Sorting the sheep from the goats?

I'm travelling at the moment, but just for fun I searched my Google+ photo file under the topic of sheep, and apart from some photographs that I've used in previous blogs, came up with a few examples of sheep and goats photographed in various countries over the last few years.

The first photo below is of a rather agressive looking ram in a field close to our relatives' farm on the outskirts of the village of Clehonger, Herefordshire. On a walk down the lanes, I hoped the fence between us was without any gaps, but nevertheless I didn't hang around after taking his photograph, just in case. Those horns could do some damage! 

These sheep near Apollo Bay in Victoria could enjoy a spectacular ocean view, but they probably never notice it, being much too busy contentedly munching grass. We were staying nearby in a unit with the same view, and we did find time to admire it.

This is what a drover in the Wairarapa district of New Zealand's North Island looks like, and if you're driving on a country road it may take a while to get past him and his flock, giving plenty of time for photographs. Sheep have right of way here and it's not a good idea to speed, as you never known when you'll come across them around the next bend in the road. Sheep numbers in New Zealand are decreasing but there are still around 6 sheep for every per person in the country.

This photograph shows a statue of a mountain goat in the main street of snowy Smithers in British Columbia Canada, taken by my sister Louisa, whose daughter lives there. We haven't been there ourselves yet, but hope to visit one of these days. Apparently the statue was erected as a tribute to all the local people who work in the guiding business. 

And finally, a couple of sure-footed goats spotted on the steep slope surrounding the walls of the medieval Chateau at Fougeres in Brittany, France, which we visited today. Fougeres is a lovely old town to wander through, with beautiful gardens and half-timbered medieval houses surrounding its moated chateau, of which only the walls and a few towers remain.

    An elevated view of Fougeres Chateau and surrounding old town

So no sepian shepherds or sheep from me this week, but I'm sure you'll find some from other bloggers here at

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.fr/2016/05/sepia-saturday-329-7-may-2016.html

Baa Baa Heep! Baa Baa Heep!

Something tells me this week's Sepia Saturday prompt photo could well lead to cuteness overload, but who am I to (jum)buck* that trend?

The first three few photos below show my sister Louisa aged about 5, petting and feeding lambs and a goat on the farm of our mother Jean's cousin Austin William (Bill) Morrison and his wife Coral near Blenheim New Zealand, in the north of the South Island. Jean and Louisa had flown over there from Canberra in August 1963 for the wedding of Jean's brother Peter and his wife Doreen, who also comes from Blenheim. Heather and Graeme are children of Bill's sister Daphne and her husband Eric, so they are second cousins to Louisa and myself. I don't know that we've ever met, or that Louisa has seen them since, although I did meet Coral, Daphne and Eric about 10 yeas ago. I'm not sure who the three people are in the background of the first photo, but two of them could be Grandmother Mona and Uncle Derek, mother and brother of Jean and Peter. Coral passed away last year in her mid 90s. It looks like Louisa enjoyed her day at the farm and hopefully the wedding too. She wasn't born in NZ but moved there about 25 years ago and lives in the far north of the North Island.  

Continuing with the cuteness theme, here are Strahan and Laura, Louisa's nephew and niece and our two youngest, aged about 3 and a 1/2 and 15 months respectively, at a petting farm in Dural on the outskirts of Sydney in 1988. We were there on an excursion with Strahan's pre-school class.  

Probably a good thing that Laura wasn't bottle-fed, otherwise that bottle might have been rather tempting!

Laura back for another visit the following year in 1989

 Laura's 2 year old niece Isabelle currently loves talking about 'baa baa heep', as per the title of this post, and while I don't yet have a photo of her with the real thing, it's these nursery rhyme toys knitted by her Nan that have inspired her, ie. Baa Baa Black Sheep and Mary and her Little Lamb.

                                            

                                            

                                                                    

*For those who don't know, jumbuck is an old Australian term for sheep.

If you can cope with seeing more sweet animal photos from other Sepians, Just click here