🦙 Haldor
The Watchman
Haldor isn’t home yet.
But like Fiona and Birna,
he already has a place waiting for him in the life I am building.
Haldor is the black llama I hope will someday stand watch over
the little community at 5K High Altitude Apothecary.
Tall,
dark,
curious,
and able to see what is happening long before the rest of us do,
he feels less like an animal I have chosen
and more like someone who has already accepted the position.
I suspect he will take his responsibilities very seriously.
Whether anyone actually gives him those responsibilities is another matter.
🖤 The Black Thread
Haldor will also bring something beautiful to the work of my hands:
black fiber.
Alongside Fiona’s silvery white and Birna’s brown-black wool,
his fleece will complete a naturally occurring palette
that I find more beautiful than anything I could manufacture.
Silvery white.
Brown-black.
Black.
Colors grown beneath the Colorado sky.
His fiber can be cleaned,
carded,
spun,
and eventually worked into yarn alongside the wool of Fiona and Birna
sometimes kept separate,
sometimes allowed to meet.
No dye required.
The animals will have already chosen the colors.
🌿 Someone Before Something
The fiber will never be the reason Haldor belongs here.
Haldor comes first.
His fleece is simply one of the gifts that may come from sharing a life with him.
I want to know who he is.
What he likes.
What annoys him.
Where he chooses to stand when the weather changes.
Whether he wants his ears scratched.
And whether he will participate in whatever ridiculous games Fiona eventually invents.
Because the Mountain Companions aren’t here merely to provide something.
They are here to live.
And whatever grows from living beside one another
wool,
fiber,
laughter,
companionship,
tories,
and perhaps the occasional ball launched unexpectedly toward Wyoming
is simply part of what we make together.
Return to 🐑 Fiona & Birna
Visit 🐈 Milos
