Baaaaaaaa....

I love sheep. Most people close to me know I have a strange collection of sheep things. Sheep stuffed animals, sheep drink coasters, sheep pajamas... I even had a sheep bedside lamp named 'Larry' at one point in time. I'm going split the blame on this odd collection between two people: My mom and my dad.

My dad chose to name me Rachael, which apparently means 'innocent lamb' so he gets the blame for that half of it. My mom gets the blame for thinking it would be cute to start a lamb/sheep collection in honor of my name. I don't really mind because little lambs really are pretty damn cute. It's not like my name means 'nasty ogre' or something. Everytime my mom sees something with a lamb or sheep on it, she buys it for me. I've got a really fun mug to drink my tea out of at home with a lamb on the outside that says 'I miss ewe!' and when I drink my tea I can see the little lambs running around on the inside. Like I said in my last post, I'm easily amused so don't be surprised by that

That being said, I planned a fun little trip for myself to Avoca Handweavers tomorrow! they have loads of lambs and sheep because they use the wool to make the yarn, which they turn into beautiful scarves, sweaters, etc... The stuff is supposed to be on the less affordable side, but very high quality. I can't access the site for some reason to see exactly what goes on there. From what I gather you can take tours and watch them weaving and visit the petting zoo.

I can't imagine that many Irish people would be interested in visiting a petting zoo full of sheep because on any given day you drive by hundreds of sheep and lambs. There seriously must be more sheep than people in this country. The hills are dotted with little white specs that turn into sheep as you get closer. It's great in the springtime because all of the little lambs are out following their moms around. When it's chilly out, the farmers even turn on big heaters for them to crawl under out in the fields!

I'll let you know more about Avoca Handweavers next week but I'm sure it will be a nice little fieldtrip. I drive through Avoca every day - it was just a matter of doing it while the place was open. A bit of trivia for you: Avoca is where they film Ballykissangel if you've ever seen the show on tv.

My other adventure for this weekend is a 'living wake'. An older friend of Baz's has been terminally ill with cancer for quite some time now and he's only been given another week or two to live. His last request? A big party. Baz thought he was crazy to want a party but I have to agree with the man - if I knew I were going to die in a week or two I would be having the biggest party anyone's ever seen. I'd want everyone to come! So asking for a small house party to 'wake himself before he goes' sounds entirely reasonable to me. Let the man die with a smile on his face! I'll also have to let you know how that goes. Hopefully everyone will be able to put on a brave face and have some fun, like we know he's hoping they all will.

I'm off to start my weekend soon. I hope your Friday flies by and you have a great weekend! ;-)