'Tis a gift to be simple...

'Tis a gift to be simple,
'Tis a gift to be free,
'Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be.
- American Shaker Tune -

My lifestyle is not simple. It is messy, it is cluttered. Clutter is truly, truly annoying. It's embarrassing to witness in one's self. I recently read a New York Times article which said that when people resolved their physical clutter issues, they often lost body weight. I believe it.

Sources of clutter in my life:


I am an archivist and a researcher. As an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, I minored in history. Since the '60s, I have kept journals after being influenced by reading Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. In 1998 when my mother moved from the house I grew up in, I received all of her family's albums and memorabilia - the official keeper of the Wisser archives. I have also written a doctoral dissertation. All of these choices leave me with lots of stuff politely called archives and documentation.









I am a crafts person. At one point, I focused on bookmaking with the idea of putting all of those written journal words into artful book form. Then I moved on to quilting. Now I'm spinning, dyeing and knitting yarn. I also cook and bake bread but tend not to think of that as craft. Hmmm.


I have moved several times in my adult life. Depending on how I do the counting, I come up with over 30 addresses (excluding long stays with people while in transition). I've lived in New York state, New Jersey, Washington state, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, the UK, France and Norway. While moving can be cleansing, it can also leave one with unpacked boxes. Once I found an unopened bottle of Dom Perignon champagne in a box that had been sitting in my North Caroina attic for three years. (It wasn't very good.)

I want to live more simply. I want to find a way to unite the common themes and dispose of the superfluous. How do I get there from here?

Sheep Lessons, Part I

May I introduce to you Slim (one full eye patch; some pink on his nose)


and Slam (two full eye patches).

They are Jacob twin wethers. (A wether is a neutered ram.) They were born last April. They are our trainer sheep. They are teaching us how to take care of sheep. When we first brought Slim and Slam home in late October in the back of a pick-up truck, I spent the first couple of weeks worrying about them at night. Were they lonely and afraid in their new home? No. Were they sick and I didn't realize it? No. Was I feeding them correctly? It seems to be working out okay.

Sometimes I would lay awake at night and think about how I knew how to take care of cats (I've lived around cats all of my life) but I hadn't a clue as how to take care of sheep. I've read about sheep and have talked with sheep owners and visited sheep farms. I have been to sheep fairs (they are great fun and great learning centers). I belong to a couple of e-groups on sheep and wool fiber (which are very helpful). But these two sheep were now ours and I was sure that I was going to kill one or both of them off through some foolish action or naive inaction of my own. Fortunately for them and for me, they are residing with people who know a lot about livestock (as we live in a village and can't keep livestock in our backyard.)

It is now three months later and they are still alive. They are incredibly sweet animals and very nosy. They like it when we spend time around them although halter training is still a work in progress.

Since the end of December, they have been joined by two polled Dorset ewes.


Since the beginning of January, the Dorsets have contributed three lambs (purebred Dorsets) and there are two more adopted lambs (Dorset-Hampshire crossbreds) and an on-loan Hampshire ewe mother. From 0 to 9 sheep in three months.


Needless to say, there has been a whole lot of sheep learning going on. Among other things, I know about building sheep houses, about sheep teeth, about giving a sheep drench (oral medications) and healing scald on the hoof with Dr. Naylor's Hoof 'n Heel (may have the clever spelling wrong). I've bottle fed lambs because their Mom couldn't provide enough milk. And I've led sheep on halters (although Slim and Slam still remain the most difficult ones to get halters on). The sheep lessons continue.