Yes, this little bug seems to be sparing not a one of us. And sure, there's a foot of water in our cellar and more snow (lots of snow) melting by the minute with nowhere to go. And maybe - quite likely - our sump pump is broken. But you know, all is well with the world, because there are baby lambs! More baby lambs. Healthy, spunky, sweet and adorable twin girls born to Emily last night. All went well - smoothly and without any interference - and we were lucky enough to watch from a comfortable (for Emily) distance. What a gift that is.
Though Harper is making a a plea for Swizzle and Lemonade to be the names, I'm angling to keep consistent with the theme of Brontë sisters and their characters, and with Emily that leaves us with not a whole lot of options given that Wuthering Heights was her only published novel - so, Isabella and Catherine, I think. Though we might have to dig to minor characters to widen the options - Frances? Hmn. Voting will happen at the lunch table.
The lambing pens are full in the barn at the moment with these mamas and their babes. It's full of the sounds of tiny baa's with mothers answering back. It's full of the smell of hay and straw and sheep. With all of that plus the early spring sun shining in, it truly is a joyous place. And if this totally new homesteader may be so presumptuous as to reflect on 'this life' we are living, I have to say....there are moments in that barn, so full of new life as it is, that I can't help but think about all the death and heartbreak and hard work and sweat and tears that go with this path we have chosen. There is some healing of that, in this barn right now. And a balance felt deep in my heart, as we breathe in the joy of these new lambs and all that they symbolize.
Soon, maybe tomorrow, we will let some of the Mamas and their babes out of the lambing pens and into the wider pasture where, in the breaks of snow, the springtime lamb frolicking (there really is no better word for it) will begin. And unless Anne has a surprise in store for us (we really don't think so), I think this wraps up our lambing season. What a wonderful flurry it's been. And with three sets of healthy twins? We feel lucky, indeed. Five ewes, one ram...and a total of ten sheep now in the pasture. Ten! Oh friends, that's a whole lot of yarn! (And a whole lot of fun.)
