My first thoughts run, as always these days, to the weather: still cool, still crisp today, with that occasional blast of sunshine that makes it all okay.
I have a mountain of things to take care of, as I expect to be completely without free time starting tomorrow, all the way through Saturday. Snowdrop, my four and a half month old granddaughter, will be visiting me at the farmhouse during those days. It's a visit I've anticipated with huge excitement, though I know I've changed since the years when I parented babies her age. I'm older. I'm less likely to be spontaneous, less willing to take risks. I'm the grandma who has to plan in advance -- cooking a pot of chili that can stand in for dinner for many days if I absolutely cannot do something more clever when she is here. When my youngest girl was about Snowdrop's age, she was immensely clingy all evening long and I remember stirring spaghetti sauce with her slung on my hip, barely keeping herself upright. In retrospect, I'm glad she didn't wiggle out and make an uncomfortable landing in the spaghetti sauce. When she was old enough to be put in a walker (about five or six months), I stuck a bagel in her hand and said -- here, chew! I need to cook dinner! Indeed, I have a photo of her munching away on a corn on the cob at an age when I'm sure it wasn't altogether fine for her to be chomping on corn kernels. Of course, there were many more meals to cook then. My challenge this week is merely to come up with a handful.
It's only approaching 50F this morning -- too cool for a porch breakfast. We eat in the sun room.
The flower fields will be fine without my attention for a few days, nonetheless, I do some spot weeding and spot admiring!
A different columbine
...and I plant some more annuals in tubs -- stuff we picked up at a bargain yesterday. Done. Laundry -- done. Farmhouse tidy, garden in as good an order as I could possibly hope for. Oh, and let me show you how much I like that moment just before bloom, when the buds are all but open...
Alright. In the afternoon, I go to Snowdrop's home ...
Snowdrop and mommy
I pack up a few essential articles of clothing for her forthcoming farmhouse visit. And of course, she and I play...
... not a small amount...
And we go for a walk, though not too long -- it is so cool, that I stay away from the lake breezes. Neighborhood strolls are equally pleasant.
In the evening, Ed and I have a quiet spell alone, perhaps anticipating a somewhat more tumultuous set of days ahead. Am I up for playing the role of a round-the-clock grandma? Sure! Snowdrop will do just fine. She's resilient, plus she has that cheerful disposition that makes you smile and smile.
I have a mountain of things to take care of, as I expect to be completely without free time starting tomorrow, all the way through Saturday. Snowdrop, my four and a half month old granddaughter, will be visiting me at the farmhouse during those days. It's a visit I've anticipated with huge excitement, though I know I've changed since the years when I parented babies her age. I'm older. I'm less likely to be spontaneous, less willing to take risks. I'm the grandma who has to plan in advance -- cooking a pot of chili that can stand in for dinner for many days if I absolutely cannot do something more clever when she is here. When my youngest girl was about Snowdrop's age, she was immensely clingy all evening long and I remember stirring spaghetti sauce with her slung on my hip, barely keeping herself upright. In retrospect, I'm glad she didn't wiggle out and make an uncomfortable landing in the spaghetti sauce. When she was old enough to be put in a walker (about five or six months), I stuck a bagel in her hand and said -- here, chew! I need to cook dinner! Indeed, I have a photo of her munching away on a corn on the cob at an age when I'm sure it wasn't altogether fine for her to be chomping on corn kernels. Of course, there were many more meals to cook then. My challenge this week is merely to come up with a handful.
It's only approaching 50F this morning -- too cool for a porch breakfast. We eat in the sun room.
The flower fields will be fine without my attention for a few days, nonetheless, I do some spot weeding and spot admiring!
A different columbine
...and I plant some more annuals in tubs -- stuff we picked up at a bargain yesterday. Done. Laundry -- done. Farmhouse tidy, garden in as good an order as I could possibly hope for. Oh, and let me show you how much I like that moment just before bloom, when the buds are all but open...
Alright. In the afternoon, I go to Snowdrop's home ...
Snowdrop and mommy
I pack up a few essential articles of clothing for her forthcoming farmhouse visit. And of course, she and I play...
... not a small amount...
And we go for a walk, though not too long -- it is so cool, that I stay away from the lake breezes. Neighborhood strolls are equally pleasant.
In the evening, Ed and I have a quiet spell alone, perhaps anticipating a somewhat more tumultuous set of days ahead. Am I up for playing the role of a round-the-clock grandma? Sure! Snowdrop will do just fine. She's resilient, plus she has that cheerful disposition that makes you smile and smile.
