Tuesday

It has been a while since I grabbed my camera on my morning walk to let the cheepers out of the coop. Today the colors from the rising sun were so autumnal and warm that I thought it worthwhile to get a photo or two.

(Sunrise, as viewed through the hydrangeas.)






(All dressed in gold.)






(Toward the sheep shed.)






(Early morning sun.)






These days, a sunrise is nearly identical to a get up and get going hour. Still, our morning is relaxed. Breakfast is late.






I do some random writing on the computer and then I am off to pick up Snowdrop. It's definitely walking weather and I have a stroller ready for her. She appreciates that, but says the equivalent of a "no thank you" when I offer to place her in it. Instead, we push it together, eliciting smiles from passersby.






I have a hankering for a second cup of coffee and indeed, I'd made myself a second cup of coffee at the farmhouse -- and poured it into my travel mug and then left it on the counter. So I suggest to Snowdrop a walk to the coffee shop and the little girl happily agrees. Oh, the joy of having house, school and coffee shop all within a few minutes' stroll!






At home, she is somewhere between wanting to climb everything in sight and wanting desperately to nap. I nudge her toward the latter.






She wakes up spirited and  ready to take on the world.






These days, more often than not, I bring Snowdrop to the farmhouse after her morning in school. It's always a surprise, therefore, to watch her at her own home -- she will have developed a new love, a new interest, even in the short while we've been away from playing there.

Today she affirms what the teachers at her school have already noted in her: a love of dressing up. She has a few toy "jewels" and she'll spend a long while figuring out how to put them on and how to close the clasps or slip on a bracelet.





And she just loves to sport a hat. What does it mean to a child who is not even two to pretend? To dress up? Sure, her mommy will wear a necklace, but the hat play is quite outside Snowdrop's everyday experience. Are you born to love imagining yourself to be someone older? Fancier? Is she our next milliner extraordinaire?





Her mommy and daddy come home just a few minutes earlier than usual and so I propose to go out with my daughter for an evening aperitif. It's been a tough work week for her thus far and it promises to be a tough month going forward.

But first, mom and daughter take a minute to snuggle...






A quick drink then with me...






... and a return home -- daughter to her family, me to the farmhouse. Today, we each turned on the furnace. It's getting to be chilly out there now. Fall weather. And that's a good thing.