Morning and evening I feed 17 kids, two at a time, by hand. There's a survival skill to maintaining interest in routine tasks - and I survive this one by floating off into a meditative state. I'm not sure if this is Zen - so I explored a bit on google trying to find out if there is a religion that describes it - and the closest I could find is a state sought by an obscure Hindu sect who call it Shuttiineehda**.
I sit contemplating the sun rising over the hills (it was cloudy this morning) as the kids fight over the feeding bottles and I transcend into Shuttiineehda. The fed and unfed are penned in - otherwise it's total mayhem and I begin uttering in most un-zen-like tongues. Problem is one of them has learnt how to vault the hurdle - they will soon all learn and I'll be in trouble....
The milking machine means Jussi finishes in time to come and help me with the feeding.
She has a different approach to feeding them than me. All coooos and caws and clucks and soothing words of encouragement - this undoes my transmogrification and I abandon her to finish off and go get Ailsa ready for school.
Whatever your approach, feeding the kids is very satisfying - and I cannot recommend it highly enough to any of you thinking of coming to visit. Please hurry - this deeply fulfilling experience is only available for a limited time. And for the spiritual - the ecstasy is about to be enhanced by the emergence of the midge (they are just beginning). This means, that with your hands full of feeding bottles, you'll be able to sit in quiet contemplation while the midges attack the edges off your eyelids, your nostrils, ears, hands, neck....... Aaaaah. Hurry hurry hurry!
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