Candy at the Wool Gathering

When we were having a good time in Stockton, there was a big wool festival, The Wool Gathering, going on in Ohio. Our Ohio member Maureen snapped a picture of Candy from Indiana. In this photo Candy is holding our Handbook in her booth. On her table there is a picture of an English Angora. This is a print out photo that Betty e-mailed to Candy showing Chu's Geena in her 14-month coat.

Candy is a long time member of NCAG. No one else could compare to her membership longevity with NCAG except Betty.

Candy was a top show person in the 1970s to 80s, she was the long term chair of the NARBC Standard Committee until late 90s. She is the creator of Blue Eye White English Angora and has written a color genetics guide for Angora. Her current interest is in the fiber aspect of Angora. She does beautiful work, she is very active in the fiber circuit. She will be working as the fiber chair at the coming ARBA convention. We look forward to seeing her very soon in Indianapolis.

Camp Angora

We have seen most of the winners in the previous posts from the shows in Stockton on Saturday. Here are some photos showing our Camp Angora outside the building. Carol brought in several large sun umbrellas, we pulled together two benches from the parking lot on the fairground. We created a wonderful Angora grooming camp. The weather was wonderful, sunny but not too warm. We groomed, chatted, ate our food, drank our coffee, ...

Judges came in and out to take a break or to see what's going on. We caught three judges for our photos. In one photo, Charlie got close to our beautiful Judy Paris from WA. Then Betty and Charlie got to take a picture with ARBA president Cindy Wickizer and Mike Avesing from IA.

What a fun day this has been. We all thank BVRA for putting on such a nice show!

Carol and Polka Dot

Carol has been raising and showing French Angora for a while. The rabbits are originally her children's 4-H project. Her daughter Laura was the main show person in the family, thus their rabbits are called "Laura's French Angora". Time flies, children are grown and now rabbits are Carol's project. Laura sometimes comes to shows with Carol, but Carol is the one who shows the rabbits.

Carol did very well in the Stockton shows last weekend. She won the Best of Breed French Angora with two different rabbits. In the open all breed shows, her colored senior doe won the BOB. This rabbit was bred by Tracy, and now Carol and Tracy co-own it. In the NCAG specialty show, Carol won the BOB French Angora with her colored junior doe. Pictured here are Carol and her junior doe Polka Dot. Polka Dot likes to sit up tall or stand upright. She is a big show off that attracts lots of attention.

Cathy and Kim

Cathy and Kim are a mother/daughter team who entered the wonderful world of Angora about a year ago. They originally were interested in getting a few English Angora as therapy animals due to the docile nature of the breed. In no time, they fell in love with the breed and bred a litter. Though the experience was less than perfect as the doe was a first-time mom, they did manage to be blessed with three healthy bunnies. These bunnies grew up and turn out to be quite nice. Cathy and Kim started showing these three bunnies and the doe Jersey won a leg in the July show. Here is 7-month-old Jersey with her family in Stockton.

Cathy and Kim are now serious into breeding and showing. With a newly added Grand Champion doe expecting a litter, we expect Cathy and Kim to burn up the shows in the months to come.

Betty's Best In Show and Reserve In Show Girls

What can we say about the Big Valley Rabbit Association shows in Stockton? It's a big WOW!!!!!

According to the pre-show news release, there were close to 3,000 rabbits entered in each of the all breed shows. It's the biggest show ever for BVRA, and it is the biggest show that I've attended locally in over 24 years of my showing. The shows were very well run. Eighteen judges worked smoothly from 8 am to 6 pm to complete all the judging.

A big WOW also for Betty. Her English Angora colored senior doe Chu's Emilia took Reserve In Show in Show A and white senior doe Chu's Mercedes took Best In Show in Show B. What a thrill! Mercedes took several weeks off after the Monterey Fair and came back to shows with a big bang again. It's a pleasant surprise that Emilia took the Reserve In Show. She is only 6-1/2 months old, less developed than Mercedes in wool and body. Well, judges have different tastes.

NCAG show winners

NCAG completed another successful specialty show this past Saturday. Big Valley RA was very kind to allow us to hold an All Angora Show with their two open all breed shows. Judy Paris from WA was our specialty judge. We are all thrilled to have her, she is one of our most favorite judges. Judy was an Angora breeder many years ago, she understands Angora better than anyone else.

In the picture are the three Best of Breed winners with Judge Judy. From left to right, Patty is holding her BOB Satin Angora, Betty has her BOB English Angora that is also the Best in Show, Judy, and in the right is Carol with her BOB junior French Angora.

We had a great time and another fun day in promoting Angora rabbits.

The Jade Rabbit

Today is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, the 15th day of the 8th month on the Lunar calendar. It is a festival celebrating harvest, similar to Thanksgiving in the US. The 15th day of the 8th month on the Lunar calendar is the day with the brightest full moon during the entire year, thus this festival is also known as the Moon Festival.

This Festival has a legend that includes a rabbit. Here is the story:

Thousands of years ago, there were nine suns that scorched the earth day and night continuously. The earth was in a plight of severe drought. A "hero", Hou-Yee, who was proficient in archery shot down eight of the nine suns, as a result he was crowned the king. Then Hou-Yee became a cruel dictator, wanting to live forever. He had miracle medicine made, with the help from a rabbit, for him that he would ingest and then he would live forever. His queen Churn-O, the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, did not want the people to suffer. She ingested all the miracle medicine, became very light and started flying. She took the rabbit with her and landed on the moon. The rabbit, Chinese referred to as "the Jade Rabbit", continuously make medicine in the moon until today. Churn-O and the Jade Rabbit live in the moon happily ever after.

Many years later, a tradition of eating "Moon Cake" was added to this festival. Here is a drawing of flying Chum-O with the Jade Rabbit that I found on a moon cake advertisement.