning of 12 August, we will be driving to catch a ferry to France and then off on our adventure. Car camping with a family of 5 for 22 nights. The sort of famly vacation that will either go down as one of the greatest ever or the most gruesome of disasters. Probably there will be some measure of both. A rambunctious 5 year old riding with a teen sister each side… I just need to thank whatever deity is responsible for the most heavenly of creations – the Ipod. Entertained and contained. They can run around like wild beasts when we get out of the car (so long as we are not withing 50 meters of a museum) but in the car with faulty Air Conditioning driving through Belgium,Germany,Swizterland and Italy … yup, like I said “entertained and contained” .

Been really busy working on fleece and spinning and knitting. Very productive actually. But as luck would have it, our camera died. Totally kaput. Thankfully, a new one is on its way to us and will be delievered by a friend of mine from Oregon in Germany. It is so much less expensive to order one in the states than it is to buy here. It was so lucky that we were planning to meet up with my friend and her son on their vacation. Until then we will have to use the girl’s camera.

That also means that I don’t have any pictures of all the work I have been doing recently. It really is a pity too because I have been doing some really cool stuff. Dylan and Kiah are surgically attached to their cameras and it is nearly impossible to get time with one. When I get the new camera (an SLR! Woot!) I will takes loads of really lovely pictures and share them with everyone. It will be worth the wait, I promise!

waiting

Originally uploaded by Divinely Crafty.
Guess what yesterday was? And guess what I got??? Yup – Sheering day at the farm where my lovely husband is interning. A crew of Kiwi sheep shearers came to the farm to set the girls free of their winter coats. Its quite an impressive operation they have going, and boy can they handle the sheep. I think hiring a pro is definately the smart way to go with shearing. I cannot imagine ever doing what these guys did. The sheep would win for sure.

Theres a bunch of photos to see of the day, and then a bonus of my darling man who promises me that we will have sheep of our own some day soon. You gotta love that.