Susie Wins Specialty Best In Show

Susie on the grooming table.

There are plenty of French Angora in show.

English Angora waiting to be judged.

It's the first show date in the fall season except that the Mother Nature forgot it is fall. It's hotter than the middle of the summer, the temperature got into 100s.

Rabbits and exhibitors all had fun but also suffered; some of the rabbits were showing signs of stress despite fans and ice bottles.

NCAG sponsored a specialty show with over 50 rabbits entered. Betty's white senior doe Chu's Susie took specialty Best In Show. The French Angora BOB went to Dominique's doe and the Satin Angora BOB went to Danielle's colored junior doe. Danielle also won youth Best In Show in show B with her Jersey Wooly.

Though hot, all in all it's a fun day.

Lindsay's Farewell To Belgium

A view of Bruges: a medieval town on the west coast of Belgium.

A lace maker at the museum.

A lace in progress.

The new train station in Liege, Belgium that is about to open.

Finally a rabbit! She was a worker helping to prepare for the station's grand opening.

It's September 19, the day of our first fall show at Stockton. It is also the day that Lindsay is flying back from Belgium. She reports,

"On Friday I went to Bruges (Bruges in French, Brugge in Flemish) with my sister-in-law Michele. I had been muddling along with my French but I was completely lost when all was in Flemish!

Today's photos begin with a view of Bruges. It's a medieval town on the west coast of Belgium. It's an amazing town that I hope to visit again. I did find one thing that I had very much wanted to see during my visit - a bobbin lace maker. I found a woman at the lace museum that must have been making lace for years. Yes, in the photo the bobbins are blurry. It's no mistake, she was going that fast. I wish that I could post the video I took on the blog. To add to my awe at how fast she was working, here is a photo of the lace that she was creating.

Most of Belgium that I have seen has been buildings of stone with the newer ones made of brick. It's quite a culture shock to pull into the new train station in Liege. Preparations were being made for the grand opening celebrations to take place the next day. I did, at last, find a rabbit in Belgium. She was a worker helping to prepare for the station's big event."

Hair Scrunchies

For a quick project, Angora yarn makes very nice hair scrunchies(ponytail holders).

It is fun to combine different colors and yarns together to make it work. Use an elastic ring as the center, crochet around it with Angora or mohair or cotton or wool yarns, then decorate it by crocheting hand-dyed Angora yarn around the ring.

These scrunchies are available for sale at a very reasonable price. See http://angoraandmore.blogspot.com/ for ordering information.

Community And Cultural Center At Morgan Hill

Beautiful Morgan Hill Jasper.

Morgan Hill is a family oriented town.

A painting of El Toro, the highest peak in Morgan Hill.

Guess who had a hand in making the community center possible? Our frequent BIS winner/Havana breeder Julie Spier! See her name at the third line from the bottom.

Morgan Hill community and cultural center has nice exhibits; some are more permanent than the others. Here are four exhibits that probably will stay there as long as the center exists.

Lindsay Visiting Belgium

Lindsay says,

"I'm over in Belgium visiting my brother and his family. They live in a tiny village about an hour from Brussels. Here are a few photos of my adventure. The first photo is of my brother Nick and his wife Michele in front of a castle that we visited. The second photo is of their home in Pavillonchamps. The last photo is of my niece Sarah and myself in the Grand Place in Belgium. I'll miss the show in Stockton but this is certainly worth it! Having fun, Lindsay".

Two Handsome Brothers

Fawnton, a GC fawn buck.

Benji, a GC choc tort buck.

Here are two of Betty's two other handsome bucks, littermate brothers Fawnton and Benji. Fawnton takes after mama, Fawnette and Benji looks just like his daddy Elio, a choc tort.

The best way to get bright and clear fawn is to combine choc tort and fawn. Clear fawn is the agouti version of choc tort.

Handsome English Angora Bucks

Andrew, a Grand Champion tort buck.

Maddex, another Grand Champion tort buck.

Bucks don't get the chance to have their photos posted often. In Angora breeds, bucks rarely win Best In Show or even Best of Breed; the most they usually win is the Best Opposite Sex of Breed.

It does not, however, diminish how handsome some of the bucks are. Here are two of Betty's tort bucks that she is currently showing. Chu's Andrew is shown in the top two photos and Chu's Maddex is featured in the two lower photos. They look alike both in photos and in flesh and they take turns in winning the class and the Best Opposite Sex of English Angora. Andrew is a couple of weeks older than Maddex.

It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's A Helicopter!

Betty says,

"I was out taking pictures of my rabbits; I heard some noise up in the air and it was a helicopter. There is a small airport about 7 or 8 miles south of our home and the California Department of Fire station is in our town, so it's not too much of a rarity to see a helicopter. However, I've never tried to take pictures of a flying helicopter or a plane; I did not expect my itsy bitsy little camera would be able to capture anything that far away.

I was really surprised to see two clear pictures of the helicopter. Here they are, I will post the rabbit pictures later on."