Awake, thou wintry earth –
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, “An Easter Hymn”
I was looking for Mother Teresa’s quote, to verify that I had the words right for the header,and came across this other quote (above). So all day yesterday I was marching about saying ‘Awake thou wintry earth!’ Waving my overdressed arms in the air trying to Charm the land to Thaw. Two pairs of gloves, three pairs of socks (grown thin from the winter washing), many many long sleeved tees and stolen (from afore mentioned teenagers) hoodies, long-johns, trousers, clown suit, jacket and Nanna Viv’s hat. Awake!, I would call. Dinner! Sheila would call back. It was cold but there was sun. Spring was in the sun. Winter was still in the earth.
Mother Teresa’s words popped into my head yesterday. I had become a little fraught, a little hemmed in bouncing my brain against the cold windows and needed the reminder to slow down and look about. Consolidate. This is no time to be distracted. Babies are coming.
Today the snow will begin to melt. Because I said so. There is spring in the sun and winter in the shade. Soon, soon.
Daisy changed shape yesterday. The belly she has been carrying so high has dropped and she is lumbering about in a dazed off kilter kind of fashion. No mucous yet though and her udder, though filling, is nowhere close to being full.
I have plenty of room in the barn so I am going to separate the cows to separate pens with separate doors to the outside but still able to hang over a gate and chat with each other. Daisy spends a lot of time shoving Queenie away from her food. Queenie needs the extra groceries now too. And Queenie is not an alpha cow! Plus I am going to start giving Daisy her homeopathic immune building remedy 9 days before her due date to try and ward off the dreaded mastitis. We do not want a recurrence of that. So feeding them apart makes sense.
As well as brushing the cows I brushed Sheila yesterday. Her bristly coat has caught a winters worth of itchy particles of straw so she got a good clean up. I even brushed the tassel at the end of her tail which is quite white and getting bushier and longer. I did stalk her with the camera trying to get an elegant shot of her tail but .. not today!
Marcel has grown out of his dog crate sleeping quarters, so the other day I transferred him and his crate into the Snug. The Snug is a small room with nothing but an old television (with no Cable) and a big leather couch left over from John’s single man days. A TV in the living area is anathema to me so we created a small room just for the television when there were teenagers in the house so they could watch their obscure Japanese movies. Now there are no teenagers, but sometimes if the wind is right and the moon is in the appropriate quarter John can get signal for a ball game on his ancient tele and he will recline on the deeply uncomfortable leather couch with a crossword, the remote, a beer and then, like a cat with his mouse, pretend not to care about the Game he is avidly watching from his eyes corners. At times he will leap up and throw all kinds of lowest common denominator words at the poor little men chasing a ball about on the screen. No-one can hear him.. not even the Ref. The snug is good for that. Nobody can see you. Though I did spy Marcel sleeping in a beanbag the other day while John shouted at the inert television.
Anyway for Marcel’s last few days in the house I put a gate across the Snug doorway and let him loose in there with his crate sitting in the corner open for bedtime.
Last night John came into the kitchen and said, Where is the lamb? In his room, I said, when do you want to eat? He is not there, said John. He is not in his box. I looked around the corner. His little dog gate was up. He had to be in there.
It was two hours before his next feed so (not wanting to wake the querulous endlessly hungry baby monster), we snuck up on the room and, poised with eyes open, I flicked the light on and then off. On the memory of our retinas; There was Marcel. Large as Life. Reclining on the Black Leather Couch. Nestled up against the remote. Legs tucked in, happy as a lark. For all the world like a middle aged bloke waiting for the game.
Hmm, I said. Walking back to the kitchen. Time that lamb went out to the barn with real animals. Our John snorted. Who are you calling an animal, he said, hopefully.
The Mosh Pit… Sometimes I wonder what goes on out in the barn when I am not looking.
All is well. And all is as it should be. I am still here and just the same. You and I together will get used to this new format. I kind of like it actually. I hope you do.
One more thing. Yesterday was the first sunny day since the Glass Room has been enclosed. We opened the door into the house while John was insulating in there and PILES of warm air flowed into the house. It was 12 degrees outside and 70 in the Glass Room.
I turned the heating off in the Coupe and let the fire die down as this little solar power house heated the living area of our home. I had hoped that this would happen. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together. It is always a slow process but that is good – I would not like to leave my guardian angel behind.
I do hope you all have a lovely, lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
103 responses to “Spring in the Sun”
Persephone has returned 🙂
Morning Mad! c
Sigh!! Spring… The new format is nice; thanks.
Still way below freezing here too but the sun had some real warmth yesterday.. the thaw is going to slowly begin today, i command it!.. though often I think of having a coffee and croissant leaning over your big hot bread oven.. c
Life is oh so good.
absolutely, especially for a certain lamb on a black leather couch.. c
We are starting to see signs of spring down here too, especially the daffodils, which have begun to spring up everywhere. They survived 28 degrees the other night (that’s cold here!) and I am waiting to see if they survived last night’s 32. Your class room sounds like a very nice spot!
Nancy
http://www.workingmomadventures.com
We might be a few weeks away from the daffs, the ground is still frozen solid three feet down, oh I do look froward to the bulbs coming up though… c
I like the new format! The pictures are so much nicer looking.
Thank you Pat, I am thrilled that it is working for you, I was hoping you all would feel closer and more involved if the pictures improved.. c
I commented the other day about an idea to sell PDF calendars. I have been able to get some info for you. Do you have an email address where I can send this info to? Or do you prefer to get it here?
my email is fine, and thank you.. celima.g.7@gmail.com
Yes I really do like the new format and in a very short time. You deserve a gold star, no, make that warm sunshine for more than a hour or two.
Have you ever used an oregano oil infusion to treat and prevent Daisy’s mastitis?
No. The reason she has mastitis is her udder was compromised by a suckling steer before she was even pregnant. So really she has been damaged. And there are as many remedies as there are cows. The one I use has been very good at keeping her condition manageable, but I will certainly try the oils, I need to do a bit of research .. thank you.. c
I am afraid I can’t see all the pictures! i can see their titles (glassroom-003) but apart from the first few pictures of Daisy and Queenie, and the one of the two roosters, the rest are not showing 😦 Oh well perhaps it is me and my slow internet and it will improve with time. Please keep shouting your command that winter be gone, snow storm yesterday and 5F this morning is just too much. Had a back garden full of Robins yesterday in the snow storm, trying to fin worms, an looking like they had realized their mistake in flying from the warm south too early!!
Hugs Lyn
YEAH as I was writing my comment, all of a sudden the pictures appeared! certainly must be my slow internet and I will have to learn patience !!
Thank goodness Lynda, and isn’t it nice that we can see your picture in this format, it makes it more personal! Lovely to see you.. c
I so look forward to your posts daily, not that I comment on them all but I do read them all with interest… I just love the things that go on there and the way you always explain them… makes me feel as though I’m part of it and I feel bad when I can’t slip off the shirt and help with some of the chores that I loved to do on our old farm…
How I wish you could join in, today I am scrubbing the milking parlour of its winter grime.. I could do with a hand! c
The warmth of the sun is still the best, cleanest and kindest heat of all, closely followed by a wood fire (not so clean, though). I think your idea of a glass room to heat your house is very intelligent, and I’m so pleased it’s working well! We’re officially in early autumn now, but it’s not too late for cyclones, and they’re threatening a possible one over the weekend. *Sigh* Time to batten down the hatches again.
I call it passive solar heating, even this morning it was still warm (we have concrete floor and concrete blocks and soon a water barrel to store the warmth) and in the summer the door will be shut and draped to keep the heat OUT. We will need to work on that one. I am seriously thinking of trying to build another one off the french doors to our bedroom. It is freezing down there. But that is for another project. Not this summer. c
Ooo you’ve been decorating the farmy – I haven’t seen the new layout as I usually view blogs from my not so smart phone. Your blogy farm i slooking very smart though
This is only day three claire.. i would be interested to know how it looks from you not so smart phone though?.. c
Using WordPress to read your daily post it just looks like every other blog site I visit – the pages are very paired down, the extras are removed and it’s re-sized to fit on my dinky phone – it’s a shame really as you don’t get the full on view,
But if I click on the site it seems OK, my phone screen is small(ish) and the quote on the header doesn’t fully come into view. But the preceding posts look good – the main photo with the title all seem good to me.
Right back to my dog sitting duties 🙂 not literally you understand !
meant to ask – what prompted the change 🙂
The Matriarch thinks it is the weather.. going stir crazy.. mostly it was a hankering to give the images a slicker canvas, something that reflects me a little more. Give the blog a rev up and make me work a little harder at creating better photographs. c
I love the format! Easy peasy to read, feels all homey comfort. Hmm I think John may start thinking Marcel could be a TV pet for the games. Sort of a mascot!
Thank fully the weather had reached the magic teens and Marcel can go out to the barn today. He is very active and strong and wreaks havoc in the house.. Time to go out and meet Sheila. c
The new format is fabulous Celi! Just love it! And the glass room! To be able to heat the house with it! How wonderful!!! Good things are indeed happening!!! xo
It has certainly made a difference, on the sunny day anyway.. not much sun today though, so i will be interested to see how it goes.. c
There is nothing like the sun appearing again to revive one’s spirits. We are still stuck in the grey, foggy just around 0°C cycle (nearly six weeks of it now) and I’m champing at the bit to see a glimpse of that elusive sun. It was so much nicer last year with -15°C and blue skies.
Gosh it’s all about to happen now, isn’t it. With babies to look after you’ll be a busy lady. I love reading about your daily life – there’s so much to think about, plan ahead and be prepared for. I feel positively lazy when I think of everything you do. But I hear an immense love for it all through your words and I am sure that it makes it all worthwhile.
6 weeks of gray fog is too long.. i hope you get some sun soon.. c
That lamb, he’ll be hogging the remote next! Love your new lay-out by the way.
Christine
I am glad you like it christine, I would hate for you to have to put your bad hat back on! (smiley laughter) .. have a gorgeous day.. c