Yesterday was a snowy day but a very calm one. We seem to be drifting down into a sentient state, exacerbated by the inability to move about freely, where everything is felt and only just heard, like a song sung by an unnamed stranger far off down the road, its message just out of reach, its drifts of chorus carried by the colour of the sky. But no-one minds. Speech is scarce and measured. Chores handed over and shared with the ease of slinging a leg over a wire and ducking through a fence.
Animals move to and fro with the blunted doggedness of winter. Daisy’s mooing low is more contemplative than demanding as she sinks into that mellow late pregnant state, her belly heavy and all thoughts of wacking me with her big head far from her eyes.Though I am careful to push my hoods back and watch her out of the corner of my own eye when I clean her stall. You never can be sure with that cow, I don’t care how pregnant she is.
Hooves ring and clack on filthy ice covered yards. The crack of ice on the rooves. My boots treading through the shrill snow its dim squeak of protest no longer of any mind. When the snow first came I stuck to my pathways fearing to break into the pristine christmas fairytale perfectness. Wanting to keep it Good as long as I could. Now I break new paths often, because the treaded down ones are all packed down and icy now. Dangerous.
I read the forecast and it says bitter cold. I wonder if tomorrow they will write even more bitter cold or bitter-er cold. Bitter sounds so final. The bottom of the barrel bitter. This far and no further. Yet the bitter goes further. Not last night though, last night was only mildly bitter.
The cold lifted slightly yesterday morning, and there was not one breath of wind though a number of breaths of snow flakes. Blowing to and fro like the bellows of an old fashioned white baby powder puffer.
I asked the sheep to line up for you so you could compare sizes and help me judge whether Minty is pregnant or not.
Mama and Meadow lined up nicely but Minty as usual was not listening to instructions and Tilly was having a smoke in the corner. She is one of those teenagers!
So I went outside into the falling snow in the hopes that they would line up out there and we could have a look.
Minty is second and Meadow in last in this line up. I said, no girls we are not going to have Can Can practice. Meadow is way too pregnant for those kinds of shenanigans.
There is Meadow now.
And below is Minty. I managed to get everyone but Tilly (again) to face the camera but it is hard to tell if Minty is pregnant though, (she is in the foreground) lately she has been looking a bit stockier. I think.
I am watching closely.
I am making a calendar. Mainly because I should be writing. But I have always wanted to make a calender and every time I missed the deadline. Then yesterday I thought – why do I have to make a calender that starts in January. January is a rotten month. We will start in March. So it is called Sheila’s Spring to Spring Farmy Calender Starting in March. It is looking very pretty so far. Nothing like being busy on something when you should be busy on something else. I can make a few extra if anyone is interested.
Boo decided to lay about inside and chew the tail off a monkey and see what happens next. I am not sure if this is awful or funny. Ah well.
Dawn has come. I hope you all have a lovely day. Do you think these days will ever come back? (This what happens when I go looking through the old files for calendar shots!)
Your friend on the farm,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
76 responses to “Meadow in the Snow”
More bitter? Bitterest? Most bitter? All I know is that it is VERY cold. I am choosing to try to ignore the cold and pretend that it is warm outside. That strategy is not working very well.
Today is sunny here, do you have the sun?, so the house is flooded with sunlight and that certainly does add to the warmth. Those weeks of deep cloud may be over now? Do you think? c
We do have sun. It is the only saving grace. Yesterday I shoveled the walks and fell on the layer of ice underneath. Made me wonder why I bothered. It was the first and hopefully last fall of the winter. I am so over it.
Thank goodness you are over it, i went for a skate down the steps yesterday too, but had a firm hold of the banister.. running out in my slippers again! when will I ever learn. Maybe there was a falling spell in the air yesterday!.. c
You might be right about the falling spell. I had been sooooo careful ! I was going to make it all winter with no falls but alas–it was not to be. We are supposed to be really frigid the next few days so I doubt that ice is going to melt but hopefully no one else falls on it.
I nearly slipped yesterday as I was leaving the neighbor’s place after shoveling her walk and driveway. One can’t be too careful. I try to be, but ice has a mind of its own. I hope you’re OK, Beth Ann. And Ceclia, take care.
Your post today was quite poetic and I thoroughly enjoyed your descriptive writing, as always.
Cold!!!! I have always wondered why our calendar starts in the dead of winter, when clearly it should start with spring…probably did/does in other more ancient cultures….
Stay warm, stay writing.
I agree, and sorry I was late, the sun is up and i was outside for the last few hours in the cool quiet unaware that i had missed pressing one more button. Tomorrow I WILL post at dawn! c
You are a stronger woman than I….in my world weekends are for sleeping in (which bodes ill for any plans to have chickens!)…even if “sleeping in” means 6:30 am
Oh the chickens don’t mind when you feed them, just give them a little extra late on the night before sleep- in morning.. I am usually out and about before the dawn, so i can feel it but I always feed the chooks last.. c
Always keep your eye on the cow. Listen. Watch. Feel every movement. Respecting the fact that they weigh more than 7-8 times more. They don’t recognize that and have been known to move with sudden destructive allacrity. I know. I have a ice pack on my foot as a testimonial. The crazy thing is I am a glutton for punishment. I still go out, happy in my work. Although not particularly kindly affectioned to that particular cow.
Oh no, poor foot. Daisy must be closing in on 1800 pounds now (maybe more) – a short ton? so her Leg weighs about as much as I do!! I am very careful.. c
This is so beautifully described, the bitterest bittersweet ending time of winter, makes me appreciate it a bit more. We have -6 here this morning, no wonder my nose holes hurt after chores.
Isn’t that just awful? Sometimes my nose is still frozen on the inside ages after i have come in, or at least it feels that way.. -6 is a respectable bitter. We are going back down to that tonight.. sigh..
yes, and before I had snowpants (which I wear 24/7 now!), the MOST alarming cold was a frozen bum!
Yes please to a calendar! I don’t care when it starts!!
Low grey clouds here yesterday and today. Threatening clouds, but nothing falling. They are warning that Wednesday will be the day to watch. I am so over this cold. Good news though, my daughter has booked her flight and will be visiting me in June! So I have time to get the cottage and garden in tip top condition before her arrival. She has never seen my cottage. Well the guest room is all finished and looking lovely. I will post a picture on FB for you to see.
Hugs
Lyn
How absolutely wonderful to have your daughter coming out and un such a lovely month, you will have food in the gardens and markets but not that terrible heat of august.. I love dressing the guest rooms for visitors, look forward to the pic.. c
Shoot I can’t find the lead to connect camera to computer!! I have looked everywhere. Guess I will have to make a trip to Best Buy this week and get a new one, argh
I would also like a calendar ! You take such good pictures. I am a mere novice. The one of the can-can sheep and your caption made my morning smile.. The word bitter reminds me of bitter-sweet which is how I like my chocolate. All hail the sun for us today.
Bitter sweet is exactly the feeling too. The cold is so powerful, dangerous and beautiful all at once.. c
yes! a calendar!!
love the sheep line-up photo….love it….
As soon as I have chosen the 12 best shots of the last twelve months, (not as easy as it sounds) I will let you know and you can email me.. I better get a wriggle on! c
Good morning! It is always a delight to have this time reading your morning thoughts and updates on life on the farm. Our days of winter differ a bit. Freezing fog greets us this morning, with promise of more snow and below freezing temps the next few days. But, there is promise of 50º and perhaps even reaching the 60º mark by next weekend. Normally, by this time other years I would be thinking of planting a few seeds in the garden. Not this year. The extended forecast looks like we still have a lot of winter to go yet here in the south.
I loved your narration and the photos of of the sheep. Minty having a smoke in the corner, and the lineup for CanCan practice… oh, those are classic rib ticklers. I do love your sense of humor!
Oh dear, well if your spring garden is getting later then so will ours.. sigh.. fog though .. does indicate a warming of the earth? I better go back and see what i wrote, because if Minty is smoking while pregnant she is getting a smack bottom.. Tilly is the naughty teenager.. c
Bitter is when you bite your lip, hard, when there’s no single word or combination of letters to express it properly. By the way, we saw blue sky for 10-minutes today. I live in hope.
Enough to make a pair of sailors pants?.. c
Trousers, darling. Pants are pants; an entirely different kettle of fish.
Small though..(unless you are wearing your big girls pants) but yes, you are right, trousers, sailors trousers! c
My Grandmother always said if we saw a patch of blue sky as”big as a pair of Dutchman’s britchs”we could hang the clothes on the line to dry-the calenders would be wonderful ! I would love one.
Now that i can understand!.. morning becky.. c
Meadow’s getting big!
Twins! Maybe triplets but that would be silly first time round, though her mama always threw quads as you know.. c
She needs to keep things simple. I hope it’s healthy-sized twins.
same.. c
The last three in the line-up have rounder mid-sections, but it’s hard to tell. I suppose you’ll know if and when you see lambs on the ground 🙂
And spring will arrive. It has to because I’m starting seedlings today.
Johns it too, you are both optimists.. c
Poor monkey and very funny sheep 😉
Will Minty let you feel her udder? With some you risk life and limb. For future thought you might want to consider that as part of their training! 🙂 We’ve only been mildly cold here. We’ll be in the teens for the next couple of nights but that almost feels warm when compared to a couple of weeks ago. Can’t wait to see the calendar! Have a great day Celi!
Meadow does not mind, but Minty does the Highland Fling! Not worth upsetting her, esp after Mama’s miscarriage. c
A perfect prose poem of a post! I can’t tell the difference between the M lady sheep. What will be will be born in due time – we can’t second guess them.
That spring photo is really cheering upping.
Love,
ViV
The new year USED to start in March (in Roman times at least). That’s why the last four have names with numeric prefixes that are two months out of sync with what we think of as months 7, 8, 9, and 10 (Sept-, Oct-. Nov-, and Dec-).
I knew it!! It never felt right to start the year in january.. I must have been a roman calender maker in the ancient times! Thank you!!.. c