2026 The Year of the Fire Horse

So i don't know how it happened but i don't seem to have blogged at all during 2025. Where did the year go?

Well it ended on a very sad note which kind of makes everything else that happened last year somewhat redundant.

I lost my beloved new best friend Jasper, only 2 years old, and with no way of knowing the diagnosis the loss is hard to come to terms with.

Jasper was such an intelligent and articulate individual. I know the north ronaldsays are generally very intelligent- needed to stay alive in their natural environment but there was something in his eyes when he looked at me i could see him thinking.....its hard to explain

As well as unexpectedly losing my boy I had to make the tough decision to put my oldest "baby" to sleep. Daisy had been with me since i found her, newborn and still wet and yellow with birth fluids, lying on a drain cover outside cottages. I brought her home nearly 12 years ago and she was my second cade lamb- having reared Baby (found wandering alone, but maybe a week old) the year before. Daisy had suffered arthiritis for a few years and i gave her pain relief but it was becoming apparent throughout 2025 that the pain was worsening and her joints were becoming increasingly deformed.

She was the flock leader for years, putting everyone in their place, but as she got older she was unable to sustain her top sheep status with the young upstarts. I so miss her, and i know her "sister" Poppy is lost without her too.

With these in my mind it feels somewhat crass to talk about the craft business. But i have spent the last month thinking about it and it is time to continue, my other sheep still need me to work, and although my creativity has been a bit stifled it still is a source of stress relief to me to make things

There is no good time to die, to be sure, but this all happened when i had previously committed to attending the xmas craft fayre, and undertaking a Weaving Retreat. Again i thought long and hard, assessing the situation and concluded that attending both these things would not make any difference to the situations.

I am going to share my next blog imminently to describe the journey i have been on in the crafting side of things this past year. It didn't feel right to write about it in the same blog post.

I will end this one with a little personal reflection: Loss is a natural occurrence everyone, at some time, will encounter and grief is a process individual to the griever although the steps endured are widely relate-able. It shouldn't be seen as weak or shameful if a loss causes someone emotional pain and affects their mental health. The last thing grieving people need is to be called out for having a mental health issue, and in any case there should be no stigma attached to anyone who suffers from mental health issues.

That really shouldn't have needed saying but sadly it really did.

Wishing ewe all a peaceful 2026!