Thursday, October 26, 2017

a good step back...

We have a way of complaining here, in Wisconsin, when spring seems to falter and take a step back. We say: love me my Wisconsin, but Spring gives us some rough days! Remember that snow shower in May? Or the overnight frost that came on Mother's Day?

We say things like that because we hate a retreat. There'll be a few warm days in April and they'll make our hearts spin and we'll take out our spades and get ready to plant and then we get a hail storm and suddenly we seem to be taking two steps back into the thick of winter.

But wait -- do we really hate a retreat? Or is it that we dislike certain retreats, but not others?

Take this day: once more I'm about to write a post about how fantastic it is to have sunshine and a bit of (modestly) warm air. For weeks now I've been saying things like: "this is it!" and "our last hurrah into warm weather!" "It's the last time Ed and I can play disc golf!" and "the last time Snowdrop and I can play in the park!" One last beautiful day!

And then we get another one. And a few days later -- another.

Unlike retreats into winter, these Fall days that are too warm to be true are absolutely beloved. Appreciated to the core. Oh, there may be a cool breeze, or the hours of daylight may be a tad diminished, but still, I say this with excitement and joy: today, we took a step back into warmer, sunnier days and it was sublime!

Breakfast in the sun room.


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And then of course, Ed and I hit the disc golf course a mile or two up the road. We have two additional discs now for distance throwing. I'm feeling great about this. Ed is doubtful that he got the right combo of velocity/speed/blah/blah/blah in his. Plus, the new discs, which came in the mail today, were... green!

Green?? How are we ever going to find these in the bushes??

He's right, of course, but still, I am energized and ready to sail!

(The landscape has changed since we started playing just a few weeks back... More brown, less golden. But it hardly matters on a beautiful, partly cloudy day!)


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Oh, my final score improved somewhat. Is it because of the more suitable disc? I cannot tell! But it was a heavenly game, relished to the core, because the weather was just so fine!


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When I pick up Snowdrop, I find out that she had once more napped in school. Four days in a row now! We are good!

The temperatures never quite climb above the mid fifties F (about 12C), but with that occasional streak of sunshine, it feels grand! And I have to smile at the little girl: remember when in the heat of the summer she'd insist on that sweater? Well now, today, I remind her constantly that it feels cool and perhaps she'd do well with a sweater...
No, grandma, I have long sleeves. I am not cold!


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She tells me this as I button every last button on my own sweater and pull up the zipper on my fleece.

Ah, but it's a beautiful day to be out with Snowdrop...


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I ask her if she wants to go to the Fitchburg farmers market. It's not very exciting now: no more truck tomatoes. No carriage rides for kiddies. Still, she is willing. We pick up kohlrabi and cheese curds and she gets to ride the fiberglass cow. What could be better?!


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Nothing. Really, nothing at all.