Menoturals; Sheep 101

Joining in with the LLB Gang for Nature Friday... and here's a pretty flower to start us off.

Today's breed of sheep began life in the harsher, boggy lands of the Netherlands. First noted as a breed around 1800 a.d, it is thought to have been developed from a more lanky old breed crossed with the shapely Texel. The Dutch Spotted Sheep was used to help solidify bog-lands into more stable land that would then keep cattle.

Look at that lovely square formation on the back. That is natural and inherited from the Texel lineage. These are a good, all-round commercial stock animal, primarily kept for their meat and for their milk. Wool is a strong secondary product. The fleece fibre is very springy, giving good loft to spun yarn. The wool is tightly packed, so it does not gather kemp and has an excellent crimp, with a staple length of about 10cm/4in, sometimes longer. The yarn produced is of medium to coarse quality, good for worsted fabrics suited to outerwear and furnishings.

Isn't that a lovely face? The pens where I took these photos had lots of ribbons hung on them. I took note of the farm presenting them. Cannon Hall Farm. Imagine my delight, then, to find this little video which featured these very sheep! Enjoy listening to the Yorkshire accent and the pride of showcasing this beautiful animal.

Menork; Ooohhh

I drove down and spent a night at St Cyrus, then the next wee stretch back at Friokheim. The plan was then to pay a visit to central Fife... but a slight misunderstanding between Miss Guidance and myself ended up in my taking a westward turn out of Dundee on a long and unforgiving stretch of road where it became necessary to give up thinking of throwing a U-turn and, instead, head to the next parking point in Cowdenbeath. It proved a worthy enough decision, as the rain was continuing to make its presence felt.

Except for that brief moment when the clouds broke... In the space of five minutes, it went from silver, gold, to amber-rose...

You will note, too, that there are very few leaves left on their branches. The clouds soon stitched themselves together again, and I was afforded no opportunity to view the Wolf Moon. 

Due to the inclement weather, combined with routine maintenance work, I also discovered that the Queensferry Crossing (new bridge) was closed until the 6th, so I ended up spending another three nights in the car park there. I waited till the 7th to transfer back into Edinburgh... 

Menoizikul; Midweek Musicalisms

It is safe to say that just about everyone is familiar, or at least aware of, the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. The compositions of one of his sons, Johann Christian, are also quite widely known. But what of Wilhelm Friedemann, born on the 22nd of November, 1710, in Weimar, Germany? An accomplished organist and harpsichordist, he was renowned for his improvisations, as well as many compositions for the keyboard. He died in poverty, however...

I really liked this item, played on period instruments, giving the sonorous, slightly ponderous quality of those times. The first four minutes are muted, then everything bursts into life for the second half.