New Zealand Lamb

Yesterday, when we did the periodic, somewhat obligatory, shopping at CostCo (and yes we were held up for an hour or so getting back to the bridge because of that roll-over accident), we noticed that there was a freezer case full of lamb. Whole lambs from New Zealand. Whole lambs wrapped in some sort of white shroud and, as Nyel said, “stiff as a board.” It was eerie,

It was a little beyond eerie as far as I was concerned. I have just finished reading The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) and if you have read the book, you know what I mean. Even though we are lamb fans, we weren’t tempted, mostly because we don’t have freezer space at home. And, because it was eerie.

Medora

Somehow, it put me in mind of the letter that my mother’s sister Medora wrote to my grandmother on November 6, 1908. Mama was in Portland awaiting the birth of Edwin and Medora, as the oldest of the three girls at home, took on the responsibility of writing periodically to keep her mother apprised of what was going on in Oysterville.

This particular letter is full of news about school – Geog is a awful test. Arith is pretty easy and so is spelling but Lang is hard. I reseived (I can’t spell that word.) 95 in spelling – about the relatives –          I forgot to tell you that Aunt Kate is going to make are butter for us. I haven’t tasted any butter since you left – and about the weather – Its so windy here and rainy I thought I’d be blown away when I went to Aunt Kates for Mrs. M. .The plaster in my new bed room is all coming off by the rain.

Drawing by Medora, 1908

Medora also reported on Papa’s activities: Papa has killed three calves sinse you left. He bought down heads, tail, liver, tongue, and all the rest of the stuff except the hole outline of the beast. That phrase, “the whole outline of the beast” has stuck with me since I first ran across the letter some forty years ago. I sort of know what she means but not exactly.

Like so many of those ‘out of the mouths of babes’ expressions, it gives a little window into the way a child thinks and perceives the world. But, in this case, the window must be a little smudgy. I can’t quite understand what Medora meant. Nor am I sure why that phrase popped into my head as I was peering through the freezer door at CostCo yesterday. It was eerie.