Speaking of old red barns...I love seeing red barns on country drives. Blue skies, red barns, and white sheep with black heads nibbling green grass has to be the most peaceful sight.
This past Saturday was a sunny, 50+ degree day and just perfect for riding over to Highland County to the Maple Festival held in Monterey each March. I always look forward to the drive over the mountains, and here are some pictures to prove that getting there was half the fun.
Please...no one mention this to Tom...but the red barn picture (which definitely isn't a good one but the best I could do under the circumstances) was taken when I stopped dead on a two-lane road (with my flashers on in case a car approached) because there was absolutely no place to pull over for the picture! And, of course, I had to have the picture of the sheep. After only one quick snap, I hightailed it down the road away from the traffic coming behind me.
Here's a picture of another sheep farm where, thankfully, there was a small grassy area leading to their pasture. I pulled in and walked toward the mama sheep and the newborn babies, who were eyeing me cautiously and gathering closer to their mamas behind the barbed fence. How cute they were! How neat it would be to knit a scarf from wool from our very own sheep! [You can see more newborn lambs over at Farmgirl Fare!]
I spotted these maple syrup buckets along the side of the road and passed them as I sped towards Monterey, so I quickly noted some landmarks so that I could stop and take a picture on the way back home. This time I found a dirt road to pull onto and walked through just a bit of brush to get closer to the buckets.
The 50th Annual Maple Festival itself was crowded as usual, and the smell of pancakes, fried pork rinds, and maple donuts filled the air. The food lines were extra long! The usual vendors were set up along Main Street and inside the local school. I enjoyed browsing the booths and little antique stores in town, although I sadly didn't purchase the collectible green antique watering can I saw and thought would look right at home on my front porch steps. 
Next year, why not come visit and go along with me?
~Deb
I love the sheep pictures.They remind me of when we lived in Iceland.
The festival sounds fun.I haven't been to a Maple Festival in 10 years.When we lived in Cleveland we took Allison and Gregory to this one:
http://www.maplefestival.com/about.htm
Posted by: Tammy | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 12:52 PM
LOL!! I could see Momma and I doing the same thing.........stopping in the road to take a picture. :)
Posted by: Courtney, Jer.33:3 | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 02:09 PM
LOVE that can! To bad you didn't purchase it. :( It really would have looked just perfect with your others! The pictures look like the day was lots of fun!
Posted by: chris | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 04:36 PM
Oh what a wonderful time! I just love the country even tho' I grew up in a small city.
I've never seen maple syrup buckets on the trees and the green watering can was a real "miss". It was really cute! I probably would have lingered near the basket weaving
area. Thanks for the pictures! Morgan continually has a camera nearby for all those "choice times"!
Posted by: Jane | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 04:38 PM
Wow! That looks like a wonderful adventure for a weekend! If I was in Virginia, I would have come to go with you. :-) Funny about the barn picture! How sweet to see the lambs all with their mommas...I noticed the one closest in the picture seems to have twins! Awwwww! Did you buy maple syrup? Thanks for the sharing the beautiful pictures!
Posted by: Dorothy | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 09:51 AM
Looks like a wonderful weekend, Deb! I love to ride in the country when we come up to VA. It's probably a good thing we don't live up there, because I'd spend too much money on gas, just riding. LOL! Just curious, do you know how much the larger jug of maple syrup sells for? We just paid $32.00 for organic at the healthfood store.
Posted by: Molly | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 06:25 PM
(said in a whisper)
"I won't tell on you"
why are we doing this on your blog??? :)
I love love love the sheep pictures. We pass a sheep farm on the way to a little town near us but they aren't out on the fields yet - it's just too cold for them. Another month or so and I'll have some lamb pictures too.
Some of the tree pictures I posted have maple sap - I said to r why don't we tap them? But they are a mile or so into the woods so it would be hard to check on them every day. I might try it though, just for fun.
Glad you had a lovely day!
Posted by: Islandsparrow | Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 08:20 AM
I love sheep! I won't tell you how many bags of fleece I have around here ;o) Do you spin and/or knit?
Posted by: Ram in the Thicket | Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 10:56 AM