UK Angora breeders Les and Tess

During the trip to UK, Candy spent a day with our friends from the TOULAARP Yahoo list, Les & Tess.

Candy says,

"They live in a suburb of London in part of a large Victorian house just crammed with everything wooly and fibery. I could have spent hours looking at all the spinning wheels and things they have spun, dyed, knitted, etc. But it was beautiful weather, and most of our time was spent in their back garden (yard) under shade trees, just visiting and having a relaxing day.

Les and Tess are wonderful people, and would fit in perfectly here in our Angora community. They don't show, but they make full use of the wool. Their cages (pens/hutches), like most in England, have solid sides and bottoms, and bedding is shavings, newspaper, and straw. I know, we wouldn't think of such a thing here, but, as I also saw in Norway a few years ago, it works very well for them. One convenience they had that I really liked, was that they had French doors leading from their bedroom right into the rabbitry! How convenient for checking for new litters during the night.

Most of Tess' Angoras were clipped down, but I was happy to see that hers looked a lot more like mine than the ones I had seen at the show. You could tell, these Angoras had some wool on them, and decent furnishings."

Rabbit News from Hawaii

Beautiful sunset in Hawaii

Judge Josh with Zeia and her junior English Angora.

Judge Jim and Zeia and her junior English Angora.

Zeia brushing her black English Angora.

Judges Jim and Josh with happy owners of BIS Holland Lop and RIS Champagne d'Argent.

Josh with Sandy whose Rex won Best of Breed.

Judges Josh and Jim are everywhere; recently they were in Hawaii judging a show.

There are English Angora in Hawaii, Josh wants to pass this info to NCAG. Thanks to his photos, now we see them. Also he shares with us photo of the Best In Show winner Diana M. with her Holland Lop and the Reserve In Show winner Sandy T. with her Champagne d'Argent.

Giant Angora Wins Reserve In Show

Pat at home with Giant Angora doe Sigrid when she was a baby.

Giant Angora doe Sigrid wins all breed RIS.

Pat D. from So. CA sends good news: her Giant Angora doe Sigrid took all breed Reserve In Show in Pomona in June.

It has been quite a while since a Giant Angora getting the top honors in shows; it's certainly great news that it's happening. Congratulations to Pat.

The Fourth of July

Northern California Angora Guild wishes everyone a happy Fourth of July.

A Family Affair

The entire family with new French Angora bunnies.

Dominique and Elsa holding their picks of the bunnies while baby brother Tyler sitting on the table.

Mama Gabrielle with Tyler.

Daddy Curt enjoys the beautiful pool with the little angel.

It is a family affair for the Menn family when it comes to rabbit shows. In some shows, daddy Curt brings the two girls Dominique and Elsa; in some other shows, mama Gabrielle would bring the girls. This is the first time that the entire family came together including little brother Tyler. Carol's summer party is too hard to resist.

The have their first French Angora litter since coming back to raising rabbits. We all looked at the bunnies to sex and to tell the colors; the bunnies are so cute. Dominique and Elsa already have their eyes set on one each as their show stock in the near future.

It's A Wonderful Day for Danielle

Danielle and her broken French Angora senior doe that has just become eligible to be a Grand Champion.

Danielle and her Jersey Wooly that won an all breed Best In Show at the county fair.

Danielle working as the judge Carol's clerk.

For the first time that Danielle and mama Melodye came to Carol G.'s summer show. They did not realize how much they had missed in the past three years!

They enjoyed the event thoroughly; it does not hurt to have a winner Jersey Wooly and a winner French Angora. The beautiful French Angora doe Jingle Bell took Best of Variety in two out of three shows and earned enough legs to be eligible for Grand Champion.

Danielle's boyfriend also tagged along; this is his first time in any kind of rabbit show. A warning to him: not all rabbit shows have a beautiful swimming pool, green lawn, a tennis court, a guest house and BBQ steak served for lunch. He would be too spoiled to go to other rabbit shows.

Valerie and Michelle From WA

Valerie and Michelle with their BOSG Jersey Wooly.

Valerie judging French Angora.

Valerie and Michelle are both judges, they are mother and daughter. This is the first pair of mother/daughter rabbit judges in the country!

Valerie and Michelle use driving to shows as their special time together; they drove 900+ miles one way to come to judge the all wool triple shows at Carol G.'s place. Comparing to their annual driving to ARBA conventions, this is not the longest distance that they drove together.

Valerie and Michelle did great judging, and they are a really fun pair. There were constant laughter at the judging table and everyone had a good time. Have you ever heard a fun statement like this? "It sucks that the senior judge in the family is your own kid." Daughter Michelle got the ARBA license before Mama Valerie; their judges' numbers tell the story: Michelle is #759 and Valerie #828.

They raise exactly the same breeds as the clubs putting the shows: American Fuzzy Lop, Jersey Wooly and English Angora. They entered some AFL and JW in the show judged by Carol G. and their JW took Best of Breed.

We hope that they had as much fun as we did; hope to see them again in the near future.