where the wild things are

This was another relaxing weekend in VT. We all agreed there was something very special about it. No one thing in particular made it that way, but the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. We considered blowing the whole thing off because it was POURING on Friday afternoon, but a friend stopped over for a surprise visit and, while she was here, we decided to give it a try. We packed up and left as the rain slowed. Stopped at the end of our street to check out a >14" diameter turtle. Noticed this (digitally enhanced) supercool license plate at a rest stop. Arrived in VT as the skies brightened. By the time we got into the Northeast Kingdom area, the sky was bright blue with the fluffiest white clouds -- just beautiful. Our campsite was on the shore of this pond (seems big enough to be a lake, if you ask me, but it's a pond, according to the VT State Parks service), with tons of mussels for diving boys' entertainment, some of the friendliest ducks in the world, happy (if not productive) fishing spots, most excellent campfire meals, the perfect knitting location, and much appreciated quiet and relaxation.
We realized on Thursday that we missed the deadline for submitting Leah's next Spindlicity article, but we made arrangements with the publisher and let my fingers do the walking to find a farm of fiber animals in the area. We were delighted to discover an alpaca farm about 10 minutes away from our campground, and even more thrilled when they said, "Sure, come on over for a visit!" Leah and I headed for the farm. Jesse and Scott chose to stick around the campground with our dog, Kodi, to fish and continue to mess around with the "button lamps" Jesse made out of mussel shells, crisco, and cord. This precious baby alpaca was born only 24 hours earlier and was still very wobbly on its feet, but oh how soft! All the fuzzyfaces were wary but curious about Leah. Of course this mama alpaca was protective of her new baby. About a second after this picture was taken, I saw the mama's cheeks puff out and we learned that's a sign that an alpaca is about to "spit." And it's not spit like just plain old saliva; alpaca spit is green bile that smells quite nasty. So, yeah, we backed away from the baby! But we got some fiber to spin and knit, and had a great visit as part of a great weekend.