I look outside, hoping for rain. It surely is gray and cold. There was a night shower, but no gardener or farmer would be satisfied with it.
We eat breakfast in the kitchen. To me, the kitchen exudes a warmth of the best kind. It's fitting for a day like this.
Snowdrop comes to the farmhouse earlier than usual. My schedule is flexible. It tracks the needs of the young couple. They know Snowdrop is always welcome here.
Ed notes her energetic and cheerful disposition.
She still looks awfully tiny when he holds her!
She plays hard, but she is also more patient with books and quieter activities.
surprising
wryly amusing
shocking
And then it's lunchtime.
And we move smoothly into the afternoon. More cold weather. We're not tempted to go out for a walk, even as I remember a month ago thinking that anything above freezing was spectacular!
Snowdrop's mom comes over and lingers for a while before taking her babe onto her next set of adventures, while I make my way to a local voting place. It's an election day and I'm volunteering to be an election observer (on behalf of a local mayoral candidate). It's boring work, but somebody has to do it! I think about my garden, imagining the new flower bed that I will be creating in several weeks.
When we look forward to spring, we forget that sometimes April, at least April in Wisconsin, can be a tricky month -- full of welcome and unwelcome surprises. We're so set on loving every last bit of the renewal -- the greening of the landscape, the exploding buds -- that any stall in that process makes us impatient.
I wont be impatient. There is plenty to keep me happy now. Consider, for example, the dainty first leaves on the willow branches.
And maybe there will be rain tonight -- the kind that's so loud that we can hear it on the farmhouse roof. Spring dreams. All magnificent, all full of hope.
We eat breakfast in the kitchen. To me, the kitchen exudes a warmth of the best kind. It's fitting for a day like this.
Snowdrop comes to the farmhouse earlier than usual. My schedule is flexible. It tracks the needs of the young couple. They know Snowdrop is always welcome here.
Ed notes her energetic and cheerful disposition.
She still looks awfully tiny when he holds her!
She plays hard, but she is also more patient with books and quieter activities.
surprising
wryly amusing
shocking
And then it's lunchtime.
And we move smoothly into the afternoon. More cold weather. We're not tempted to go out for a walk, even as I remember a month ago thinking that anything above freezing was spectacular!
Snowdrop's mom comes over and lingers for a while before taking her babe onto her next set of adventures, while I make my way to a local voting place. It's an election day and I'm volunteering to be an election observer (on behalf of a local mayoral candidate). It's boring work, but somebody has to do it! I think about my garden, imagining the new flower bed that I will be creating in several weeks.
When we look forward to spring, we forget that sometimes April, at least April in Wisconsin, can be a tricky month -- full of welcome and unwelcome surprises. We're so set on loving every last bit of the renewal -- the greening of the landscape, the exploding buds -- that any stall in that process makes us impatient.
I wont be impatient. There is plenty to keep me happy now. Consider, for example, the dainty first leaves on the willow branches.
And maybe there will be rain tonight -- the kind that's so loud that we can hear it on the farmhouse roof. Spring dreams. All magnificent, all full of hope.
A quick look at the radar before I go to bed. Looks like you did get some rain tonight, I hope it was enough to encourage more blooms.
ReplyDeleteThis picture of Ed and Snowdrop amazed me, even in comparison to you and Snowdrop. Yes, he most definitely *does* make Snowdrop look so very tiny in comparison.
I know what you mean about the weather still feeling cold, even though it was much colder just weeks ago. The winds are still chill here, too. But then, we don't have any blossoms or leaves happening at all - yet.
We did get rain! And more to come in the next seven days, bringing us right out of the "drought" category!
DeleteI read with my first child a LOT. maybe not as young as S - though our C's parents read to her already too.
ReplyDeleteI don't know - when C sits on my lap and feels my warmth and the vibration of my voice, she goes right to sleep. I tell the kids I've been putting on a little gramma belly just for her. :))
We read with our second child many times a day too, together with the older brother.
The third son, well, probably not as much, in our busier lives, as I recall? And which one grew up to go to med school? Haha, the third one.
But seriously though, I think his very great advantage was in having two smart older brothers to watch, both of whom doted on him and talked TO him.
Little C is having that experience at the "nurture center" where she goes two mornings a week. They say she is VERY interested in watching the toddlers play.
Your S photos make me miss her! Then I have to go to my video clips for a smile refresher!
Liked your photos today. The graceful willow has always been one of my favorite trees. No room for them in suburbia. We have to go down to the pond to appreciate their beauty.
I read a lot to my girls when they were little for one reason: I loved that shared intimacy of enjoying a story together! It was probably my favorite time of the day -- that hour of books and later chapter books, late into the evening hours.
DeleteOh, and on the subject of the willow-- a tree of great loveliness but also great troubles for us: the roots work their way into the septic system and the tall tall branches are brittle and often break off. They caused me much anxiety when my daughter's wedding was here. At the last minute I moved the entire ceremony from underneath the willow in the fear of having a branch come down on one of the guests. Beauty, with a touch of danger!
DeleteI love the growing response to books!
ReplyDeleteYes, so far it's all about the pictures, but she definitely is going to be a girl who loves a good story!
DeleteNot to speak ill of the dead, but my parents never sat and read to me or my brother. The picture of you and Snowdrop reading together is so precious and something I will go to my grave wishing I had had as a youngster. It changes one's whole life to have parents/relatives that take the time and love to do this with a child. I have developed a love for books and reading but it didn't happen until I was way past adulthood and I've had to do catch-up all my life. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteBex, you're like so many of that generation! Who among our parents or grandparents knew to take out a book, or had access to books for their children? My grandma was an extreme case of what you write about: she was the true Polish peasant: she never went beyond the first years of elementary school and worked at physically draining jobs all her life. I don't think she ever considered a book for pleasure until she was done with work and finally had time on her hands. Then, when she was well into her senior years, she discovered books. She went from never reading to devouring the classics in the last few decades of her life. It was amazing to see her get so much pleasure from literature!
DeleteThat is so uplifting. I smile to think of a grandmother having worlds open up in her hands.
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