Corwen, Wales:29 July 2016
Day 29

I am getting spoiled by French-press coffee.  Helen, our host left home-made scones for us along with her own preserves and peanut butter.  The cottage is rather rustic (an old bunk house they converted into an AirBnB) and the grounds are extensive.  The garden looks rather unruly; she has at least squash, onions, cabbage, beans and raspberries.  Helen was gone long before we got up this morning to take extra fruits and vegetables to the local market.
We spent a lazy morning reading and lounging before we headed back to the sheepdog trials.  We sat with Nerys and Queen again.  Queen is a retired working sheep dog who has Parkinson's disease.  Nerys is very knowledgeable and helped to make sure we understood the proceedings.  The five top handlers are selected each day and those 15 compete again on Saturday to determine who goes to the International competition.  Realizing that the International event includes only England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, one must think in terms of the World competition to include a larger scope. 

We stayed after the competition to watch the tug-of-war and the sheep shearing contest.  Going on looks alone Justin and I chose our favorites going in.  Not knowing, I had one fav from each of the three categories of senior, open, and veteran.  My open and my veteran bit the dust early on, but my favorite in the senior category took the grand prize.  These guys can sheer a sheep in right about twenty seconds!  My goodness.  Justin asked me if I thought he had three heads when he first suggested we add this to our list for this summer.  I told him that yes, in fact, I had thought he was nuts.  As it turned out, this was very interesting and fun.  I am glad we went.  I was reminded of 4H, FFA and fat-stock shows and rodeos.  No jams, jellies or pies and not so much about the blue ribbon, but all about sheep, dogs, and the people who work them.