Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Tuesday

Gardens don't lie. They speak with their blooms. If you throw a brutal reality their way (extreme weather comes to mind), they let you know bluntly that they need help, or else. You are their steward. In stressful times -- their lifeline.

I am preparing the garden for a few days of intense heat. I trim spent blooms, I water the more vulnerable plants.

And I admire the entirety.

To the farmhouse...


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To the sheep shed...


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Breakfast. A pause, too, from garden work. A pause from chasing off mosquitoes and scrubbing plant stain off my hands.


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And soon after, Snowdrop is here. Yeah, I know, I know: it's not Monday. But she is here most days this week. It's just the way the schedule works out for the young family. Is she okay with this? I think so.


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One of her favorite quiet solo moments... With a book...


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Happy.


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Very much so.


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Since I have her for a good part of the day, I decide we need to do a bit of adventuring. I take her to a local park, where she enjoys the swing...


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And shows real talent at kicking around a ball I bring with us. (Future soccer champ?)


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The park is very close to our favorite corn farm. And this is the first week of Wisconsin corn! We hike over and I tell Snowdrop it's up to her to pick a good half dozen ears of corn.

She takes this job very seriously.


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And then she takes a turn at steering the John Deere -- the one that hauls the corn in from the fields.


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She's serious about this as well.


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As we leave the farm, I look at her -- she is tall for her age, but so small compared to the corn that grows here...


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We're home now. Lunch time! There are leftovers still and she eats them with relish...


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And of course, she loves the dessert!


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And you would think that after a huge meal she'd be done.

But then I offer her the corn.

Heaven.


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She eats every last kernel.

Late in the day I sit down over a cup of coffee with my wonderful friend who is in town this week. You need these moments -- in the garden, with your family, with your closest friends. They put things in perspective.


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Lest you think that I am solely focused on my days at the farmette, I should note that I am also very much tracking the intense remodeling work that is taking place in my Warsaw apartment right now. I carefully watch the budget, I monitor the progress, I make decisions. And I revel in the photos that my talented, wonderful architect/decorator sends my way. Here's Pani Karolina's photo from today:


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Sometimes, the world seems so confused and crazily out of step with progress. I cannot set things straight nor can I pretend to know for sure, for sure how to set things straight (though I feel quite certain on how to make things worse). All I have are these vignettes -- of Snowdrop, of flowers, and yes, of the hard work being put into the apartment in Warsaw. These deserve my attention. Yep -- fresh and honest through and through.