Filva and Vitamin sporting the season’s latest - the Fair Isle for ponies.
One more before the day is done, this for Mr. Mings and his weekend tribute to the cat free zone. What’s not to love about a black faced sheep? Actually, they are not nearly as loveable when they wander into your abode, as one lamb did on a quiet morning while I sipped my tea. I found it standing in the middle of the coffee table, no doubt wondering about the odd grass underfoot, the strange slippery, flat hillock, and in all that strangeness, it left me some dark appreciation before joining its flock.
Kidding around
Goat kids playing with a Heilan Coo
I cannot resist the pure dead brilliance of the goat.
For Mr. Mings, who takes things out of the ‘cupboard of human frailty’ (love that phrase) - some sheep; images from the eyes of ingenuity.
(Considerable photo credit for this array of Skye black faced sheep goes to Frank Heuman, click here for source, and for information about his calendar.)
A classroom of animals learning to spell is certainly absurd but is it more absurd than some human behaviour? Can you imagine a dog dyeing it’s greying whiskers to appear younger than it is? When an elephant dies, the herd takes great care in the burial, walking back and forth with twigs and leaves to cover the body. They mourn the loss of one of their number and yet, many human beings die alone. I cannot think of an animal anywhere that diets or struggles with its self image except human beings - courtiers of absurdity.
“…you must think how absurd we all look now
fixated on finding things that never can be found.”
(From the song, “Absurdity Under,” by Tim Koehn, click this to listen to this song.)
For Mark, some anti-cats for your pleasure. Many is the time I’ve sat in a queue of cars waiting in this manner. The black faced sheep are my favourite. A partner of mine used to keep sheep and I’m sure I’ve told you about Stephanie, as he described her, ‘a sheep with pride, dignity and intelligence.’ In clearer terms, this means she had a tendency to stand on rocks, gazing into the distance broodily. When it was no longer possible for my boyfriend to keep the sheep, they were given to a woman called Catriona the Hen, named thus because she had once kept hens. A sheep named Stephanie and a woman called the Hen, Skye’s a funny place!
(Trotternish peninsula, Isle of Skye - all photo credit to Frank Heuman)
Cute Atlantic Puffin Couple on Shetland, aren’t they Braw!! To se this in full screen click on the picture.
Braw and I’ve always thought couthy too. Love is a beautiful thing…
“Every year it’s the same, they trudge off the ferry with all they own on their back, ready for their singular adventure. The gap year, we never had such a thing when I was younger. We worked. There were no gaps, just a day at the weekend before it started again. Off that ferry they come to ‘do’ Scotland, their eyes so full of tartan and heather, they can’t see straight. If you ask me, for all their supposed adventurous spirit, they’re like sheep. They just can’t see the flock for themselves.”
~ Morag Mathieson
(Ferry, Oban,I think, circa, 70’s)
On Christmas morning Algy got up early to wish everyone peace and joy on Christmas Day. To his special friends around the world he says Happy Christmas! Hyvää joulua! Boldog karácsonyt! Joyeux Noël! Feliz Navidad! Happy Krismas! Feliz Natal! Счастливого Рождества! Buon Natale! Veselé vánoce! Gleðileg jól! May your days be merry and bright! XXX
I’ve always loved this Scandanavian Christmas decoration. Merry Christmas Algy and Friends, Merry Christmas to you all.
