“Lamb-storms”: “storms near the vernal equinox often hurtful to new-weaned lambs” - from a glossary in Rob Macfarlane’s Landmarks.

The streets are quiet on this St. Paddy’s Day, this antepenultimate day of winter. Of course no parade or open pubs in which to greet the new spring. We closed our pub around this time last year, and in the following months walked around town noting windows into dark interiors still decorated with shamrocks. Still: lambs appear overnight in the fields and flowers emerge in the ditches. The present quickens with new life.

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