gardens and goats in christchurch

this was great day. we roamed this charming town, and loved every corner. most of the day was simple discovery: a cafe, a bookstore, a museum, a beautiful garden and for just a few moments, a little sunshine. the highlight of today came in the evening, back on the farm. greg, our wonderful host, asked us to herd in the goats. he explained very carefully how to properly accomplish this task, i (w) heard nothing. during the whole explanation, i just envisioned myself running (frolicking, really) through the field, calling and chasing after the goats, in a graceful yet run-a-muck sort of way. so i did just that, and the goats did not like me. turns out his whole explanation entailed words like "calm, easy, slow and no big movements." missed that. it took a little more time, but the goats made their way. here's my favorite part... our host asked joe to pierce tags into the ears of the little baby goats. it was a sad moment when joe didn't clamp down hard enough, and the little goat would have to go through the whole piercing thing twice. what an amazing experience. stay tuned, the shearing comes tomorrow. p.s. a little bad news: we did our first load of laundry tonight. joe's favorite shirt is now pink, bright pink. look for it in future photos, i don't think he can handle tossing it.