the small miracles of life

When unhappy, I tend not to talk about it much. There's absolutely nothing wrong about sharing bad feelings with friends,  blogging about it, or shouting it from a rooftop, but it doesn't really work for me. To be honest, I've been quite unhappy of late, having sadness, anger, disappointment and anxiety dominating my feelings and thoughts. Very exhausting and depressing, I've felt like a piece of clothing on the clothes-line, turned into a giant entanglement by the wind. So not pleasant. But life has it's way of pulling you back, into the flow, in which the overwhelming and utterly egocentric feelings seem to evaporate. Ever so slowly, the small miracles of life pushes you gently towards the realization; life is wonderful and beautiful - being angry or full of fear won't change that fact - only stand in the way so you don't see it.

One of these little miracles happened the other day, it needed at gentle pull from me - and gave me a gentle push in return. All births are moving, but this even more so; I've never seen a newborn lamb being so caring and tender towards her mother.

 Such a sweet old expression on a newborn face

And did you ever see an ear as soft and pretty looking as this?

...............................................

»The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.«

Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

joys of spring

To own a bit of ground,
to scratch it with a hoe,
to plant seeds and
watch the renewal of life -
this is the commonest delight
of the race, the most
satisfactory thing a man can do.

- Charles Dudley Warner

Satisfactory indeed! Also just a bit stressing, if you get hopelessly behind of schedule. (Ahem)

But you know, we have these adorabilities to behold, they makes us laugh numerous times a day:

We're still discussing names for this little beauty -she'll be named either Vår or Freja ...

Giving birth an evening in May

Our dear sheep Gaia decided to give birth tonight, just when we were preparing supper. I was alert, because she'd been scraping in the grass a little earlier, and looking out of the kitchen window I could see a change in her movements. Her gait was somewhat stiff and strained, indicating she was in labour. I could also see a change in the shape of her lower body; the sacrum had lifted in order to make room for giving birth.
We all hurried - quietly - outside, and joined the horses in the pasture right beside the sheep pasture.

Gaia was walking about, panting softly, and didn't lie down until the birth was close at hand.

He went straight up and sucked, within a couple of minutes after being born. Even though I was watching at a distance, there's no doubt in my mind he had an Apgar Score of 10/10

It was amazing to see, how tender and caring she was toward her first born, even while she was giving birth to the second lamb. 

The other sheep didn't approach while she was in labour, but made very short visits right after each birth. Just a friendly and curious welcome, and then they considerately  went away again.

I don't really have words to describe how wonderful and touching an experience it was. As all births are. In all the smiles I thought I could read a feeling, of this being a perfect moment - in a beautiful world.

...............................................

(You can see the pictures enlarged, by clicking one of them)