Tuesday, June 09, 2015

if it's Tuesday...

... then this time it must be a Snowdrop at the farmhouse day! It is something to look forward to! But first, I have to make up for lost garden time. Away goes the rooster (behind the fence) and out come the garden tools.

Well alright, breakfast comes first. With freshly picked peonies for the tables -- porch and kitchen. There are so many right now!


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Walking the gardens, I take in the June siberians too. Now accompanied by campanulas...


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Though after early morning rains, the irises look misty wet and grand, even without accompaniment.


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Work time. Weeding, deadheading. Encouraging new growth, new blooms. One goes out, another comes in -- like the jump rope rhyme from my childhood (tenement for rent, inquire within, when one jumps out, another jumps in!)

And as I move through the gardens, I always find something unexpected: a green frog that each year emerges right in the thick of the lilies, a cheeper burrowing behind the lupines, a self sow cosmos -- always there are the surprises!


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Then along comes Snowdrop.


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The inquisitive, cheerful, trusting Snowdrop.


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At the farmhouse, she looks for grandpa Ed and when she finds him, she works endlessly to cajole a smile. Yes, she succeeds. When he leaves, she stares at the couch where he once sat wondering why the bearded guy is no longer there.

Eventually, she tires of all the activities and I put her in her chair where she can keep an eye on things without too much effort. Mozart piano sonatas are playing on my computer and Snowdrop is at once interested...


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...and delighted!


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She rests, she eats, she sits, she stands and finally, we go for our long country walk. Here's her stroller face!


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What do we see as we walk past up the rural roads to our east and to our north? Here, follow along:


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A dog runs out from a neighbor's home barking energetically. The owner comes out to apologize. He's a border collie. Don't mind him! He'll chase you if you move. Maybe nip at the wheels of the buggy, or your heels.. It's what they do!

Sounds not too dissimilar to Oreo, the rooster.

We walk back to the farmette. It's been a very warm day -- upper eighties -- and I wonder if Snowdrop would like a trickle of a hose on her warm body.

She doesn't. Enough excitement for one day. We return to the cool farmhouse where all is calm, all is familiar and as it should be.


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How this little one loves the familiar! Even as she strains to master the unknown.