Happy Halloween

We actually handed out Halloween candy tonight for the only the 2nd time in the 10 years that we have been in this house. It was a lot of fun. The kids were cute and polite (they all said thank you and weren't all grabby). Daisy, dressed as a hula girl, grudgingly shared her dog treats with all the doggies that came along with their kids. A couple of the teenagers were a scream. (Since we are Chuckie fans I had to post this photo). Brother Bob was here and luckily he also brought a stash of candy with him because the four bags that I bought didn't last long. I think the wonderful weather brought every out in a festive mood. Even some of the parents were dressed up in costumes.

Phazana's litter

Just a short note to let you all know that Phazana had three plump babies yesterday. Although she made a lovely nest and lined it well with wool none of them survived. I don't think they were living at birth. Anyway I am getting her rebred this Sunday in hopes of a Dec. litter. Yes it is sad but sometimes it happens and you just move on.

Daisy Loves Skittles

The other night Andrew, Elisha and I broke open a brand new bag of berry flavored Skittles. Skittles, at least at our house, fall into the category of can't eat just one. Of course Daisy has to have a sample of whatever it is we are eating which some times becomes problematic since I try not to feed her snacks, especially sugary ones. Andrew and Elisha thought it was hilarious to watch Daisy chewing Skittles and I have to agree that it was pretty funny. Anyway he got out the camera and snapped a couple photos. I have posted them for your entertainment.

Phazana's making a nest!

Phazana is expecting a litter on Wednesday so I gave her a nest box yesterday. She has been quite the industrious little nest builder ever since. She is also one of the calmest does I have ever owned. She loves to be patted on the head and comes to the front of the cage whenever I open her door. I think she will be a good mother. Can't wait to see the little ones! Stay tuned for more photos.

Ode to Garlic

I've always loved garlic. When I was a kid my dad planted garlic in our garden and I used to eat the raw cloves. We all know that garlic is great in all types of food recipes and it's suppose to ward off the common cold too. Our friends recently gave us cloves from six different varieties of garlic ~ Siberian, Polish, Russian, Chesnok, Silver skin, and Armenian. Garlic is planned in the fall much like tulip bulbs. You break the cloves apart and plant the individual cloves which then act as seeds. I planted 60 + cloves today. Can't wait for next summer to make garlic braids and canned garlic. Garlic Central has a wealth of information if you are interested in learning more about garlic.

Not the Day We Planned

I was so excited this morning that my friend Lisa was finally getting to come over to the house for a visit. We are usually on the road with our rabbits, visiting while driving or at the show while waiting to be called to the show table. Anyway she wasn't here 5 minutes when she lost her footing while stepping up to our porch. She had a rabbit carrier in hand with two newly purchased Satin Angoras in it and in an attempt to save the rabbits from injury, she fell and broke her arm. We spend our visit in the Urgent Care. Not the day we planned. At least we got to go for a late lunch at Las Margarita's. Neither of us was able to drink a margarita though. :-(

James Bond's Girlfriend

Not really-just her name sake. Last week I reluctantly plucked Vesper's wool. She is a beautiful black French Angora rabbit with a pleasant disposition. I always hate plucking the long beautiful coats off my angoras but that's the way it works and really her wool was way past ready to come out. In fact some of it already had and she didn't do well on the show table the last couple times because there was an uneven area across her back. Anyway tonight I spun the wool and it made some lovely yarn which almost looks silvery in the right light. It is so soft its unbelievable. Pictured is Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), Vesper the bun, and the yarn I just made. The new James Bond movie opens on November 15th. Can't wait to see Daniel Craig reprise his role as Bond.

Keeping Warm

Here's Kim modeling her new scarf. It was chilly this morning so she wore it into work. Matches her coat well huh?

Once A Kid...

...always a kid. What can I say? I saw this little cutie at Meijer and had to have her. She reminded me so much of the Liddle Kiddles that I had as a child. She looks really cute sitting on my dresser with the rest of my doll collection. Of course I did take her out of the package. We've all seen Toy Story 2 right?

Herb Drying Time

I'm probably way behind most herb enthusiasts in having just picked the last of my kitchen herbs tonight. I meant to do it last night and got sidetracked and then we had a freeze. Oops. But they were still fine so I washed them and prepared them for drying. Of course there was just a tiny bit of basil left since I have been picking it all summer long and using it in pasta dishes. Nothing beats fresh basil. There was plenty of parsley so all the buns got a sprig which they happily scarfed up. Also some sage and oregano. I just love the fragrance the fresh herbs give to my kitchen.

Falling Leaves

Wow! I walked out the back door of work to go to lunch today and all the leaves were about gone from the trees. It was down right blustery and cold. I really enjoyed fall this year and the colors around here were pretty spectacular. Can't say I am looking forward to winter and the coat, gloves, boots and scraping the car window bit. The photo above was taken by Andrew during sunrise one morning in Kentucky last week. I think its beautiful.

Winterizing the Rabbitry

Andrew finished up winterizing the rabbitry for me. This year along with the back panel (which you can't see in the above photo) he added removable panels to the lower third (they are bright green). He also put in some additional shelving on which I can store feeding crocks and food supplies. Phazana is expecting a litter on Oct 29th and Vesper on the 2nd of November. I wanted to make sure the kits would stay toasty warm after they arrive. The photos are of LH Pixe, LH Anya and Doodle (our lone New Zealand who is a senior citizen at age 8)

A Scarf from the Wool from Wales

Here it is...the scarf from the wool Wales (see post dated a couple days previous). I knitted it on size 16 needles so it would be loose and somewhat lacy for lack of a better description. I think it turned out really nice. This will be going to my friend Kim who brought me the wool. She's going to wear it with her black leather jacket while cruising on her scooter...should look very cool!

Otterbein Homecoming

What a beautiful day! Otterbein had Homecoming today and I was drafted into service as an event photographer by the Office of Alumni Relations. Since my first assignment of the day was the Fun Run for St. Jude's at 8 am at the campus center; Andrew decided to go with me and participate in the fun run. He placed 4th -I think there were around 40 participants. Not bad for someone who hasn't run 3 miles competitively since high school. Anyway around 9:30 Andrew went home to work on the lawn mower and I hoofed it down Main Street to my next assignment-the gathering of parade participants. Luckily I was able to get a ride back uptown to catch the parade in time from my friend and co-worker Amy (the painter), whose son Adam and his dog Zen were walking the route. There was a huge crowd for the parade and it was all very colorful and festive. I drove home after that and got Andrew and Daisy and we went back for the big Alumni lunch which was yummy. There were lots of other dogs there and Daisy was right in her element wearing her Otterbein bandana and having many people around to lavish love and attention on her. After lunch we went home and about 2 hours later I went back once again to cover the football game and coronation of the Homecoming King and Queen. Two students from our department were nominated for King and Queen and I was excited and anxious to find out if they would be the ones crowed. They weren't but they came in as runners up so it was still a victory as far as I'm concerned. I home now, exhausted and going through 600 + photographs and looking forward to watching the British comedies and having a hot bowl of soup.

Wool from Wales

This summer my friend Kim visited the Trefiew Wool Mill in Conway Valley, North Wales, U.K. She brought me several different kinds of wool including: L-R Hebridean, Ryeland, Manx, and Zwartables. I have been working on washing, carding and spinning the wool so that I can make her a scarf. I think I am finally ready to starting knitting.

Angelica in watercolor

My friend Amy Householder, who is a fantastic and talented artist, came out to the house a couple weekends ago and photographed the buns because she wanted to use them as subjects in her painting. She chose Angelica, who I thought looked very beautiful that day with her coat all finished, in these two different views. I think they are stunning. Thanks Amy for sharing.

One More Hat

While I'm on a roll with these hats I thought I would post one more. The orange is Blue Faced Leicester that I spun from roving I got from Lisa at Somerhill. The French Angora was donated by Lilac Haven's Angelica and the yellow/blue is spun from merino roving I got at The Wool Gathering a couple years ago. This will probably be the last hat for awhile as I have depleted my stash of "practice" yarn and need to move on to getting some shawls woven.

Limberjill Folk Toy

A couple weekends ago my friend Lisa and I attended the Soakum Festival at the Noble County Fairgrounds. In the morning we showed our Angora rabbits at the Blennerhassset Rabbit Club's fall show and then made our way to the fest. While there I was mesmorized by a man playing with a Limberjack or Jig Toy. He was a member of a dulcimer group that was preforming and I learned that Limberjacks are folk toys that are actual musical instruments. Later when I got home I told Andrew about the toys and gave him a photo of one that I pulled from the internet. He made this one for me out of black walnut and along with some instruction from my friend Becky, a veteran painter with 20 years of experience with all types of media, I painted her to look like a farm girl.

Pumpkins All in a Row

We spent some time with our good friends Randy and Becky in Kentucky this weekend. Since we had decided prior to our visit that we would carve pumpkins I brought along some supplies. I love the Pumpkin Masters carving patterns. You can buy them in the grocery store along with the little carving tools you need. Details can be found at Pumpkin Master's website.
These are the pumpkins that we, along with my mom and other friend Kirk, designed.

Colorful Hats

Hello and Welcome to Lilac Haven French Angora Blog. I have several friends who are bloggers and I decided to join the ranks. Shown above are some angora/alpaca and wool accented hats that I knitted from some of the first yarn that I have ever spun.