Throw me some good weather, a spring landscape and a free morning and you can rest assured that I will be outside working.
Unless the day proceeds like this one: full of the small twists that cause it to veer in different directions.
Let's start with the sweetly predictable breakfast.
It's prompt and ready at 9, since Ed has a morning meeting to go to soon after. He promises he'll lock up Oreo so that I can roam freely and work without a rooster hanging (quite literally) on my heels.
We do take a few minutes to pick some weeds (Scotch watches, hoping for worms)...
... and, too, to wash a chicken.
That may sound strange, but we've noticed that one of the white hens has been slumping lately. It could be the heat. It could be a nibble at a indigestible plant. I offer another explanation: her butt is so dirty! I tell Ed that maybe she can't push eggs out in all that mess. Since she is lethargic, Ed picks her up easily and I work the hose on her rear and scrub her (almost) spankin' clean.
And then Ed takes off for his meeting and I note that he has forgotten to lock up Oreo. Since I have no intention of messing with his moods, I spend the morning inside paying bills and doing the type of general accounting that one does on a rainy day. Except that it is a very very lovely day and here I sit, trapped indoors because of a rooster. At least the view out the kitchen window is a good one.
The second part of the day, on the other hand, is plenty nice -- I proceed to Snowdrop's home.
I walk into her bedroom just as she is waking up from a long morning nap and I note right away that she has turned the corner: she certainly knows how to quiet her anxieties (if such there be) with recourse to her thumb. It's such an important step toward independence!
And what else might she show you today? Oh, you know she'll be practicing sitting and standing, with her usual energy and determination...
Realizing that this is my last week with her (I'll be taking off this weekend for a little while), I revel in all of it -- the walk around the lake with Snowdrop and her mom, the smiles, the bounces, the stroller face...
... all of it!
Toward the end of the afternoon, the little one grows tired. The thumb comes up once more to soothe her. She sighs, like you and I might sigh when we've reached that point in the day when nothing can go wrong anymore.
Into her mom's waiting lap now...
...and off I go.
Later, much much later, after dinner, after the sun gets mightily close to the horizon...
... Ed asks -- want to go to Walmart?
He knows I dislike the store, even as I cannot resist a trip there with him. He wants to pick up a half dozen t-shirts (I'm hoping his torn ones will be retired now, but I doubt it!) and he wants my help in picking out good colors. At $3.69 a shirt, I think you can't possibly have good choices, but it turns out I'm wrong. As he picks up one, then another, I ask -- Pink?? You're going to wear pink?
Why not? -- he responds, in that tone that lets me know that he is beyond gender stereotypes.
There had been a splatter of rain and now a swirling low mist rises from the road. A pair of baby raccoons bounces just before us. Infants! Must they always be this adorable?
Unless the day proceeds like this one: full of the small twists that cause it to veer in different directions.
Let's start with the sweetly predictable breakfast.
It's prompt and ready at 9, since Ed has a morning meeting to go to soon after. He promises he'll lock up Oreo so that I can roam freely and work without a rooster hanging (quite literally) on my heels.
We do take a few minutes to pick some weeds (Scotch watches, hoping for worms)...
... and, too, to wash a chicken.
That may sound strange, but we've noticed that one of the white hens has been slumping lately. It could be the heat. It could be a nibble at a indigestible plant. I offer another explanation: her butt is so dirty! I tell Ed that maybe she can't push eggs out in all that mess. Since she is lethargic, Ed picks her up easily and I work the hose on her rear and scrub her (almost) spankin' clean.
And then Ed takes off for his meeting and I note that he has forgotten to lock up Oreo. Since I have no intention of messing with his moods, I spend the morning inside paying bills and doing the type of general accounting that one does on a rainy day. Except that it is a very very lovely day and here I sit, trapped indoors because of a rooster. At least the view out the kitchen window is a good one.
The second part of the day, on the other hand, is plenty nice -- I proceed to Snowdrop's home.
I walk into her bedroom just as she is waking up from a long morning nap and I note right away that she has turned the corner: she certainly knows how to quiet her anxieties (if such there be) with recourse to her thumb. It's such an important step toward independence!
And what else might she show you today? Oh, you know she'll be practicing sitting and standing, with her usual energy and determination...
Realizing that this is my last week with her (I'll be taking off this weekend for a little while), I revel in all of it -- the walk around the lake with Snowdrop and her mom, the smiles, the bounces, the stroller face...
... all of it!
Toward the end of the afternoon, the little one grows tired. The thumb comes up once more to soothe her. She sighs, like you and I might sigh when we've reached that point in the day when nothing can go wrong anymore.
Into her mom's waiting lap now...
...and off I go.
Later, much much later, after dinner, after the sun gets mightily close to the horizon...
... Ed asks -- want to go to Walmart?
He knows I dislike the store, even as I cannot resist a trip there with him. He wants to pick up a half dozen t-shirts (I'm hoping his torn ones will be retired now, but I doubt it!) and he wants my help in picking out good colors. At $3.69 a shirt, I think you can't possibly have good choices, but it turns out I'm wrong. As he picks up one, then another, I ask -- Pink?? You're going to wear pink?
Why not? -- he responds, in that tone that lets me know that he is beyond gender stereotypes.
There had been a splatter of rain and now a swirling low mist rises from the road. A pair of baby raccoons bounces just before us. Infants! Must they always be this adorable?
If Ed is anything like my DH then the torn t-shirts will be relegated to the 'dirty work' pile, where they supposedly won't leave the confines of the yard because they're 'disreputable'. (My term.) But then there are always times when they forget to change and suddenly disreputables are out doing errands in public. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteOh that smile of Snowdrop in her little jumper. Darling!
Ed prides himself in looking grungy. It used to be that he'd at least buff himself up with clean everything, daily. Those were the first years together. Now -- let's just say he has fully relaxed!
DeleteOh goodie! We're going on a trip :)
ReplyDeleteI'll miss the garden and baby photos, but I have my own. And my own husband in his Tshirts that our sons wore in high school. They always joked that they were a fan of any free Tshirt, and now husband takes that to a new level with 20-year old free shirts.
And yeah, the garden clothes go right out the door to Lowe's without a thought. He's so darn cute.
And about cute!! Snowdrop really does look older. I guess it's because she's so lean and has not much pudge around her facial features. I see these differences even in preschool, when some of my kids look like tiny teenagers and some still have sweetie baby faces.
We enjoyed our Grand weekend. We loved the city excursions with all the family, and lots of home & garden time too. I had wondered if Cadence could go happily to sleep without her momma, who was at a Dave Matthews concert. But a bottle of mama's milk and two relaxed grandparents, and all was sweet, so sweet.
I'm looking forward to new places and people with you (and oh, the food!!)
When I planned this trip (sometime in the winter), I was feeling very unadventurous. You'll see what I mean. Only one country. Some repetition, too. But though I'm feeling more robust and ready, I'm glad I'm going easy on the destinations. My July and August trips will have some spice to them. This one aims for serenity.
DeleteA recent photo of Cadence would be awesome! Love to see and hear about her through your eyes/writings.
Nina,
ReplyDeleteHi!! My name is Greg Hall - House Manager at Three Glens House.
Could you drop me a line at gregh3glens@gmail.com regards your upcoming visit next week.
No problems just want to touch base and ask a couple of questions.
Cheers
Greg Hall
Guess what my yoga teacher mentioned today... they designed built a Labyrinth in their garden (made of plants and rocks, I gather) and their four year old daughter loves going through it! I can easily picture S dragging you out to walk a Labyrinth with her.
ReplyDelete