Alpaca Show

 

When you just KNOW
 the best bits are hidden
 at the very bottom of the bowl!

This past weekend, I took a couple of hours and went down to the Kansas City Alpaca Show with some friends.

Yes, the newspaper headlines still scream of the latest atrocities of war. Too many people were shot, and too many more are still struggling with the effects of long covid. Politics have settled down not one bit, and it doesn't look like the series of climate change crises sweeping across the earth will abate anytime soon.

But, here in Kansas City, people came in from Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Arkansas. They loaded up their shampoo and their blow-dryers and their alpacas, and came to town for the big show. 

There were show rings and ribbons galore for the best and prettiest and spittiest and whatever-est animals. (I am clearly of absolutely no use when it's time to declare one soft, beautiful, fluffy or dreadlock-bedecked, animal better than another.) 

There were a few women spinning fluff into yarn, one making a sort of rope from her hanging spools. There were alpaca socks and soft animals and yarn and garments. There were dryer balls and a few books and a booth where you could buy a new leash for your alpaca.

There were several aisles of cages, most filled with animals waiting for their turn in the ring. I was honored to be there with several small children, so I took a three year-old by the hand, and we wandered off to whichever cage caught her eye to admire the wonders within. It was fun to watch - she was careful to look only with her eyes, but would put her face right up to the cage bars. Once, the animals inside were curious enough to walk up and peer back at her in return - she jumped back with a squeal; not sure exactly what they would do. (They just looked...)

It was a lovely spot of normal. So often these days, I feel like the entire world has spun off balance. I needed to be reminded there are people who live in a world that includes alpacas on a daily basis. It was good for me to see they are keeping on keeping on, caring for and loving their animals as they always have. 

Life, normal life, goes on. *whew!*