Sheep and Shuttleworths

In an earlier post, I mentioned the wool in my genes. Here's a shot of part of the article from Fortune. The full-paged color shots of the mill, looms and carpets are impressive (but would not duplicate well given my limitations with images now - using photobooth!). My memories from childhood about the mills are pretty specific - almost always going in on a weekend with our father...riding the old elevator and being afraid it would get stuck or someone would fall down the dark shaft...running up and down the rows upon rows of huge rolls of carpet...and once going in during a work day and seeing the people who were designing the carpets. That was the only part of the whole carpet business that held any kind of appeal for me (well, that and my father's trip(s) to Australia and Europe to look at wool, etc. Am sure there were some scotch tastings, too and a golf game or two). So, in reflecting on those early childhood memories of the Mills, it's really not so surprising that the dyeing has really caught my interest. Struck something pretty deep down in there that is speaking and resonating in me, and so I will pay close attention to what those ancestral voices are saying to me and will tend the flock for now.