Super Dooper Book Find...

I was out shopping the other day and I found this wonderful book on sale. As a lot of you know, I just adore old photographs, and especially old photos of children. This is a delicious book full of photos of olden day children and their dogs. Some of the photographs are really beautifully posed studio shots, and others are taken at home or in the garden. The one feature in every photograph is how much the children adore their dogs. It is written by Donna Long and printed by Ten Speed Press if you are interested in chasing it up. It is a real delight.

Amazing Alpacas.....

Remember I mentioned that we were going to my Brothers Alpaca Farm to babysit the Alpacas whilst he and his wife went off to a conference? Well, we are now back at home, and I have some photos to share. The area, near Port Lincoln in South Australia, is in drought, and so everything was so dry. There was a really big bushfire whilst we were there, about 50kms away, and it had us concerned for awhile. The Alpacas are just the most beautiful, calm animals and I was completely captivated by them. They were very happy for us to walk amongst them and were very interested in us and any movements toward us were very gentle. I had heard that they can spit, and thankfully I didn't experience that directed at me. I did see them spit at each other occasionally when one got too close to another at food "treat" time. I totally fell in love with one fellow in particular, Gizmo. He is a young male, and he was just so full of personality, and was always the first to come and say hello and walk around with us. I was amazed at how docile they were. Thankfully the pregnant ladies didn't go into labour, as I think I would have been in a total panic. Hope you like the pictures.

A group of the Alpacas waiting to be fed.

This is Gizmo, my special fellow.

This is Dusty. Her new baby has exactly the same colourings as she does.

This is from the farmhouse looking towards the ocean. They are in a drought at the moment and everything is so dry.

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I Made an Alpaca.....

We are off in a few days to my Brother's Alpaca farm, and I decided to make my Sister-in-Law, Di, an Alpaca. Well after lots of trial and error, here is Mrs. Alpaca, made from Alpaca. I'm just off to wrap her now. Will post some pictures of our stay at the farm when I get back. I'm going to have to get the lady Alpacas to cross their legs whilst I am in charge, as two of them are heavily pregnant. I shall have kittens myself if one of them decides to deliver......

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My Christmas Present.....

I thought I would share a picture of my Christmas present with you. This is Fred Bear and he is a wonderful 26" Joy Toys bear from approximately the 1930's. He still has his original sewn tag on his foot pads and he is quite unusual as he is so big. I am completely in love with him and I am a very proud Bear Mama, or Fred Bear Mama!!

Isn't She Beautiful....

Isn't this antique bear just wonderful. Her name is Teddy-Girl and she was the life time companion of Colonel Bob Henderson, who served in World War 2. Colonel Henderson spent his time after the war promoting the love of Teddy Bears, and Teddy-Girl really became his mascot. After his death, Teddy Girl was sold at auction in 1994 for 110,000 pounds. What a treasure. She is currently on display in the Izu Teddy Bear Museum in Japan.

So if you are ever in Japan, you know who to visit!!!

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