Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was perfect. Except for one nephew, all of the family members were present for an amazing dinner made by my dear sister-in-law, Amy. Usually, Paul's mom works with Amy on the meal but this year she's recovering from knee replacement, so she sat on the sidelines and visited. It was great to see her doing so well and looking very happy. The big news this year was Emmitt, my niece's new puppy. Everyone was in love with him and it's easy to see why.

On Friday, Julie and I took a field trip to Furnace Mountain Alpaca Farm in Lovettsville, VA. We'd met the owner, Sharon, at Stitches and, when we realized that she was located so close

to Paul's mom's house, she invited us to come and visit. We learned that, although alpacas tend to be shy, hands-on training makes them more amenable

to visits from strangers. Sharon told us about the different kinds of fibers that each animal produced and that the nature of the fleece changes as the animals mature and produce young. Alpacas don't like to be petted on or about their heads like dogs do, so we "kneaded" the animals softly on their backs, noting how different each one felt. And, in case you think that only dogs do agility, Sharon took one of the adults through her paces on the obstacle course, which included stairsteps and a teeter-totter.


Afterwards, we purchased some alpaca yarn. I got a skein of super-soft Suri in creamy white and a coal black Suri blend, both of which will probably be used for lace scarves. Julie bought two skeins of a lovely cocoa color, also for a scarf. That's the kind of shopping we like to do on Black Friday!