on lambs & fires in june

One would not think that come June we would still be starting early morning fires in our stove. Just last week we had one of those days where it felt too hot to move. It reminded me of being in India where everyone seemed to be walking so slowly and we were quick to learn that you had to do just that in the hopes of staying a bit cool. So, there we were last week trying to be still. We took dips in the water, sat by the twirling fan and devoured popsicles. But then, all of that changed yesterday morning. We woke to air that was cool and damp and before we even sat down for breakfast we were gathering wood, crumpling newspaper and lighting matches. 


New England is so funny in that way. It is hard to know what is coming next and we seem to spend a lot of time talking about the weather. It's just something that we can't control but it has so much bearing on our day and on our mood. It is a good lesson for someone like me, someone who always likes to know what is coming next, someone who gets a bit anxious when I don't know. I think too, it is a nice lesson in parenthood. This need to let go, to take things as they come, to become comfortable in all of the unknown in life.


And these two new little lambs who have become part of our homestead are helping with that too. They are darling and it feels quite perfect having them here. But they are such sensitive creatures and often with their transition to a new home(especially when it has been so wet)come things like worms and bloat, things I really knew nothing about. So, we have have spent afternoons on the phone with the vet, and at the vet, and at the farm supply store stocking up on medicine. And nestled among the worry of making sure they are okay, of not knowing what is coming next, is this kind of wonderful excitment, the kind that comes when you are learning something new. And last night when I had to strap on a head lamp and head out into the dark to give our lamb one last dose of his medicine I think I actually sort of liked it. I was doing something I had never done before, I was taking care of this fuzzy creature who needed care, I was breaking from the known into the unknown and it wasn't so scary after all.


p.s. This is an old post that I wrote last week. Now the lambs are good and healthy and the sun is warm and bright. Just like it is supposed to be!