Saturday

Well, it's cold enough to turn on the heat in the house and to eat indoors. In the sun room! Now there's a seasonal change if I ever saw one!







And after, I walk over with my daughter and Snowdrop to the Capitol Square farmers market. The little girl turns chatty (la la, bvvvv, ga, bvvv!)  and serious, all at once.






There is so much to take in! Every pause is an opportunity to admire something new. Chard, for example.






It's chilly, but the sun is out. I come home after to an Ed who is ready to do some farmete work -- after munching on the almond croissant from the market (bits of it were exceptionally popular with the two hens).






We work hard, all afternoon. Ed fixes my bike, his own motorcycle, carts chips. I dig up the oldest, messiest, most neglected strawberry bed -- the one that used to provide berries to chipmunks, birds and the woodchuck until it passed its fruit-bearing stage. A project like this is a feast for the cheepers and predictably, they follow me all afternoon long.






The rains, the warmer sunshine -- all this has been good for the garden of course, and the plants continue to throw out the occasional blooms. There are the colonies of gold and the emerging purple asters...






But, too, we're clearly not done yet with the roses and the lilies. They're rare now, but you can surely spot them!






I divide and move irises and plant more bulbs and it is a most perfect day for it. I think Wisconsin should hold the gold medal for its Fall weather and this year, we're surely off to a grand start.


In the early evening, Snowdrop comes to the farmhouse for a visit while her parents attend to various social obligations.

Yep, happy with that beard!






... and getting very bold in staying upright!






The week-end -- a concept not readily identifiable by the newly retired me prior to Snowdrop -- seems now very much a weekend. The schedule changes, the hours hold no predictable structure. And despite the digging, the work around the farmette, despite it all, that kind of shift in gears gives me a pause, so that I can start the work week -- not my work week of course! -- with a fresh hop and skip into Snowdrop's world.

But for now, I just enjoy the loosey goosey evening hours with the sweet little girl with berries on her pants, dangles on her shirt and outstretched arms for the world before her.