Northern California Angora Guild: 5/16/21

Bubbling Champagne and Her Image

1983 was a very memorable year for me. Judge Bobbie Meyer allowed me to have Bubbling Champagne who changed my English Angora journey:
Northern California Angora Guild: Remember When: Bubbling Champagne (ncag.blogspot.com)
and changed the entire English Angora breed:
Northern California Angora Guild: To Molt or Not To Molt (ncag.blogspot.com)

The above photo was taken when she was about 5 months old, it became her signature photo. Blower was not available for blow grooming then, all we had were slicker brushes and hair combs thus her wool was not as impressive as what we are accustomed to today.

One of the very old and prestige judge Robert (Bob) Herschbach hand painted Bubbling Champagne's image on a sticker paper for my car. I saved it for over 35 years but never put it on any of my vehicles. Bob Herschbach was the father of Nobel laureate Dudley R. Herschbach
Dudley R. Herschbach - Biographical - NobelPrize.org

Bubbling Champagne's air brush image is on one of my sweatshirts. I wore it when Sweet Sixteen won her convention Best In Show in 1992. I still wear it once in a long while today.

NCAG logo has only two breeds of Angora: English and French. NCAG started in 1982, there were only two breeds. Satin Angora was accepted into ARBA SOP in 1987 and Giant Angora in 1988. Bubbling Champagne's photo was used as a model for the logo.

This image of Bubbling Champagne is a part of the NCAG Angora Handbook.

My friend Donna gifted me a tote bag with an embroidered NCAG logo.

Donna did a dish towel with Bubbling Champagne's image.

Donna embroidered another tote bag for me.

A blue dish towel.

Susanna and Joanna Enjoy Broccoli

We planted lots of Broccoli as rabbits love it.

Broccoli is basically a winter crop, with warm spring weather, the crowns that we normally eat turned into flowers. The flowers are quite pretty, could even be used for indoor display but ...

... they taste so good that picky Susanna could not stop munching.

More Broccoli flowers.

Susanna's favorite.

Sister Joanna likes the Broccoli flowers too.

Joanna is not as picky as Susanna, she eats almost anything.

Convention Memories: More about the 2003 ARBA Convention Group Winner

The breed judge for the 2003 ARBA convention was Cindy Wickizer who is holding Ashton after the BOB win. She is in the ARBA Hall of Fame and a 5-term ARBA president: 1989 - 1994, 1997 - 1998, and 2005-2006.. When Chu's Sweet Sixteen won the convention Best In Show in 1992, Cindy was the ARBA president who handed me the Best In Show trophy at the ARBA banquet. See: Northern California Angora Guild: Remember When: Best In Show at the 1992 ARBA National Convention (ncag.blogspot.com)

After winning BOB, the next stop was the Heinold booth for the BOB photo.

This photo was taken by my first generation digital camera that had very low resolution.

After Ashton won the Group, the next stop was the professional photographer's booth.

The photographer is looking at the images on her computer. Look at the big computer in 2003! The photo session produced the "official" photo of Ashton that was used in the ARBA breed poster, shown in the blogpost yesterday. There was also a photo of me with Ashton taken at the same time, but I cannot find it. The photo sessions were sponsored by Purina thus the owners were asked to wear a Purina t-shirt during the photo shoots.

Three of us traveled together to and from the 2003 ARBA convention. On the right is Charlie Lacey, we don't see Charlie in shows much but he is still our NCAG president. In the middle is Linda Rossell of Snohomish, WA. Linda returned home with a pair of English Angora from me after the 2003 convention. The pair produced a white doe that won the Group in the 2004 ARBA convention at Providence. Linda went out of showing sometime in 2005. If you wonder why there are blue and pink cloth draping on the coops behind us, in the 1990s and 2000s it was common to put pretty "curtains" to cover the coops. The English Angora exhibitors were guilty of starting this trend. Eventually this practice was banned by the convention sponsoring clubs.

Convention Memories: 2003 ARBA Convention Group Winner

In 1992 my tort doe Chu's Sweet Sixteen won Best In Show at the ARBA convention in Columbus, OH. It was the first time that a wool rabbit won the top prize. See: Northern California Angora Guild: Convention Memories: 1992 ARBA Convention Best In Show (ncag.blogspot.com)

In 2001 my white doe Chu's Vera won Group at the ARBA convention in San Diego, CA, she was one of the 4 finalists for the Best In Show. See Northern California Angora Guild: Convention Memories: 2001 ARBA Convention Group Winner (ncag.blogspot.com)

In 2003, my tort buck Chu's Ashton won Group again at the ARBA convention in Wichita, KS. There were over 12,000 shown in the open rabbits, the Best In Show went to a Tan junior doe shown by Joe Kim.

This is Ashton's "official" Group photo taken by a professional photographer. It was a part of the prize package. This photo was used as the English Angora breed photo in the ARBA breed poster for several years.

The Heinold Feed booth invites the convention BOB and BOS winners to have photos taken there. This is the Heinold photo. I'll share some more photos from that year tomorrow.

This photo of Ashton taken at home is actually a better representation of his handsome self. It is unusual for any Angora buck to win over a doe in any show, it's even more unusual to have won a BOB then advanced to be a Group winner at the ARBA convention. So far Ashton was the only Angora buck that achieved this honor.

Sisters Want to have Fun

Simone on the left and Monique on the right are littermate sisters.

They have been cut down several months ago, can enjoy the outdoor exercise without worrying about messing up a show coat.

They like to chit chat with each other, believe it or not.

They each have their own condo so the exercise pen is their daily fun meeting place.

Hi, sis, how's it going?

I got something to tell you.

It's our secret, don't tell anyone else.

Don't let mama hear us.

You got it?

Carol White’s New Pup Dixie and French Angora Potter

Carol White has been breeding and showing French Angora for a long time. In the 1990s to 2000s, the French Angora as a breed was not a usual contender for Best In Show but Carol W. held the record of having an all breed Best In Show in the early 2000s. This record was not broken for at least 10 years until the mid 2010s when the French Angora became greatly improved. Carol W. did well during the new French Angora time for quite a while, until she decided to let her oldies to live out their lives but not breed or acquire new ones. Potter on the left is one of the very last French Angora that she owns.

Carol W got a new puppy, Dixie, who is 3 months old in this photo. Carol says, "Neither Potter nor Dixie was sure what to make of the other. Dixie is going to need as much grooming as the Angoras, but the grooming stand won't work for long, she will outgrow it soon."