A Monday after the time change. Confused students. My kids up too early; then tired too early. The sun setting before 5:00. After a busy weekend with no time to rest. I needed a moment to myself.

The little kids don't like the goats. They like to feed them through the fence but not to handle them. Goats don't like the kids, either. So I got their leashes and said they couldn't come with me and headed across the road onto our wooded property back by the pond.

After we get way back in there it opens to a meadow where I can let them off leash. I stood and faced the sun and did nothing more productive than listen to them graze. Didn't read the book I"d brought. Took these pictures to remember and then put my phone away. Why is the sound of animals eating so soothing? Anyone who has sat in a dark, quiet barn and listened to animals rustling their hay will understand. The early fall is already quiet like those hushed winter days that are coming. The world is going to sleep. My goats meandering and tearing one mouthful of grass at a time felt like a mother tucking the covers around a drowsy child. Hushed rustling, slow steps, heavy bodies soft and round.