The best-laid plans o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley.

Robert Burns, in To a Mouse

That, I am sure, describes many of our experiences this last year, notably dominated by attempts to control the spread of a certain (alleged) Coronavirus. We of course had a short, sharp lockdown for four weeks in our autumn, with less severe restrictions since. Other countries have fared differently, some better, some worse.

Nevertheless, the dominant theme of 2020 was fear. Fear of disease, fear of economic consequences, fear of the Government, fear of the future. “Fear is the mind-killer,” wrote Frank Herbert in Dune, and indeed it has seemed as if the Western World has lost its collective mind.

Some hope that 2021 will be better; many fear (there’s that word again) that it will be worse. The truth, however, is that what happens to us matters a lot less, in the spiritual sense, than how we respond to it.

With that said, I will share some highlights from 2020.

• We welcomed the little one who had been sharing Starfish’s body with her. Her birth was not easy for various reasons, but she came out safe and well. Ruru, Maori for “little owl”, shall be her nom de blog.
• We discovered that a 12-acre block with an outside playground is a relatively good way to pass an enforced lockdown.
• I, the Mad Scientist, kept my job, for which I remain grateful. In a country with an economy so heavily dependent on tourism and assorted exports, not everyone has been so fortunate.
• In the spring, we welcomed five baby Waipu goats: two sets of twins, and one singleton.

Sadly, at the end of the year, we lost the singleton Waipu goat’s mother, who was only a little over a year old. Our stock troughs were poisoned, by a person or persons unknown, and we believe she succumbed to the poison though it could have been natural causes. The same poison attack also cost us numerous quail.

Sadly, death and suffering are everywhere, as is human malice. But so too are life and joy, and human kindness, of which we have seen many examples and hope to be able to add our own as we can.