Prescott Farmers' Market

I was the guest artist today at the Prescott Farmers' Market,  http://prescottfarmersmarket.org. I've participated in the Market twice before. Today the weather was quite the challenge.

It was cold and windy when we set up, and the wind only increased as the morning progressed. I spent most of the time holding down my handwoven bags and scarves and then retrieving the ones I couldn't catch before they blew off the tables.

Finally, the wind gusted so strongly that it started to blow over the guest artist's canopy that the Market had supplied for me. I grabbed one leg of it, passersby caught two others, while a browsing customer tried to keep one of my tables from tipping over. We finally got everything righted. Several other canopies had suffered similar collapses and near collapses, so Market staff and vendors started taking them down.

After another 20 minutes or so of picking up my windblown wares and stuffing them into my storage containers for safety, I decided to call it quits. The Market managing director fully understood my decision to pack up and leave, since I couldn't display my work. Some of the other vendors began tearing down their booths, as well.

I'm glad I went, though. I talked to some interesting people and managed to make one sale at least before the wind made things too difficult. That's the thing about outdoor events -- you can never control the weather.

Midnight -- Another Lamb!

On January 24, Sierra the Younger (as opposed to Sierra the Elder, her mother) had a ewe lamb. These pictures were taken a few days ago. Midnight, the lamb, is about 1 month old in them.

Sierra the Younger pursued life options other than motherhood for her first four years. She lived in Chino Valley with some Shetland ewes with nary a ram in sight. In August, she returned to my ranch, met a nice ram, and likely became pregnant the day she got here, considering that gestation is normally five months, and she gave birth a few days less than five months after she arrived!

Midnight is only about two weeks younger than Petra's twins, so they can all play together.