bucolic, cont'd

Another beautiful day with no raw spots, no edgy moments, no tedium, no frustration. Brilliant, sunny, warm and full of possibilities.

I suppose I must admit that it almost did not turn out that way. We started off just fine -- with a beautiful breakfast in the sun room (still too cool in the morning for the porch)...





...and then Ed set out to repair the roof. Now, I appreciate the fact that Ed will try to repair most things himself. I do love this about him and I admire his determination to teach himself anything he needs to get through life -- from figuring out the Tax Code to learning how to install and then replace a water pump or a portion of a fallen roof. I bow down with deference and respect to that kind of patience and fortitude, I do. But seeing him position a ladder on a sloping portion of the roof in order to reach an even higher piece of the roof, then watching it slip as he totters on it, watching him try again, with the same dangers still in place -- well, that takes some degree of calm belief in good outcomes that I can't say I always bring to the table.

When Ed works on something dangerous, I typically hide and do my own thing, listening carefully for that wail that would surely come if he fell and snapped his spine in many uneven fragments. But when he is on the roof, I need to be close by so that I can pass up tools or dropped items. So you could say these were tense moments. But, the dislocated roof pieces were successfully attached and life, thank God, moved on in that gentle way I described at the beginning of the post.

I nearly complete planting the new flower field...






And I work on filling the flower tubs with annuals. The cheepers are mostly cooperative and not even too intrusive. I say "mostly" because there is a caveat here too, but it does not come to pass until later in the afternoon, when Snowdrop is here for her Tuesday visit.

She is, by the way, totally awesome today! There is not even a shadow of a grumpy mood.



(giggling: is the poulet tickling her ear?)





(I put on her bandana bib in preparation for "lunch")


I think Ed would agree that this is a baby who knows how to chill...












(Her newest acrobatic skill is to roll back and forth from her back to the side. She loves it, is good at it and if there's an audience (me!) rooting for her -- so much the better!)






Ed and I take her for a very long walk -- all the way to the bike trail and beyond..












We work our way back through the truck farmers' fields, where, too, another grandma is keeping an eye on her granddaughter!






And back at the farmette (and here comes the caveat!), I want Ed to take a photo of Snowdrop amidst the annuals on the picnic table. The cheepers are under the table and this is when Oreo decides to go after my shoe. Peck, jab, peck.


 


Ah, but wait! Ed hands me the water machine gun and I squirt the old feathered fiend! It's so satisfying! Kicking, hitting, screaming, petting, feeding -- none of this worked in the past, but the spray of water sends him scurrying! Sweet, sweet revenge!

And so I have no bad words for this day. It is so utterly beautiful, so exhilarating, even with all caveats. During the short, cold winter days, remind me of this moment. It's worth waiting for! (Snowdrop agrees!)









(cherry in the old orchard)