first day back

I wake up and look outside. It's a cloudy day and not unlike Warsaw temperature wise. Still, in the same way that people were grumbling about the later arrival of spring in Warsaw, I can tell (and grumble) that here too, at least as compared to the last March weeks of recent years, we're behind.

It's not that there aren't evidences of growth. But last year, I see on Ocean that we had lightly yellow heads on the daffodil stalks. Today -- well, we're still not at that stage. The stalks are up and out, but there aren't the flower buds yet. And our crocuses really should be exploding. In reality, just a handful are showing some color:






But there is no going back. We're on our way to spring. Right, cheepers?






Ed and I have a bit of a thrown together breakfast. Half sleepy, with a fridge that's rather empty (this is a good thing: I always tell Ed to eat his way through everything in my absence), and in a slight rush, as I want to finish tidying the place and get some shopping done before picking up Snowdrop.







The reunion with the little girl at her school is predictably wonderful. She, too, had been away (with her parents) and so everything old and familiar was suddenly fresh and new again. She couldn't wait to step out and look to see if the stroller was waiting for an "a'venture." It was.






It's still in the mid forties (about 7C)  and so I am not ambitious. She wants to go on a flower hunt and we do that, though the number of flowers we spot on our walk can be counted on the fingers of your hand.

But it's pretty in that pre-bloom kind of way, where there are promising buds sprouting everywhere. We walk to the park by the lake and I have to admire how serene and lovely the waters are today.






Snowdrop is nonstop chatter now and even as she swings, I hear her explanation of what she is seeing and what is happening in the world around her -- all this from the delightful and delicate viewpoint of a very young person.






I told her I had a surprise for her at the farmhouse and she is oh so keen to get to it...






I have finally acquiesced and picked up (across the ocean) a pretty stroller and a doll to go with it. Neither of my girls, to my recollection, cared for pushing a stroller around and their interest in dolls was marginal until the horrible (in my view) Barbie came along, but Snowdrop just loves to place everyone and everything in a stroller and she is beyond happy to be able to do it at the farmhouse as well.






Up and down, around and back again. With gusto!






Add to it a croissant -- bliss.






Then there is the sweet reunion with ahah...






I am not surprised to hear her ask him for a polka dance. It's wedged in her head that Ed is the polka guy and she waits with happy anticipation for the sound of the accordion.

And they dance.






And all is right with the world.






(Do you think she never made it to the tea set? Oh, but she did. And she was ever so happy to set a place for Rosie, the name she chose for her new doll.)






Evening. I cook up a favorite soup for Ed and me, and then I try to let go of the day. It can be hard -- not because the day had any drama, but because it was, in fact, quite normal. Different time zone, but normal.  Peaceful. Calm.