Rare Breeds Animal Auction @ Carlisle

Michael getting help from the rest of the crew to get his ewe into the back of the trailer.




Disheveled but not defeated after wrestling with a hebredian sheep to win third prize in show. The sheep, not me :)



Thomas and Lynn (owners of Ewe Close Farm) looking bored and exhausted after the early start corralling all the animals in at the crack of dawn.

Some of the many animals at Ewe Close Farm

The rogue chickens who hang only hang around when it's lunchtime


Hungry and Demanging. Their real names.


There's always a black sheep


You can't do anything without goats getting in your way



A rare moment of peace


Pandora, the lovable goat who sits atop the feed bag all day buried in grain. I would take her out and dance in the field everyday because she had such uncontainable energy




Highland cattle up in the hills. Placid and friendly despite their horns

Derwent Water - Lakes District

Easter Sunday Paris

a gift from my sister

Winter's Blanket

After the unusually heavy snow falls in Limburg, the landscape was a glimmering white wonderland.

Here are some pictures of Meers, the small village where my dad grew up. We've been staying here with my aunt and uncle in a warm house watching the snow. It's a very beautiful and rural and romantic area next to the Maas River which separates Belgium from Holland. Those crazy Belgians !!

CARNAVAL in Limburg !!

This is the famous carnaval of limburg.

For reasons that no one can quite explain to me, each year, for 5 days in February, whole villages in the southern provinces of Holland dress up in costume to parade the snowy streets in arctic temperatures and drink gallons and gallons of freezing beer and eat mountains of salty fried treats.

We paraded the streets by day, and at night, would be on the streets to dance to hearty provincial carnaval songs about beer and chips, amongst the falling snow. Exceedingly cold, but a laugh a minute.