the good guys

There are those out there who do their job with energy, resolve, patience, wisdom. (Then there are those who are egomaniacs and protect only themselves, trampling over anyone and everyone in their way, but we wont talk about those -- why ruin a perfectly fine Saturday?!) They serve as board members of HOAs and they devote countless hours to maintain a peaceful, plentiful, caring community of neighbors. My friend Diane is such a board member. And today, I met another two -- both serving on the HOA in the new development - the place where Millie and I live. The place of Steffi's House. This morning, after a fine breakfast on the porch...

 

... I shepherded Millie to her crate and biked over to Tati's, because our HOA Board set aside two hours there to talk about future developments in the new development. I went solely because I wanted to find out when the road cutting through toward the dog park would be finished, but I stayed a while. One of the board members lives across the street from me and I have to say, he makes the perfect neighbor (as does his wife, who is active in the various social groups that have sprung up here). Both of them are incredibly friendly and cheerful -- something I haven't seen much in people since oh, I don't know -- maybe Covid. 

People drifted in and asked questions about dogs, about trees, about the efforts to built out in an environmentally friendly way. [I had to laugh at that last one because of course, Ed and I were regulars at council meetings for many many years, trying to block the development in the first place. But our efforts (and those of many others) weren't for nothing -- the developer took seriously our concerns and being a smart person, decided to use "environmentally friendly" as a marketing tool. As a result, many come here to learn about the various strategies used here to channel runoff, create median prairie strips and ponds where water would drain from the sloped terrain.] I stayed for the whole hour. You learn things from good people. And all the while I kept thinking -- wow, and he's my neighbor too!]

I came back just as Ed arrived with many, many ears of corn. Stoneman's corn farm is closing after this weekend and Ed nicely drove out to be there just as they first unloaded their corn today. He said by the time he left, the line of buyers was more than 30 people deep, that's how much people from around here love their corn! I'll be freezing the kernels for winter soups and possibly Thanksgiving dinner. If there is anything that makes me feel like the next season has arrived, it's shucking and freezing the last of the freshly harvested corn.

But did I do it? Did I freeze bagfuls of corn kernels? 

I did not. 

I had good intentions, but during Millie's afternoon nap, I had to attend to my mini expansion of the garden. To accommodate those two (or three) remaining roses. I dug out turf. I shoveled out a hole, and when a box arrived from Amazon, I set to building that AC cover fence, in front of which I plan to put in at least two new roses.

Honestly, I'm quite okay at putting things together, so long as no special tools are required. But if reviewers tell me something is complicated and takes hours -- I avoid it like the plague. I feel I could put the time toward better use. When I purchased this fence, I had three imperatives: fast delivery, cheap, fairly easy to assemble. A.I. told me a drill was helpful but not required. 

It took a while! Getting the slats aligned, screwing in the screws without a drill -- it took a while. I worked on it on the porch so that Millie could keep me company. Millie and a thousand pollinators, not of the pretty butterfly kind, but irritating waspy looking bugs that chose my arms and legs just to see if there was anything resembling pollen on them. And of course, because the whole thing was cheap, the holes did not align. New ones will have to be drilled. Ed!....  

 

So, it looks like I am still fully immersed in planting, and especially rose planting (though not only -- I have a couple of campanulas to put in -- they will nicely offset the... um, roses!), yes?

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 (that little frog that loved my lilies? It loves my roses too!)

 

It is my balm, my form of meditation, my hard work (so much sod removal today!), my delight. Well, yes, and then there's Millie. My best companion. 

 

 

 

My love.

with so much love... 

 

storms and heat and fences

If it's "going to be a hot one" today, then why am I wearing my hoodie this morning? I'll tell you why: waves of storms are coming our way -- not big ones that'll knock your house down, but storms and winds nonetheless. One batch passes, the air gets thick and humid, sweatshirt tossed aside, the next one comes an hour later and I give a small shudder. Out comes the hoodie once more.

Millie, I stayed up too late. A group Zoom call, followed by a period of decompression. Can we push wake up time just a little this morning?

("okay with me...")

We manage to fit in a breakfast on the porch, with fresh rose buds to cheer us on.

... and a yellow jacket to annoy us...

 

 

 

But within minutes, the stormy clouds arrive once again and I retreat to the reading corner with the rest of my coffee and with Millie, ready for a cuddle.

My pup needs a good rest after her very active pup play time yesterday and so I postpone taking her to doggie daycare. While she naps, I search the internet (let's face it -- mostly Amazon) for a cheap but sturdy fence. I am minutely scrutinizing the yard for planting options. September is a fine time to add stuff to your garden if you have the stamina for it. I have never been interested in planting in the fall. Typically I am so done with the whole gardening project by then! But this year I keep finding ways to improve what's out there. And sometimes, I have to find new ways to plant because I will have watched a rose bargaining session on line (every Thursday!) and will have walked away with a real deal on a plant that may be stunningly beautiful, even as I have no idea what I can do with it. 

At this moment, I have three roses coming that do not have an obvious home. I dont want to crowd things (roses hate being crowded!), so I'm looking for expansion possibilities. One obvious place would be by the western side of the house, where all the mechanicals are unattractively positioned (think: ugly AC unit). But I need to visually block off the machinery. So I look for a sturdy fence -- under $100. I'll put the roses in front of that. (Less grass to cut!) Next task then: dig up the turf there and find a place to dispose of it. That's tomorrow's project.

In the early afternoon, I take the pup to doggie daycare and one by one, I pick up the kids. 

I had this idea that I would take them all to Door Creek Orchard this afternoon. It's an heirloom apple orchard just to the east of Madison and I thought they might enjoy learning more about growing apples. Or, I might enjoy learning more and they'll enjoy picking the fruit. In many ways, u-picks with kids are not for the fussy food types like me, who examines every berry before she snips it off and puts it in a basket. Kids are nicely indiscriminate in their pickings (even though they do then fuss if the fruit isn't as they would like it to be. Still, picking apples is up there with swimming and learning to cross the street with care. It's an activity "of value" in my book.

I cant say that every one of them shares my enthusiasm for the outing. Snowdrop is on board, but Sparrow had a rough day at school and his idea of a decent afternoon would be to lose himself in his tablet. And Sandpiper? Well, I guess I talked too much about today's storms. There are clouds hovering to the west. He's willing to come along, but less willing to get out of the car once there. Storms! -- he explains. 

But in the end they all join in on the project of collecting apples in four separate bags. Who knew that they were all McIntosh fans!

Three t-shirts and many, many pounds of apples later and we head back home. And I pick up Millie.  From Julie --"She was clingy and tired today. She perked up eventually, but it was a slow start..." I suppose that matches our afternoon as well. One grumpy boy, one scared one going there, three happy kids coming back. On the car ride, Sandpiper, who has very rarely gone on outings with me in my car, asks for music. The big two quickly tell him -- gaga doesn't have playlists. She just sometimes puts on the radio at Christmas time. I dont disavow this. For one thing, I like having conversations with them in the car and for another -- I've heard there are strong feelings expressed when music is payed in their car. I want to avoid that on our rare trips together. The reference to Chirstmas has them thinking about seasona music and they challenge themselves to think of all the Christmas songs they know that haven't Biblical references in them. By the time we pulled up to their home, they are laughing hysterically about a song where the kid wants a hippopotamus for Christmas.

And I was laughing with them.

with so much love... 

a downpour that missed Steffi's House and Yard

I had a lovely chat with my doc this morning. I like her and have had her now for some dozen years. We are on a friendly platform -- meaning we always manage to spend just a few minutes on sharing trip plans or reflections on trips taken. This time I was curious about her most recent trip. She'd been telling me about it for a long time now. This summer she will have gone for the first time to Europe. With kids and husband. She has traveled plenty as she is by birth from Korea, but Europe is a first for her. She was excited. The plan was to go to the north of Norway and then to Scotland. To hike, to admire the landscapes.

Predictably, the trip was a total success. As she reflected on it, she said to me -- I'll never forget it. As we stood on a mountain summits after a hike, I felt this wave of gratitude. Here we were, healthy, together, witnessing something beautiful.

When you are a doctor, you see it all. Sometimes you heal an anxious patient, sometimes you don't. You see families break up from the tragic spillover effects of medical crises. I suppose one gift you have after a rough day is that you develop an ability to feel gratitude for all that is yours very deeply. Many of us say we're grateful for what we have, especially around Thanksgiving, but that gratitude is fleeting. We move on quickly to groaning about some inconvenience or aggravation. 

I've had some near misses in life. Maybe we all have had those. Mine were sometimes my fault -- recklessness seemed to have been my middle name at times. How else to explain such horrors as unprotected sex or drinking excessively? Youthful transgressions? Perhaps, only some of them weren't so youthful. People are often boastful about their past misdeeds. Who can come up with the most egregious story of crimes committed? Me, I'm just glad that mine were all misses. That recklessness didnt lead to damage. That poor health and so many surgeries all resulted in cures rather than a death sentence. Like my father, I've always felt grateful for being so darn lucky. That things worked out (for the most part). That I got to 73 without crashing. That I wasn't at the WTC on 9/11. That I was born in postwar Poland rather than in the middle of that horrible war. That I learned English by immersion, that I escaped storms while riding a bike, that I had two daughters that I loved, that I found something to love in a person who is so different than me. Lucky. So yes, life is very much like the downpour I experienced this morning while driving Millie to doggie daycare: it happens in some spots, it misses others. Chances are you've had some lucky breaks too (or else you wouldn't be reading this). Stay grateful. For each and every one of them.

 

My pup is tired! Late nights, early wake ups. And a full day ahead! 

 

 

 

Breakfast, on the porch, with market flowers.

And a morning of doc visits, weeding, and to be honest -- lying on the couch and wondering how long my luck will hold. 

 

In the afternoon I am with the kids. First the boys. And truly, it's heartwarming to see the older one show his little brother how to "do school!" 

 

Then Snowdrop, and to their home. The new routines take some getting used to. We're not reading yet -- not me with the boys nor with Snowdrop. We'll get there! For now, I do some online shopping with the girl for sweatpants for the three of them. After a minute, she takes the laptop from my hands and says "here, let me do it... you're too slow!" Click click, to the checkout, auto fill  here, credit card there. I shake my head -- it's too easy. Shopping is just too easy. You could pick up my laptop and fill the cart with thousands of dollars' worth of stuff. No I couldn't. I dont know your security code! I dont tell her that many vendors have that stored in their memory bank as well.

She asks to tag along with me to pick up Millie from doggie daycare.

 

 

 How those kids love my snuggle pup! Truly a teddy bear parading as a dog.

 

Ed comes over in the evening. I scramble eggs, we watch the last episode of Clarkson's Farm. Not to spoil it for those who are still set to watch it, but I have to say, it's a bit of a downer. People have issues. Not to state the obvious, but even very rich people! I come back to the idea of gratitude. For all the days we get to be with people we love. Deep gratitude. 

with so much love... 

 

so thrilled

No one in my whole life has been as happy to see me as Millie is when I return home. I will have been gone ten minutes or three hours. Her greeting is always the same. She will jump as high as she can, standing on her rear paws forever, tail wagging furiously. 

 

 

 

The greeting is long and intense. I know you're supposed to not encourage it. And I don't really. She goes nuts around me anyway. And I have to say, my heart swells for her overjoyed but also anxious eyes that always seem to be saying "please dont leave me, please dont leave me..."

I did have to leave her today. Twice in fact. She no longer cries. When asked to go to her crate, she goes to it. I put on Mozart, I exit.

My first departure wasn't too long and it coincided with her post-breakfast nap. As I noted before, today was Sandpiper's first day of school. I was up very early...

("are you sure it's time to get up??") 

 

 

And i was at his house by 7:15. He and Sparrow have the first bell at 7:40. It's only a 5 minute drive to school, yet there he is, backpack on, ready to fly. Photo first, little guy!

And how about one of the three of you? Setting out into the world!

I drive them all to school. Sandpiper and Sparrow first.  I have to wonder what is in the kindergartner's head as he follows his brother inside. I know that Sparrow is intensely proud to have his younger bro trailing him in on this day (figuratively and literally). 

I then take Snowdrop to her school. Hers too is just about 5 or 6 minutes away and we stay in the car for a while before she goes in -- it's that early. She's quiet today and I'm pretty sure she is fighting a bug. At one point she tells me maybe we should go home and take her temp. She's a little warm, but we are all warm -- it is a hot and humid day. I consider this then tell her to give it a try. "If you don't feel well at any point, call home." She trots off to be with her friends. Would have I chosen, at her age, a day with friends over a day in bed with the TV on? That would have been a tough one!

 

And now I come back to Steffi's House and have my own breakfast. With a very happy Millie.

I had moved some plants around the other day and I have a new hole for a new rose out front. This is an easy planting, since the earth there is already improved and, too, it's right by the porch, so that Millie can keep an eye on me.

And now it's time for her longer morning rest. This then is my second departure, a much longer time away -- three hours! A packed and actually quite lovely three hours.

First, I go to Tati's. Our neighborhood (encompassing the new development) has a women's group that meets once a month over coffee. It's been on my radar, but because of kids, dogs, moves, trips and such, I could never quite fit it in. Besides, I didn't think I needed a whole new set of friends. But here's the thing: I do need friends for inconsequential fun stuff. Local ones that can be enjoyed in person. Women (could be men, I dont care) who have interesting stories, who will introduce something new into my everyday. Ocean notwithstanding, I am not one who needs to lean on people, to spill out my woes and seek out support. That's just not me. But I have long thought that I am short on fun encounters of the insignificant yet very significant kind. Will I find it in my neighborhood?

Maybe. I spent only 45 minutes with them (a group of about 8 or 9, obviously retired or not working), but it was in fact delightful. I told jokes. (My life is a joke, really.) Many of them seem not to have had kids, which means that I could for once think about stuff other than the dramas surrounding child rearing. I wore my subtle statement t-shirt. It has a dog filled with flowers, but if you look between the petals, you'll find tiny print with messages such as No Kings or Truth Matters or FDT (which honestly I did not know what it stood for, but now that I know, I have to say -- spot on). One woman actually noted the messages contained therein and voiced approval which was nice. The whole time spent with them was really good!

From there, to my haircut place. I get one cut every three months. I'd say I need one every two, but haircuts cost money so I wait another month and then regret it and tell her to go shorter. (It is short now!)

Onwards! To the downtown farmers market. First -- flowers! Those two please...

 

 

 

Too, my daughter needs fresh corn and Stoneman's is closed this week. I ask the market vendor if he'll be around all month. Yes, he tells me, but only at the big Saturday market. Why? Kids are back in school, no one to help... Yeah, kids back in school, though the ages of my grands are such that their time in school actually frees and helps the caregivers (parents, grandma...).

Still another errand -- to Madison Sourdough. Sparrow is back to loving croissants. Must stock up.

And from there, I drive back to the other side of town to deliver the foods to my daughter's house and finally -- I come back to Millie.

She and I spend a good chunk of the afternoon in her yard. 

 

 

 

My tree needs water! Roses need water! Leaves with black spot have to be removed! Did I mention here that rose care can be tricky? Ah, but the rewards...

 with so much love...

September

Well now, that was some August. Ranking in the top three of life's most challenging months, surpassing September 1960 when I was plunked into a second grade classroom in NYC speaking no English and knowing no one in the whole skyscraper filled city besides my parents and my sister and my sister was in a similar predicament many corridors and classrooms away. Surpassing, too, May 1994 when my brain exploded. I survived that without lasting damage except the damage done to my confidence that weird things dont happen to boring normal people. Up there with March 2026 when I lost Henry, though that month had positives in it as well, so I can't count it as a complete downer. And this August wasn't a complete downer either. All those grandkids! All those roses! But yes, also all that illness. Not mine, which in a way makes it worse.

So now along comes September. An early wake-up for me today. Looking out the front door, I see a mist over the wetlands. Gentle hues of pink and apricot.

 

 

Tradition has it that I take the first day of school photo of the grandkids. It is a tad exasperating that little Sandpiper does not start school until tomorrow, so that I will have to beat dawn again in my wake-up, and drive over to his house tomorrow, but there you have it. Schools set the rules, we follow.

These two start today!

 

 

Snowdrop, 6th grade, Sparrow 3rd.

So long as I am there with my car, I drive these kids to their respective schools. They are both excited, though Sparrow makes sure that I know that he is NOT happy with his seat assignment next to his MORTAL ENEMY. I say to him -- at least you wont have every class with her. Ever the helpful older sister, Snowdrop chirps in -- in third grade, you dont switch classrooms for classes. I remind her that apart from being a Debbie Downer to her brother, she is also incorrect, as he has music, art, P.E, library, technology -- all in different rooms, with different teachers and different seating assignments. Miss-pleased-with-her-own-life muses out loud -- maybe they'll all keep the same seating chart. She knows darn well that they do not keep the same seating chart, but this is how these two sometimes encourage each other. And indeed, in two minutes, the subject changes and she is reassuring her brother, reminding him that he will not have his OTHER MORTAL ENEMY (a different one -- an 8 year old boy is likely to have more than one mortal enemy) at his Young Shakespeare Players fall show (which in fact isn't a Shakespeare play, but hey...).

(off he goes while we watch...)

Snowdrop's school starts later and she still needs an addition to her lunch box, so she and I swing by the grocery store and then I get in line to drop her off. Mindful of her age and her peers, she warns me -- gaga, you are not going to get out and take my photo as you did with my brother! Can I at least do it from inside the car??  I remind her that she still has a year and four months to go before she is a teenager.

I then go home to eat breakfast with my shaggy waggy Millie.

She is so overjoyed to see me that it hurts. Oh, Millie! Hang on -- I just have to snip off a few spent roses... (she watches... her eyes never leave me.)

 

 

Breakfast in a minute, little one! (For me. Millie of course has had hers hours ago.) 

 

My pup does need a fur trim. She has an appointment at noon and I take her to it, reminding her as we get out of the car that she loves the play time she has there in and around the grooming. For the first time, she hesitates. No bounding in today. And as we slowly enter, two dogs that are in the holding pen let out fierce sounding growls and barks. The groomer comes out to tell me -- they are not friendly. No kidding! True, they are separated from the rest but they are loud and obnoxious. Millie immediately drops her tail to its lowest position and has to be pulled inside the grooming room. Thankfully, there is another pup there, equally terrified. Maybe they'll form a small mutual support group against the monsters behind the gate.

 

A quick stop at home to clean the birdhouse. This is a necessity, unless I want to infect all birds with some horrible disease that will further deplete our dwindling bird populations. There are many birdhouses in my neighborhood and I have to wonder if we are at all dutiful enough about cleaning and disinfecting them. Likely not. It's a yukky job and tough to do well. We can talk ourselves out of pretty much anything if we try hard enough.

 

Lunch: I make myself a cup of coffee from the Cafe Joyeux batch, not because I believe a change from August to September will bring with it a completely joyous and carefree set of days, but because I am of the belief that until you're sick and dying, you can always improve on what's there before you. Sipped in the car, with a granola bar.

And now it's time to pick up Sparrow. He's first to go and first to return. All this will shift a little as the kids will start riding the bus in a couple of weeks, but for now it's business as usual -- I wait in line, at the front of the line in fact, to get the elementary school kids (just one today) and bring them (him) home.

Guess what? -- He asks me right away. She changed her mind. Who? What? The girl I sit next to. We're not enemies anymore.

 

I take him home, feed him, listen to his brother explain all his car and truck formations... 

 

 

 

... and go to pick up Snowdrop. 

Back at their house, Goose, their very large dog is sniffing me and wagging his tail so fiercely that my bare legs (shorts weather) will surely have scars. I think he needs a walk. 

The three of us (Sandpiper, Snowdrop and I) take him for a stroll. 

I've walked Goose before. But this time, two things happened: he spotted a squirrel, and he saw two dogs up the block. In both instances I pulled him back so hard that I was sure my arms would leave their sockets. I think my "walking Goose days" are nearing an end. He is significantly stronger than me.

 

And now I have to dash to the other side of town because Millie is done with her grooming session. I understand she also got a face massage out of the deal. (Did you know dogs love facial massages? I did not, until this week.)

Walk time, my little one!

 

 

And of course, stand on the chair, look out the window and bark time too. Millie needs a dose of this before she can relax.

 

 

A tired girl. Tired me! But happy for the kids. By tomorrow, all my grands will be in school. And I'm confident that all of them will be (mostly) happy there. And that's such a good thing.

 

 

 

Have a grand September all you school bound young ones! Work hard, make lasting friendships, stay optimistic!

with so much love... 

 

L'Important C'est la Rose

My music for this morning came from an Apple playlist of French Chanson. Lovely lyric driven songs from the tradition of French cabaret of yore. I know many of these. I collected albums of such music back in the 70s and even in the early 80s. Add a baguette, a hunk of cheese, and a glass of wine and I felt I was in France. (Baguettes were hard to come by in those years, but I kept searching.) There was a song on the playlist that was new to me and it sounded so pretty and so fitting for these days. Its title is my Subject heading. I wont post all the lyrics (because they're in French and besides, just looking at the song's title -- they are predictable). Here's just one translated verse:

There's a petal and a thorn
There is beauty and there's sorrow
And we all must face tomorrow
Like a rose.

 

 

 

If you want to listen to it, here it is:

 

 

If you look for connections in your life, you will find them!

  

It was, for a while anyway, a most perfect morning. Millie now demands a walk around the block (it's a very long block) rather than her past up and down and back again, and I am happy to give her the extra sniffing moments. And then we have breakfast.

I will say this:I really do not understand why there are so many unfriendly dogs in this neighborhood and perhaps in all neighborhoods, because ours is a good mix of young and old and those inbetween.  Of the maybe dozen dogs that inhabit this block (as I said, it's a long block) not one is friendly. All of them either cross the street or turn the corner when they see us coming. This drives her (and me) nuts. She just wants to sniff butts. But no, the dog owners want to avoid encounters and it's not because she is a threat -- she is pretty much the smallest of the lot of them and her tail is up and wagging.

I feel like the parent of a child whom everyone avoids at recess. 

This is one of many reasons why I take her to doggie daycare. She loves playing -- with dogs and with humans. There are no rejections at doggie daycare. Everyone is her BFF.

I have a full day while she's sauntering about at Happy Dogz. Much of it is weekly stuff -- groceries, compost, etc. And much of it is in the yard: mow lawn, move plants, etc. Catch up stuff that needs to be done because after today, I wont have full days where Millie is engaged in her play and I have no childcare obligations. 

And, as has been the case repeatedly this month, suddenly I do not have a full day at all. Many texts and emails later I have a paltry few hours to fix problems in Steffi's Garden. And because I've put him off for so long I finally agree to have Ed interrupt my gardening so that he can move the remaining bookshelf and cabinet from the farmhouse to Steffi's House and of course he needs help with that and besides, he needs a beard trim.

 

I do get most of this accomplished but it is not a fun, easy going day. It is a crazy rushed day and at the end of it all, I have to ask yself why. Why rush like this? Does any of it require the urgent attention I bestow on it? I could have done none of it and read a book all day in my rose garden. L'Important C'est la Rose...

 

 

with so much love... 

 

getting through the new

A very warm week, coming up! Typically by September I'm ready for crispy, brisk fall days, but this year, I'm less enthusiastic about letting go of summer. It's because of the roses. Many of them still have a period of bloom before them and yes, I have a couple more to put in -- defoliated twigs actually -- and the later that crispy brisk air sets in, the more chance there is of my catching a bloom this year. Too, I love going out with Millie in the same old shorts and a t-shirt. So quick and easy. Add a light caress from a summer wind on bare skin and I have myself a recipe for contentment. 

I cut a few blooms (short but pretty) for the breakfast table, feeling so privileged to be able to do this. Hard to accept that in winter, I'll be relegated to grocery store flowers again. [No, I absolutely cannot afford flower subscriptions, even though I love studying them online and imagining which would look best on the counter at Steffi's House. Lately, I've studied the nursery bouquets at Grace Rose Farm. Plenty of the pastels I love! So gorgeous, but of course, even if I were rich, it's hard to justify shipping fresh bouquets of flowers to your doorstep all winter long. They are beautiful but short-lived. After five days, looking at their wilted heads, you have to wonder what possessed you to do this.

I never was a rose lover. Not until this year. I liked their fragrance of course, and I did try growing a floribunda and a climber in one of my past gardens, but I never really understood them, nor did I want to treat them with kid gloves and horticultural fungus oils. And those trellises and pergolas displayed in photos of rose gardens? That was, in my limited view, for the fanatics. When I thought about roses, I mainly imagined blooms such as you find at the florist or grocery store, especially around Valentine's Day. 

But of course, that's just closed mindedness on my part. The world of rose growing has evolved, and my thinking about them thankfully has evolved as well.

 However, embarking on something new means that you have a steep learning curve, with plenty of opportunity for making costly mistakes. For example, the first roses I bought this year (a tree and a bush) came from a place that is... shady. Massive nursery stock sold cheaply. Concepts like disease resistance, own root-stock, one year old or three year old, training climbers, thorns that will kill you if you come near the stems -- zi never considered any of that. 

All this to say that following breakfast (on the porch, with a sampler of rose blooms from my garden)...

Millie and I went out to her yard and she played and I sat down on my wonderful bench and studied the roses. I located the trouble areas (leaves with black spots should be removed, spent buds should be clipped, etc), and eventually I tended to them. I also located a good spot for the next and probably last rose I want to place in Millie's Yard and dug out some of the turf and top "soil" to make room for it. But really, the most productive thing for me was the study of the roses. To look admiringly but also critically at what I planted where and what should be done about it. 

 

(look who has been hanging around my roses! straight from the lily fields of the farmette!)

 

(from the bench...)

 

Ed called while I was in the thick of rose contemplation and asked if I would go with him on a bike ride to McFarland (the town across Lake Waubesa) for a coffee/lunch at Grace Cafe there. He picked this ride deliberately because he knows how much I love it. It's not hard. Just 45 minutes each way. Not too many hills, lots of variety in the landscape...

And at the end, we have the coffee shop.

The outing feels exhilarating and at the same time intimate. The wind going there is on our backs -- a stiff breeze that has the windsurfers flying across the lake...

 

 

 

Biking with Ed across the mile long bridge is always joyful. 

At the coffee shop, we often sit and read -- I always bring my book with me -- but today we talk. Inevitably, we turn to the subject of my sick friend, but after a half hour of updates and speculations, he suggests we put it to rest. We talk about the Ukraine war instead, which is ofcourse even more depressing, but we take it from the angle of technological innovation -- something that allows us not to focus for just a minute not on the horrors of that war, but instead, on the way that despite everything, the Ukraine, with the help from the west, has managed to develop useful technologies both for the war effort and for use outside the war zone. Think pizza delivery by drones, coming to your door next year. 

After a solid hour of this, I reluctantly suggest we head back. Millie has been in her crate for a while now, and even more importantly, there appear to be storm clouds in the west. (Did you ever wonder how it is that stormy skies never sidestep you or go in another direction but instead always, always come straight at you?)

I pedal at top speed. Nothing like a storm to get me to work hard on that bike. A 45 minute ride turns into a 30 minute ride. And I can't help but remember all those bike trips I took as a kid, spending summers in the Polish village with my grandmother. The storms would come suddenly and they would terrify me. It felt like the next bolt of lightening would target me. Trees were suddenly my enemies (they attracted lightening!), but open fields were worse -- they offered no protection at all. 

We got wet, but of course, we were perfectly safe. And at my age, reason took charge. No, lightening would not seek me out and in the one in a million chance that it did, well, I'm 73 and I lived a good life! When you're biking, your thoughts are often not very complicated (though Ed swears it's the opposite -- for him, deep contemplation is best achieved when he is speeding on a bike).

Home is all about Millie: brushing her, keeping her quiet, taking her out again and again. She is still such a puppy!

No family Sunday dinner today. We're still working on schedules for the fall semester and I dont know that me cooking dinner for the young family on Sundays is part of the grand plan. And so I have a quiet evening. Well, Millie is a little hyped up. Must be the changes in the weather. They say dogs can detect and are affected by fluctuations in weather patterns -- drops in pressure, the coming of a rain. Millie has had a lot to work with in that arena today!

with so much love...