New Year's Part Un - Dorset

Okay, so I have been a little busy, mainly with two things: school and my new bf, Josh.  I worked extra hard on my essays, which were due last Monday, then I hung out with my poor, neglected boyfriend.   We both kind of have those cartoony hearts in our eyes, so I have neglected you, dear readers.  I apologize if this is overly sentimental and focused on my new beau.  Actually, no I don't.  Also, the most important part is at the end, so read to that part.

First, I have to talk about New Year.  I went to Poole, Dorset(shire) in "Southern" England on the coast to visit Josh and his family.  His mum, Lin, and dad, Pete, were both sweet and funny, and his younger brother, Sam, is a talented artiste who's going to study medicine at Uni.  The first day there we walked the dalmatian puppeh Charlie on the beach and went ice skating (re-enacting our first date, which neither of us realized was a real date till later).  I was basically wearing all the clothes I possibly could (yes, even the long underwear Mom), and it was still freezing.

The scenery in Dorset is magnificent, and we spent New Year's morning eating bacon buttys (or, as I call them "buddies") cooked by Josh's mum on the beach (well, in their cabana).  Only the Brits could come up with something so simultaneously horrible and wonderful to eat.  The recipe: You take two pieces of bread and slather each side with butter like you're making a sandwich.  Cook bacon, put it in the middle.  It is delicious, and I worry about gaining a stone just from eating them.  Back to the beach, it is beautiful, but it was as cold as... well, it was cold.

Here's a picture of Tom (Josh's best friend), Josh and Sam (the little brother).  Tom is basically what I thought every single British person is like (he's even wearing a fedora, come on!).

The afternoon on New Year's Day was one of the best experiences of my whole life.  I'm just going to throw it out there.  We went hiking to Lulworth Cove and looked at geologic formations then...to see...SHEEEEEP!  

Just to give you an idea of how much clothes I am wearing, I have on long underwear (top and bottoms), jeans, two pairs of socks, Josh's sisters wellies, a tshirt, one of Josh's fleece pullovers (enormous) AND my coat.  That's why I look like a 4-year-old on a snow day.  And to be honest, I was still cold.

You may not know this, but I have a longstanding love-affair with sheep.  They might be stupid and smelly, but the are so awesome and fluffy.  I love seeing them like little cotton balls on the English green hillsides.  I always wanted to squeeze one to see if it was all fluffy or if it was solid.  I tried to in Yorkshire, but they always ran away.  Josh's best friend Tom and his brother, Will, took me to their house (out in the country, in a town appropriately called Wool), and I got to feed their tame sheep and squeeze them, and it was GLORIOUS!

First, we went to their house to see the "lawnmower" sheep, which are tame.  The picture below is me feeding them.  The tame sheep are the Portland breed, which means they are fluffy and awesome.  I squeezed them and squealed quite a bit.

Then, we went to feed the pregnant ewes (there are lots).  I found one that had a big abcess on its face, so I actually did help Will with something other than feeding them.

This is Will and the ewes.  Isn't he a cute British sheep farmer?  If you are looking for one under 21, let me know.  By the way, sheep are kind of aggressive when you are feeding them, and they're preggers too, which probably means they are more hungry/mean than usual.  They kept biting my legs (just nibbles through my trousers) and they almost knocked me over.

ZOMBIE SHEEP!  Not really, they're just the sick/weak ewes wanting me to feed them.

Finally we got to see the lambs.  This part will actually be in the 2nd installment because there are lots of pictures as well as something close to my heart (i.e. Chester).