#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Cow at Drumlin Farm, Lincoln, MA
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;. . .
~ Excerpt from “The Lamb,” by William Blake
Before breakfast, my swim. My youngest arrives to care for the Special One, and we spontaneously decide to go to Drumlin Farm in Lincoln. In a kind of strange flashback to what I wrote about yesterday, the little girl asking her mother about the war in Ukraine, the first thing, as we settle into the car to drive there, my daughter asks me to update her on the news about Ukraine. She has been working at her internship the past few days and hasn’t had a chance to catch up on the news. Perhaps, also, she particularly likes me to do the telling; trusts my perspective? She is, like her older sister, like all of us, horrified and deeply sad. And wondering, what if this were happening to us? Putting themselves in the Ukrainian’s shoes, imagining the sudden, earth shattering disruption of having to leave a beloved home. And then I tell her, well, you would also have to leave without Will (her boyfriend) because men are not allowed to leave the country right now. So, I update her on the news and the issues and the controversies and the analyses about where all of this is going. And, then it’s time to move onto other, more personal issues: where is she going, now that she is getting her Master’s Degree at the end of May? It’s wonderful to have the whole day with her, the non-stop conversation covering everything we possibly can. And the MOST AMAZING thing happens at Drumlin Farm! We go to see the sheep in the barn. Sheep of all ages and sizes baaaaaing in the pen. Some young lambs, some very young lambs, so many sheep. And we see a lamb, newborn, just born minutes before we entered the barn, being attended to by its mother. There is a human attendant, someone attending the birth who works for the farm, who is waiting nearby. There is another lamb to come, we learn. And, this one we witness right in front of us: I filmed the birth as it began. Would you like to see this stunning new life emerging into the world of its family of sheep? You can watch it below. The thumbnail is of the first lamb. The video is gorgeous, and graphic, so it’s not for all viewers. I was astonished and moved and thrilled to be present for this experience. Perhaps you will be as well.
Live Lamb Birth, Drumlin Farm filmed by Kelly DuMar
