Dear George,
The conservatory in Eden Park has been holding its holiday floral and model train display, so Katja and I went over to see it. As an added bonus, there was an insurance company-sponsored crèche next door which featured some big plastic wise men plus four or five contented sheep who were laying around munching hay. The sheep were roly-poly, and we didn’t even notice that one of them was pregnant, but then we heard on the news that she’d had her baby at 9:30 p.m. on Xmas Eve. A night watchman had assisted in the birth. The baby’s name hadn’t yet been finalized, but the conservatory director proposed “Merry” as in “Little Merry Xmas.” On New Years Day our friend Donna brought her sheepdog Sophie over, and we took the three dogs to Eden Park for a hike. We were pleased to find that the new baby lamb was out in a fenced enclosure with its relatives. Our sheepdogs, who have only seen sheep once in their lives, looked them over with instinctual interest, and the mother ewe eyed the dogs warily in turn. By New Years the media had begun reporting that the lamb had been born on Xmas day and that its name was “Christmas Mary”. The news stories seemed to imply that a miracle of sorts had occurred at Eden Park (a fitting place, of course, for miracles). Actually to be initially born on Xmas Eve and then to be born a second time on Xmas Day is something of a miracle. I’m not positive why they changed the lamb’s name to Mary, but it could be to honor Mary Tyler Moore whose TV company produced the popular sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati.” In any case, the creche’s insurance sponsor has put up funds to guarantee that Baby Mary Christmas will reappear at the crèche each holiday season for the rest of her life. Because she’ll never been this tiny and cute again, I thought I’d better take these pictures and pass them along for posterity.
Love,
Dave
G-mail Comments
-Phyllis S-S (1-4): Dave, How adorable - especially the one where she is running. How early for a lamb though. My dad used to time his lambing for March… pss
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