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Category Archives: photography
Family outing
Sunday afternoon our family took an outing to visit an old wool mill up in Ulverton. It was neat to hear of how the old mill was used in the past, fell into disrepair, and was recently restored – including bringing back in machinery that was used in the time period.
The shredder loosens tangles in the wool before it goes through the carder. 
Most of the machinery was up and running except for this one which still needed some work on the adjustments. When it is fixed, it will spin the carded and drafted wool.
A “dévidoir” for unwinding spools of thread into skeins. 
An old hand-loom. It takes a lot of time to set it all up! 
And here is the machine that lines up all the threads to go on the loom. 
They had a more modern machine (from the 1950’s) that made socks in long tubes. One just had to cut them apart and sew up the toes!
Outdoors they had a few sheep just as “looking sheep.” They don’t actually harvest the wool from them. 
The covered bridge leading to the mill was burnt down the day after it was restored. So they built it again: the only covered bridge in Quebec to have a sprinkle system in it!
There were also some paths where people could walk around and enjoy the outdoors.
And while we were there, we took a quick family photo!
Growing up!
It always amazes me how fast the little ones grow up. It is such a joy to be able to spend time with them and see them as frequently as we do.
Thank you, Sarah and Samantha, for the photos!
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. (Psalm 127:3)
The 1st of May
Here is what the 1st of May looks like in Quebec.
Yes, we still have some snowbanks around! Most of the snow has melted, however, and the spring flowers are beginning to appear.
The maples will open soon too.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” I Corinthians 5:17
Honeycomb’s lambs
Honeycomb lambed today – a very quick delivery! Evelyn had just checked on her at 2 p.m. and when I went out at 4 p.m., there were two little lambs standing under her drinking! Apparently they didn’t need any help!
Then Apple and her lambs got up from their afternoon snooze.
For a moment it looked as though Apple had quadruplets.
But they sorted themselves out in not too long.
Honeycomb is a little too friendly for photographing.
Cleaning her daughter up…
The little ram lamb has ears like his Daddy! 
Congratulations, Marie-Pier, on your correct guess!
And one of Honeycrisp, just because she was looking so cute!
Surprise, surprise!
Apple surprised us yesterday evening by lambing! We thought she was due in three weeks, but I guess we were wrong.
We needed to help the first lamb since it was coming out nose first instead of feet first, but the second arrived pretty smoothly and we just gave it a little helpful pull.
Honeycrisp is a pound smaller than Gala, but both sisters seem to be doing fine so far.
Black Currant looks huge now! Will they make good playmates?
And the cat actually didn’t get into the pictures this time… because the sheep usually chase her out of their stall!
A Second Lamb Guess!
Our purebred Finnsheep, Honeycomb, is due to lamb in about a week or so! We wanted to get some pictures of her, so Evelyn and I headed out to the barn.
Blackberry and Currant were easy to lead out.
Aren’t I cute?
The warm, sunny day made for a frisky lamb!
And of course, the cat had to come inspect.
Timid little Apple didn’t want to leave the barn even to get some corn.
But our subject for today was Honeycomb. With a little coaxing, she followed Evelyn out of the barn and was rewarded with some corn.
After a while, Honeycomb got curious and ventured farther.
She certainly looks pregnant! How many lambs do you think she’ll have? And will they be ewe lambs or ram lambs? (Just a hint, Finnsheep normally have more than one lamb at a time, though not always.)
Hey, what about me!?
Still Winter
Winter is hanging on in Quebec this year! Here are a few photos from this morning.
The blue spruce had only just emerged from being completely buried in snow and now it was dusted over again! 
Notice the high snowbanks against the cedar hedge. Yes, the snow really is still over 3 feet deep in places! 
It is beautiful, though! 
And spring is around the corner as the presence of our growing little bunnies keeps reminding us.
Anyone looking for a cute Easter bunny? 
Or just a friendly pet? 
Or maybe a mischievous one!
Lamb Update
Black Currant is growing quickly! Today we had to put in her ear tags (Quebec law for all livestock), but we thought we’d take some pictures of her first. Blackberry and Currant are so friendly they had no hesitation about following us out of the barn.
And of course the cat was around too… 
Snow is a new taste for Currant and the freezing rain yesterday made the driveway a field of broken ice. 
How does the cat always manage to get in the picture!
Since Currant is 4 weeks old today, we also wanted to weigh her. So we brought her and Blackberry up to the house.
This is a nice-looking house… 
Anybody home? 
And then it was time to return to the barn.
The cat decided to join in the race! 
And the winner is…
…but that wasn’t fair – Blackberry slid on the ice.
‘Till next time!
Lamb guess answer!
As it turns out, no one guessed right! Blackberry just lambed this morning with one black ewe lamb. And is she ever cute!
After observing for 1/2 an hour with nothing more progressing than seeing two little hooves, we stepped in to help. But all the help Blackberry needed was having the lamb’s legs straightened out and she managed the rest just fine.
Mother and daughter seem to have bonded well.
Now what should we call her?