April 26th 2014: The 27th Annual Sheep Shearing Festival, Waltham

This morning, I decided to go check out the Annual Sheep Shearing Festival, held at the historic Gore Place in the town of Waltham. Before that, I went for a few small hikes in the town of Lincoln on this rainy day. I visited Stonehedge first, located at ~40 Stonehedge Road. The path I took here to view the water body is shown below in pink.

Nothing too much to see here though.

Next was the water body at Umbrello, located at ~170 Tower Road. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

Again, nothing much here.

Twin Pond at ~2 Twin Pond Lane was next. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

At least the pond was a little bigger this time.

I passed by Todd Pond at 80 Todd Pond Road next.

The last place I visited in Lincoln today was at Longmeadow Field at ~70 Old Sudbury Road, the path I took shown below in pink.

Nothing much to see here either.

Finally, it was time to head to Waltham. Even though it was raining, many people had still come for the festival today. Before the sheep herding demonstration, I went around for a bit taking pictures.

Finally, the demonstration began.

The shepherd started off by talking about how the border collies were highly trained, and could influence the behavior of sheep just with a stare.

It was interesting to note that sheep are only comfortable in the presence of other sheep,

and that they are vulnerable when not on their feet.

They can easily be cornered by just a few dogs,

although they will run away once they figure out an escape route.

The dogs themselves will not move an inch unless on command,

although it is harder to instill discipline in younger dogs with less experience.

In this manner, the shepherd showed us how he could direct the sheep to any designated location, like within the area of 4 cones,

or into a fenced up area.

Within the fenced up area, the dogs could even cause the sheep to jump out.

The dogs know how to play as well though, whenever signalled that work is done for the day, even ignoring the sheep while playing with frisbees

and soccer balls.

The shepherd even let us pet one of them.

Amazing dogs I have to say.

Another demonstration I saw was the manual sheepshearing, where the farmer uses a large pair of shears to cut off the wool from the helpless sheep. I had to marvel at how they could avoid cutting the sheep themselves by accident.

An old lady was doing lacemaking, which looked really complex with all the needles in precise positions on a piece of paper with markings,

as well as spools of lace laid out all around the workpiece,

and apparently she can make a beautiful lace bookmark in just 5 hours!

I also took the opportunity to tour the first floor of the Gore Place with a 2 dollar fee, although technically pictures are not allowed.

After leaving the festival, I decided to go grab some lunch at the Atrium Lounge, located at the Embassy Suites Waltham in town. The place is pretty open, looking more like part of the hotel than its own entity.

For food, I decided to get the Poached Pear Salad (baby greens, poached pears, candied pecans, applewood smoked bacon, vermont smoked cheddar),

and the Caramel Apple Blossom a la mode for dessert.

I rarely get salad, but this one was actually really good. The dessert was scrumptious as well. Not bad for a hotel restaurant.

I still had some time before my first meetup dinner at Dok Bua Thai Kitchen in Brookline, so I headed to the town of Weston to do more hiking, starting with the Highland Street Forest, another part of which I have visited a few times in the past with nice views. The path I took here near the end of Wildflower Lane to see the water body here is shown below in pink.

There was nothing much to see here though.

Next, it was on to the 80 Acres Conservation Land. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

Hobbs Pond was pretty nice, although the dam itself was under construction,

I got a little disoriented when I stumbled onto the Astra Zeneca campus in Waltham here,

and after finding the correct path, passed by the Alkermes Inc campus.

From here, I emerged onto Kings Grant Road, and proceeded to head back to my car along the road.

From here, it was on to College Pond, where the path I took is shown below in pink.

I saw a heron in the small pond here,

and the views of College Pond itself was decent.

Finally, it was time to head to Brookline for dinner. This Thai restaurant is not as fancy as Khao Sarn nearby, but the food was still pretty good. For my side of the table, we got the Tom-Kha-Gai Soup (Chicken in coconut soup),

the Kai-Jeaw-Koong-Sub (Thai omelette with ground shrimp),

the Indonesian Fried Rice Topped with Crispy Chicken and Fried Egg,

the Pad Thai (Sauteed Rice Noodles with shrimp, egg, scallion, bean sprout and ground peanut), 

the Pla-Pow (Thai style grilled whole fish)

 and the Guay-Tiow-Nua Noodle Soup (Beef noodle soup).

After a fun time with friends here, it was on to another meetup dinner down the road at Shanghai Gate, a Chinese restaurant in the Allston area of Boston. I was just glad that I had not eaten as much earlier, as there was more to come here, with the Lion's Head Casserole (Housemade Meatballs stewed with baby greens),

the Shanghai Soup (lean pork, bacon, tofu and bamboo shoots in broth),

the Shanghai Fish Slices (Fish Marinated in wine and stir fried with ginger and wood ear),

the Golden Fish (marinated fish slices fried to a golden brown),

the Beef in Brown Sauce (stir fried with pepper and scallions in brown sauce),

the Scallion Pancake,

the Steamed Pork Buns (with vinegar and ginger),

the Baby Cabbage,

the Crispy Shrimp (Marinated and fried with garlic (with shell))

and the Taro Chicken Roll (Mashed taro wrapped with chicken, fried). 

Pretty good choice of food, although my friend did comment later that we could have chosen more authentic food. Oh well.

At this point, I had to go to my friend's place in Quincy and could not join everyone else for dessert, as I had to get up early tomorrow to go deep sea fishing in Hampton, NH. Hope I catch something tomorrow.