Geese and Morris dancers ahoy...

A true country life, that is what I live and have lived over the last seven years. I use to buy Country life magazines, still living in Belgium. Never guessing that one day I would be part of it all.
As a teenager in boarding school, I chuckled on James Herriot his vet books, and try to picture the roads with the walls, which was hard to do as I had never seen them.
It all fell into place ten years ago, on my first visit to North Yorkshire, Herriot Country.
Now it has become my country and I love to do what people do in an agricultural life style. I admit, my wellies are still pink, and I freak out when I see a limping animal, and I do try to find a farmer when I see a lamb on the road... The farmers don’t always like me, I am the city girl intruder at times.
And the North Yorkshire people are a special breed, they can seem a bit harsh, but if they feel that your interest is genuine, they are extremely heart warming and friendly.
They smile politely if I suggest that on rainy days, they could take a bit of woolite and go wash the sheep, so they smell better...

No woolite for the geese... The sheep race was over, the prizes won, White won strong, I went on to the geese guiding. I am sure there must be a more appropriate name for the experience, but I can’t find it.
Geese are big birds, they don’t look big in the photograph, as they stand right in front of you though, they come to over a grown up knees’. Also remember that geese guard.
A farm with geese will not have any visitor coming in un announced.
Animals to keep an eye on.

We saw two different dogs at work. Amazing stuff really. The farmer has a whistle, and different signals are interpreted by the working dog, he knows exactly what whistle sound means.
For a whole website about border collies or sheepdogs as they are often called, go here.
A true border collie is a joy to be with. Happy to perform, those dogs are of life importance to any sheep or cattle farmer around the Dales.

When working, all you see is a low black and white, sometimes brown shadow flying up and down, circling the animals that need to be driven to another spot.
Fast as the wind, they sneek run through the grass, never touching the animals, a presence with stamina.
These babies are not to mess with. They will defend their herd with their life...
It is unbelievable that in a couple of minutes, the geese have crossed the whole meadow, have gone in between little gates, under a fabricated little house, with the farmer standing and the dog doing what sheep dogs do: get the herd together and in the position the master wants them.

And not only dogs are attractive, some of the viewers of the spectacle are happy too, this funny little one tried to catch up with geese and dogs. To no avail of course...
The show stopper for the geese agility trick was to get the geese from the meadow behind the church to the Market place. Passing via the cemetery.

A beautiful sight, the gorgeous farmers wife, knowing the whistle and the commands, steered her lot over the walking path straight into town.
The dog scooted in between head stones, sidewards, back, down, another 3 meter, down again, unbelievable. That dog was totally focussed and knew how to work the Quaking bunch.

Another highlight on the Masham Sheep Fair. Loved it...

And bugger, o bugger, o bugger... This was also the moment where my flash card reached the end of its memory. I started with a brand new 8 gigabyte flashcard at ten in the morning, and by 15.30 in the afternoon I ran out of juice. And had forgotten my spare 4 gigs at home. Now I know, it is possible to fill an 8 gig like nothing if you are cruising a sheep fair.
Impossible to make room on the card as the action went on, I should have known better!

Photographers Life Lesson: never think that you will have enough space, TAKE THE SPARES!!!

Lucky the geese agility experience came as the last bit of the day for me, and 600 raw images is not bad for a days work.
Before the geese I had watched the Morris Dancers, I had a fair bit of pics of what the day was like.
The dancers were not your ordinary Morris group, they were mainly pink.
I knew something was up when I saw the guy with the hat, adorned with bunny, flowers, Davy Crocket tail, hearing bells.
The sure sign of Morris Dancers in the surroundings.

They are the british format of Line Dancing, a funny bunch, disciplined when dancing. It must take a lot of practice to get it all right as they make complex movements and patterns once in action.

Now if one of the group sees this entry, I need the name of your group so I can be complete in my report. I got so side tracked by the costumes and the dancing that I blacked out.

Some wonderful and artistic clothing at hand, I had never seen Morris dancers like the group we had today. Pink was the word.
I first noticed them while I was at the pharmacist, I heard the rinkle of the bells, and yep, looking out I saw and heard them coming.

The sound of the bells comes from special leg pieces. Tied up around the legs of the dancers they add a special rinkling effect to the music played by the group’s personal accordeon guys.

One thing is sure: to be a morris dancer you need to be fit. Not what I am. On sunday, the day after, I could barely walk, stiff as an iron board from going up and down while shooting sheep at eyelevel...
This group was a lot better. It was obvious that they liked what they were doing, it always shows when people have fun in their actions. It comes across to the public, the crowd cheered massively in between dances.

The best part for me was a little toddler, so taken in with the dancers and the music that she escaped her mom, and joined the group. Too cute for words, she did a fine job.

Her movements were strong, the binkie stayed put, and her mom did not come to pick her up. Highly appreciated by me, I love to see relationships between people.
This little one lived in the moment, she saw the dancers and wanted to join in... Precious and priceless.

I could have looked at her for hours. Life as it is, a small kid enjoying life to the fullest. No sorrows, just being happy and do the dance of joy!
To end Masham Sheep Fair, a little movie with the pink Morris Dancers.
On to next year, I will be back for sure, this was an extremely fun day. Five stars...

Talk later!

Comments

[mollie]

oh, I never see this here!!!

love those geese... and that little one with her binky... too cute!