Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival - Pelts
Sometime back in May, my daughter and I visited the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. She insisted on going after she saw my photos and heard of my adventurous day at Rhinebeck back in October of 2010. We had the pleasure of getting up at the crack of dawn, which surprisingly is rather nice. The air is still, the movements are an otherwise busy sidewalk is pleasantly at peace. Riding the subway is wonderful. . .no on pushing. . .no smelly bodies to contend with LOL.
So, we start on our journey to meet the bus at the Atlantic Avenue Station in Downtown Brooklyn. You will be surprised to know how many buses line up very early there. Buses bringing families to meet their incarcerated loved ones. Yes, we almost went to one of those inadvertently, but were smart enough to ask where this bus was headed before we boarded!
We finally meet our bus, get on, sleep a good portion of the way and finally arrive!
My mission was to buy three items: 1. I was on a mission to find the pelt I left behind in Rhinebeck; 2. Finding a drop spindle; and 3. Purchasing fiber.
Alyssa and I wasted no time looking for a vendor who was selling pelts. We came across so many but none was fitting the description I was looking for until finally I came to a vendor who was selling pelts. To my amazement, it was the same vendor, woman and set up I had left behind in Rhinebeck. I immediately dove into the piles of pelts in hopes of finding the one I left behind. Alyssa and I searched and searched but to no avail. The woman noticed us and asked if she could help. We explained our story and in particular the conversation of that last pelt I left behind. She was so kind. . .she helped us look but we found not that one pelt I so longed for.
I resigned myself to accepting something different. Different is not 'bad' or 'good'; its just 'different'. We came across three pelts, two were similar and one was totally different! The two pelts were quite spotted and marbled. They are beautiful:
You can see how spotted and marbled their coats are, two different sheep, spotted, marbled but yet different. They are unique.
Isn't that like us? We are the same, yet we are different and unique. Different patterns, different colorings and shades, still quite unique, we are all on a road, a journey; we share many things along the way but yet we travel these roads with different outcomes.
Ah but the third pelt was the one, not the actual one I was in search for, but very similar yet very different:
This pelts coloring is pretty even except for the two spots. Interestingly one is black the other white and you know, life is not really black and white. We like to think so, but for the most part we really live within the grey areas of life and so we should. There are some very absolutes in life, but mostly everything is relative.
This little animal was probably put down because of those inconsistencies on its pelt, but look how interesting it is. Just like we are. We become more interesting if we allow the Potter to do his handiwork on our lives.
The vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter. —Jeremiah 18:4
Sometimes our vessels need to be broken in order to be made new and better. Maybe that's what my journey is about. To be made better. I'm getting groomed, like a sheep gets groomed. . .
So, we start on our journey to meet the bus at the Atlantic Avenue Station in Downtown Brooklyn. You will be surprised to know how many buses line up very early there. Buses bringing families to meet their incarcerated loved ones. Yes, we almost went to one of those inadvertently, but were smart enough to ask where this bus was headed before we boarded!
We finally meet our bus, get on, sleep a good portion of the way and finally arrive!
My mission was to buy three items: 1. I was on a mission to find the pelt I left behind in Rhinebeck; 2. Finding a drop spindle; and 3. Purchasing fiber.
Alyssa and I wasted no time looking for a vendor who was selling pelts. We came across so many but none was fitting the description I was looking for until finally I came to a vendor who was selling pelts. To my amazement, it was the same vendor, woman and set up I had left behind in Rhinebeck. I immediately dove into the piles of pelts in hopes of finding the one I left behind. Alyssa and I searched and searched but to no avail. The woman noticed us and asked if she could help. We explained our story and in particular the conversation of that last pelt I left behind. She was so kind. . .she helped us look but we found not that one pelt I so longed for.
I resigned myself to accepting something different. Different is not 'bad' or 'good'; its just 'different'. We came across three pelts, two were similar and one was totally different! The two pelts were quite spotted and marbled. They are beautiful:
Isn't that like us? We are the same, yet we are different and unique. Different patterns, different colorings and shades, still quite unique, we are all on a road, a journey; we share many things along the way but yet we travel these roads with different outcomes.
Ah but the third pelt was the one, not the actual one I was in search for, but very similar yet very different:
This little animal was probably put down because of those inconsistencies on its pelt, but look how interesting it is. Just like we are. We become more interesting if we allow the Potter to do his handiwork on our lives.
The vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter. —Jeremiah 18:4
Sometimes our vessels need to be broken in order to be made new and better. Maybe that's what my journey is about. To be made better. I'm getting groomed, like a sheep gets groomed. . .
Presently the sheep in the photo is getting groomed; it is restrained, but soon it will walk with grace and freedom once its master's done. . .
grace:
elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action; a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.freedom:
the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint.The pelts came from, are you ready for this: FREEDOM FARMS and the woman's name was: GRACE.
My life continues to be different. It will never be the same as it was with Gee. I am coming to terms with that with each day I wake and fall asleep.
My life continues to be different. It will never be the same as it was with Gee. I am coming to terms with that with each day I wake and fall asleep.
Psalm 30:5 NKJV
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joycomes in the morning.
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