Tuesday pileup

So much on my list, so little motivation to get to any of it. Why?  Well, because it's boring stuff. Because it can wait. For a while. Not a long while, but still. Because I'd rather be reading or taking a walk or looking at flowers. Because the list is too long and it'll take forever to clear it. Because I dont like lists that require effort. 

Because the morning is bright, cool, pretty and my attention is diverted to its possibilities. 

Millie is still hackin' away and today her energy level is low and her appetite even lower. 

 

 

 

I have to literally bring food to her mouth to get her to take a few nibbles (a necessity, because in there lies her medication). I take her for a walk and then we have a surprisingly early drop-in visit from Ed, who then tells me he is still allergic to something in the house. Great. Will Steffi's House have the same weird irritating effect on his lungs? Let's not go there just yet.

To be sure, this is not her preferred resting position for Millie. Left to her own devices, she will hide under the couch right now -- the closest she can come to having a den. That and the crate are her safe spaces. When she is not her healthy self, she'll often retreat there. 

Like Millie, Ed is tired and not hungry for a breakfast. He snoozes, I eat. The narcissus are from the farmette. I snip them now, even though I had rarely cut flowers from the flower fields when I lived there. 

I pick up my book and finish it right after Ed leaves. It's that kind of a day! 

Millie needed to be alone (thus in the crate) for four hours this afternoon -- not something I would have liked to do, especially at this age, but I had scheduled a needed dental visit (the dental technician was not chatty! I was so grateful...) and then of course there were the big two kid pickups. And I had to stop (with the big two) at the Vet's because guess what -- Millie came back with a positive test result for a stomach parasite. Same one she had before, so clearly the first round of treatment, the one that made her sick in fact, hadn't been effective. So now she is on three (or is it four?) medications and housebound for at least another week.

She was very happy to be set free when we finally got to Sally's House. 

 

 

So tickled in fact, that she threw up. Twice. Or, was that because she had an empty stomach? Or still the GI disturbance?  My dentist has a goldendoodle. He tells me she is on meds for allergies. Many allergies. I pass on my sympathies. Oh, but dont worry, it's mostly because she is white. White dogs get all kinds of skin issues. 

Good to know.

Tomorrow, I will get serious about my pileup of chores. Today? Hey, I attended to my teeth, the kids and Millie's health issues. That's plenty, believe me.

with so much love... 

 

things to fix

I cant even begin to list the corrections and fixes I need to dowith respect to... well, almost everything! But first, let me talk about the weather: it's awful once again, in that we expect violent storms to pass this way today. April in Wisconsin has had a historically high (highest ever?) number of violent storms pass through. We are normally a quiet state. But this month? Thunder, hail that has boosted the profits of the roofing companies, and tornadoes, of the type that knocked down houses. Oh, and did I mention flooding? And today, all these are on the radar once again.

Millie has developed a cough. I can't assess the severity of that. Normally a coughing dog sounds horrible (like an ancient lifetime smoker hacking away), but eventually it resolves on its own. But with a puppy, you have to be more careful and make sure it's not pneumonia. Basically, in the 3.5 weeks that I have had her, Millie has gone through treatment for parasites, treatment for GI issues, and now treatment for a cough. Is this pup ever healthy??

Still, the sweet girl stays put in her crate-bed until 6:30. And we make it outside before any rains come down.

But breakfast, for sure, is indoors.

For all her coughing, Millie appears to me to be peppy and playful.

But I put her in her crate for a while, because I have an appointment at Steffi's House (a reminder: I'm moving to it in July) with Beth, a person who is going to do some digging there for me (she owns and runs Bevalli Gardens -- a place I'd never heard of until last week). I need to redo the plantings in front of that house. What's planted next to the house doesn't belong there and indeed, some of it doesn't belong anywhere.  Typical new development stuff, poorly thought out, indifferently positioned. A large juniper, a baby crab apple that wont always be a baby -- both inches away from the house. What were they thinking?? 

Beth's ideas for the front of the house fit with mine... for the most part. I know my perennials too well to be convinced that simple Stella daylilies are an asset. It's a dilemma -- should I just do it all myself? But, wasn't I going to reduce my yard workload? 

I compromise: Beth will plant one side of the entrance, I'll plant the other. At the farmette, I would have done it all myself. Indeed, I agonized over each of the flowers I put in. All thousands of them. But maybe it's time for me to not agonize over this anymore? Maybe I can just listen to someone else's ideas? Beth will rip out the stupid fabric and remove the horrible stuff they call soil and dump some better stuff for us to work with. And she'll move the trees away from the house. How long will all this take you? -- I ask her. I have a solid group of helpers. Two hours. I'm stunned. It would have taken me the whole summer.

 

Back at the house, I let Millie out for a bit of play. Listening to her cough, I know that I have to cancel her afternoon grooming appointment, and this is such a shame, because she really is too shaggy, especially for the warm weather that's before us. Still, if she has kennel cough, she can't be with other dogs. No doggie daycare for her this week either. Time to take her to the vet yet again.

I am so glad I love my vet. I see a lot of her.

We return home: it's raining hard now. I take out Millie's rain jacket, which is pretty, but the hood bothers her and the whole jacket slips around as she trots forward.

But it does keep her torso dry and given the state of her health, I think this is a good thing.

 

In the afternoon, I drive over to pick up the kids. I leave Millie in her crate again. It makes no sense to shuttle her from one school to the next, with home stopovers in between. Good thing she is so easy to crate!

And home again. 

I watch the kids and Millie -- Sparrow loves to play with her, right there at her level. She's most rambunctious with him and I warn him that he has to set boundaries. Millie is at an age where she wants to find out how far she can go and what she can get away with. If he plays hard, she can join that race. 

Still, it's nice to see the two of them chase each other, throw and retrieve toys, do all that stuff that older people are incapable of doing. 

Snowdrop is much more into the gentle hugs and tummy rubs. 

A full range of play for the pup!

The two big kids leave, I put together a metal shelf to lift some of the plants of the porch floor. The lower ones within her reach are not toxic to her, but she has found the dirt in their pots very attractive to eat. Yes, eat. Probably to test me. So I build a shelf and move them up, while seh keeps me company and chats with the dog across the street. 

 

 

 

The storms move in -- to the north, to the south, mostly bypassing us. I love it when forecasts warn of horrible stuff and the weather delivers something quite innocent instead. Distant rumble, a quick soak of the ground and it's done. 

Millie, isn't it time to go to sleep? No? Oh come on, don't hide under the couch. It's so hard to drag you out from under there. Millie!

with so much love... 

Sunday meetups

Back to a better schedule now. I can do a 6:30 start to the day! Much better than yesterday's indecent wake-up.

It's cool this morning. A shame to have breakfast indoors again, but this is not unusual for April and even May. The early hours take a while to warm up. In years past, I worried about the possibility of overnight frost all the way until mid-May. The tubs with annuals, planted in late April were always vulnerable then. And it seemed that every year I would have to carry in the baskets of blooms at least once after putting them out, just to protect them from the cold. This year, all the porch flowers would need to come in if temperatures plummeted with one of those weird Arctic blasts, but looking at the forecast, we seem to be safe. 2026 has not been too bad for gardeners in south central Wisconsin!

I watch Millie, sleeping soundly next to me on the couch. Little ragamuffin (definition of ragamuffin: disheveled, but sometimes charming, and mischievous). But actually not so little now. When I carry her downstairs each morning (to prevent an early accident), she doesn't comfortably nestle in the bend of my arm anymore. I'm glad she is getting bigger. She's not a big eater (though she loved pieces of real roast chicken last night!), and treats aren't particularly enticing either, so of course I want her to show signs of healthy growth.

The morning routines are always special. All three dogs were (are) at their best then, though each in his or her unique way. Millie likes to have a few minutes of vocalizing. This is the poodle in her. Whereas Sadey barked to guard, and Henry barked to guard and sometimes to tell me he's bored, Millie is expressive on many levels. She doesn't just bark. She groans, grumbles, and occasionally, like this morning, she sings. No truly, she does. Off key, but then who am I to say what's proper singing in dogs.

 

 

Just before noon, we meetup with Ed at Tati's. The barista asks me -- can we give her a pup cup? I'd never heard of that. Turns out it's a small little sample cup with whipped cream. And I know that I should not be testing dairy products given her digestive sensitivities, but it's irresistible. Too, it's a tiny amount. And she loves it!

And then it is time for Millie's Agility Training class. The one where she channels her intelligence into finding ways to play with the other dogs there (whose owners have paid good money to have their pups jump, crawl and do circles on command. Play with other dogs? Not here, not now). 

Millie is excited to see her teachers. Excited to be with her known dogs. And she starts coughing. Out of excitement? I do not know. In any case, we have to leave. If this develops into a kennel cough, then she should not be running around with these pups. And I'm okay with that, given that she learns so little in this class and is a great distraction to the others there. Millie herself is disappointed. She gives a soft whine (one of the vocalizations from her repertoire) as we get back in the car. Ah well, at least she had her play moments with her favorite pals. 

In the afternoon I fix dinner for the young family. The five of them are here with Goose, which means there is chaos and lot's of spirited movement. Not from Goose, mind you! 

Sparrow is really into countries and capitals and flags. We all test our own knowledge of these. Let's just say for a couple of them, someone had to take out the phone to confirm our guesses!

 

 

So much energy. And joy. And love.

A good last April weekend. Fabulous month deserves a fabulous ending. And it got that.

with so much love... 

an April Saturday

No, Millie. It is not the new normal to start telling me at 5:30 that you want to be up and out. That was just yesterday. Go back to sleep -- I say, without conviction that either of us will doze off again. 

I stubbornly insist on ignoring her until 6, then I give up. Sunrise today is in fact at 6 so at least I can say I stayed put until the crack of dawn.

It's a little cool outside -- enough to keep me indoors for the morning meal.

 

And still, I am enjoying the flowers out there on the porch so much! They are in my line of vision from the living room. Radiant, thriving, splendid. I'll eat lunch in their midst.

This is the final April weekend and I have to wonder -- how can this month run out on me so quickly? Spring sprints. It whips past us before it even sinks in that we're done with winter (which drags dreadfully here, in Wisconsin). This year, the blossoms came early so that it all feels especially rushed.

 

Millie is delightful this morning. (Yes, with the old girl, this is the rule, not the exception.) Give the pup a toy, and make available a pillow or two or three, and she is one happy pup.

We do not have plans for today of the type that dictate a schedule. And so we improvise.

Our first outing is to Madison Sourdough. Oh, it's been ages! Once I moved from the farmhouse, the bakery was just too far away. And I'd been having too many croissant breakfasts. But lately Sparrow has been asking for a croissant snack and my frozen batch is dwindling. Too, Ed would love to restock his supply of sourdough bread.  And so Millie and I drive down to get us all of our favorites. 

Of course, dogs are not allowed inside, but I find that if I carry Millie into dog-free places really quickly, in an out, no one will mind, or even notice. (I always preorder the breads and pasteries from here.)

 

 

I'm learning that the girl really does not do well in cars. Even short distances and few turns can upset her stomach. This is a shame. She is otherwise so portable, that I need almost never leave her home.They say that most pups get over car sickness by the time they're one. Watch her be the exception! She's a high strung pup with a sensitive tummy. A recipe for travel stress and gastric disturbance. Let's see if time and slow repetition will help her with this. 

We stop over at the farmette to hand over the breads and to take a stroll...

It's a great place for her, but because she is always on a leash, it's not an effective way to exercise her and I often end up tugging tugging at her too much, just to get her moving. After a few minutes of this, I put her back in the car and we drive the two or three minutes to the park for small dogs. There, she is truly in her element.

Well, except for one thing: she is too friendly. If she deems a person to be  a potential BFF (and many fit that category), she will try her utmost to climb all over them, tail wagging, tongue ready to lick.

For some, this is just adorable. Today's target called her the friendliest, most cheerful dog she had ever met. But, not everyone likes puppy affection and I know that I'm going to have to reign her in. Oh, my dogs and dog parks! They really push the boundaries here, though in such different directions!

At home, I take my lunch (a croissant!) to the porch. And it is heaven. 

 

 

 

Millie thinks so too. Well, the croissant part anyway.

 

 

 

Millie and I return to the farmette in the late afternoon. I have a full compost bucket and some chicken leftovers for Ed. But even more importantly, these are the days of the crab apple bloom. They cannot be missed.

 

 

 I cook a cabbage, chicken and corn soup for supper. It should last into next week. I need my evenings for... gardening! The planting itself is limited of course, but the urge to work with flowers hasn't gone away. Spring will always have me getting my hands dirty. Not nearly as bad as in previous years, but still, I'm putting some effort into Steffi's House and Sally's porch. 

With so much love... 

 

such a day!

I'd count this Friday as belonging to the ridiculous, absurd, stunningly beautiful, unsettling, sublime, delightful, tiring. Which do you want to read about first?

On confusing days, it's best to go with chronology. Which in this case begins early. Very early. I am up many hours before dawn, thinking about a meeting I am to attend first thing in the morning. And I mean first thing: it is scheduled for 7:30, clear on the other side of town. This means that I have to get myself up by 5:30, get Millie walked, fed, and walked again...

(wet snout from the early morning dew) 

 

 

... and I just have to have some breakfast because there will be no room for this meal at any other decent hour.

Millie doesn't mind the early wake-up. In fact, I'd say she'd like this to be part of her everyday. 

("I like all pillows!")

 

 

("...and especially the Luxembourg Gardens one! My new favorite!") 

 

 

Early mornings? Forget it, little one. Just today.

And then I drop her off at doggie daycare at 7:15. That's right! I am so grateful that the place opens early! She, of course, is happy to trot in, though I notice that she does not like car rides before fully digesting her meal. Guess how I can tell?!

My meeting? Well, I was invited to attend one that had to do with an aspect of the public school curriculum. This turned out to be the worst part of the day. I could not believe the rigidity of institutional thinking! Back in the day when I was actively involved in my daughters' education (did I say this already? I was elected PTA chair for four years, or was it five? Not in a row. And I set up several programs for the kids that unfortunately closed down once I left, but still, they were grand for a few years!) -- back in those days, I worked with school administrators who showed some flexible thinking and valued input, not always agreeing with it, but keeping an open mind.

Not so in today's setting. When I entered the meeting room and saw the person leading the group, I knew we were all wasting time. Rare to see someone so ill suited for such discussions. Now, I no longer have kids in school, so I could just walk away from all of it, but of course, I'm good and mad at the stubbornness of those who chose to be belligerent and unmoving. So I'm itching for a fight. Even as I know that in the end, institutional thinking will prevail. But I do not believe they should be given an easy pass!

From there, I go to my daughter's house to help with her travel plans. I am a bit of an expert on changing flights and harassing airlines and so this is what I did for her for a good hour until things are resolved to her satisfaction.

Next? Grocery shopping. I have to fit this in while Millie is at daycare. And I do fit it in. I run into a friend whom I haven't seen for a long time. He has kept up with Ocean -- so, the winter of three dogs? I ask him if he has a pup himself. No, she died recently. And her last years were something else! First she went blind. That was okay. She could sniff her way around and still manage to get through the day. But then she went deaf and that was just too much! Well, Millie and I should be going blind and deaf at around the same time. Maybe we could both hope for a quick exit! 

I pick the girl up at noon. It was her longest stay at daycare for her and I am happy to say that she did just fine, though the person who is such a good dog caregiver told me that she bounds in ready to play with even the biggest dogs and is slowly learning that not all the big ones want to pay with her. Poor girl, rejected for her size! But this is what puppy socialization is all about: the dogs learn signals now, so that they can better interpret them as they get older.

And now to the farmette!

(old orchard pear, with violets and dandelions at her roots)

I drop off some groceries for Ed and he hops into the car for a trip to Oasis for lunch. We eat outside, and Millie stays in my lap and again, I have this feeling of utter peace. Sunshine, spring colors, coffee, a biscotti, Ed, Millie... Such a grand combination!

Back to the farmette now. Ed resumes his invasive bush whacking. I tell him that he now does four things on repeat: pickel ball, sleep, work, and whack away at the buckthorn. He agrees.

Millie enjoys her own moment of bliss.

 

 

 

I look around me. This is one of the best moments here: there are the daffodils of course, and the emerging tulips...

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the centerpiece of all this is the crab apple. Usually it flowers in the first days of May. This year? It's starting now!

 

 

I haven't left this place. I just wake up somewhere else now. But I still know every bush, every plant, every sapling that grows here. It's all still with me. And I am so glad that I'm not missing this annual rebirth of stuff that I planted. So very glad.

 

Back in the car! And she and I go to Kopke's Greenhouses. So much for not buying many plants this year! Another basket of flowers to block the construction view to the east. And as long as we are here, maybe a few strawberries for a pot? Maybe they'll bear fruit. Maybe.

At first, I keep Millie in the cart...

.... but she really hates this and the Kopke's staff people tell me that she is free to move around on her own four feet. They are dog friendly! Oh, are they ever dog friendly! She must have had a dozen people approach her for an ear rub. So many complements. Slowly, the pup relaxes. 

("tell me when you're done choosing already...")

 

 

Home now -- to do some planting and transplanting. Oh what a difference flowers make! I can suddenly see myself really enjoying the porch in the next coupe of months. Before I move again! 

 

 

 

Millie is completely wiped from her day of adventures. In the best of ways. Me? Well, I could do with some sleep as well! We'll see how that goes!

with so much love...  

World Book Day

One good celebratory moment after the next! What? You do not know that today is World Book Day? It's not made up -- it's a UNESCO designation. So there you have it -- love on the 21st, nature on the 22nd, and today -- books. The essentials for a happy life.

Data show that most Americans find no pleasure in reading books. (This is not to say they do not read -- there's plenty out there on the internet for them to take in.) In 2025, 40% of us read no books at all and another 27% read only 1-4 books. We are busy, stressed, distracted. No wonder books hold so little value for most of us.

My parents were readers, but quite iconoclastic in their approach to reading materials. My father read newspapers and political magazines. I dont remember ever seeing him with a book. My mother, on the other hand, was a voracious book reader before her vision started really failing her. But her reading ambitions were different than mine: she read to make herself more of an intellectual. She had educational shortfalls and this bothered her till the day she died. She subscribed to serious magazines and journals and she read often complicated articles, all masterfully written. What she digested from all of it is a bit of a mystery to me, but it hardly matters -- she surely improved herself in some fashion. How could she not? Even if you take in your own version of what the author intended, you're still thinking about deep issues, and this in some way is surely going to enrich your life. It did hers. And when in the end she stopped reading, her interest in life fizzled. (Books on tape did not interest her -- it had to be in the form of paper and print.)

Me, I love books. Always have, from the day I started reading (in Poland, very very early in life because in the deep country, there wasn't much else to do, especially in the winter, so my grandfather taught me to read). But my university years interfered with some of the great pleasures of reading. There was so much that I had to read! There was little joy in that, just pressure to get it done. Reading because you have to is very different from reading because you want to. 

A literary critic once said that it's one thing to give a book a good review, it's another to like it. Many good reviews are given to books that give the reader little pleasure. I rarely read those. I like losing myself in a text, in something that I can't wait to return to. And yes, one of the great joys of retirement has been the time I now have to read. I definitely belong to the 10% of Americans who read a great many books, though unlike my mother, I don't count. It cannot be trashy writing (or worse -- trashy editing). I hate that. But nor is it stuff that'll make a great intellectual out of me. That ship has long sailed. Thank goodness. No one to impress anymore. Not even myself.

 

It's a beautiful morning once again. A high of 80F/27C. Millie is bouncing off the walls with energy! Little girl, stick with the toys! Leave the shoes, chords, note pads, pillows, couch cushions alone!

I eat a mini breakfast outside. This may be the last April day warm enough for it. We're cooling down soon.

Why mini? Well, I have my (more or less) monthly breakfast with friends today. Since I plan to leave Millie in her crate, I take her out for a run just before I head out. Get her good and tired at the small dog park! 

There are no other dogs in this park. Not surprised -- it's the big canines that need the exercise before their owners go to work. 

 

 

But there is one visitor who comes over to retrieve a ball that went over the fence. Millie is delighted! Another BFF! 

After a 20 minute saunter, we return home. I close the crate door on her and head downtown to one of my friend's home.

(view from her unit)

The two of them have a small birthday celebration for me and I am touched by this. Being one who rarely remembers the birthdays of others, I can't imagine how people can be this good at looking after the special moments of their friends. I know, I know -- put it in your calendar already! And still, you have to remember to check your calendar. In advance no less. 

The food is great, and we linger over it as always, right into the noon hour.

When I return to Millie, I find that she is still a tired girl. Didn't she sleep at all in the three hours I was away? I do not know. 

I wake her to go to doggie daycare. And of course, I then pick up the kids. And her. And we return to Sally's House.  Where Millie is again stealing the show, stealing the children's hearts. 

.

 

 

(oh, the smell of warm croissants!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(happiness is holding Millie) 

 
 

It's usually late when I return to my book of the moment. Oh, but it's a special time. Millie recognizes the routine by now. She settles in her crate, I prop up my pillows and return to my book.

with so much love...