Thursday

And the storms raged all night long. We are having a very wet summer, after an extremely wet spring (indeed, the first half of 2017 was the second wettest in Wisconsin's history).

But today at the farmette, we wake up to sunshine. True, the world out there is a buggy one right now (perhaps the second buggiest in Wisconsin's history?), but it's a lovely world. And so once again, I'm out with my bucket, snipping spent lilies.






I do the "medium-well" trim -- it takes me an hour and no, I'll never get used to the buzz of the bugs, but I've grown to expect it and I push forward despite their annoying presence.






They won't win this battle. The garden is too precious, too lovely, too important. (As is knowing that I have the patience and strength to work through the obstacles thrown my way.)






Done!






A late but satisfying breakfast...






It is a muggy and sunny day. You may not think that mid 80sF (about 30C) is especially uncomfortable, but the humidity takes away the delight. On days like this, air conditioning is a blessing.

And so I am dismayed that when I pick up Snowdrop to see her vehement about keeping on her sweater.

I tell her that she needs to make decisions that are brave and good for her health and well being -- because of course, a two year old is going to understand what the hell I'm talking about. But she can tell the quiet in my voice. And I can see the disappointment in her face. A sort of "I thought you'd understand, gaga..." look that makes me feel like I have let her down.





I'm truly sorry, Snowdrop. I do know that when mommy and daddy are not there, a sweater fills the small piece of longing in your heart.

Well, we both bounce back quickly enough! She revives at the coffee shop!





And she is delighted that the pool once more is in the offering.






She is especially playful today. Perhaps you can tell from the selfie (there's a challenge: working a camera for a selfie in a crowded pool!).





In one of her quick walks around the perimeter of the pool, Snowdrop stubs her toe -- enough that a shark would lick his chops at the sight of her foot.

I take her to the first aid station and they hand over the needed bandaid.
Is this the most crowded you've seen it here, at the pool? I ask.
It's pretty crazy!
I suppose it's worse on the weekends...
Oh no, not at all. Weekends are calm. Mostly families. It's the weekday school buses that give us these crowds. We have a capacity of 1000. We hit it several times this year.

Still, this community pool is magnificent -- for us, for the kids that are brought here from other neighborhoods and school programs. As I watch them play, I notice that every single one appears so very happy to be there.


It's time for us to retreat to the farmhouse. Ah, I see that we have a new favorite routine going...





I think Snowdrop will ace the driver's test. She already asks about every switch, every knob, every device on the panel.

She is a girl that moves seamlessly between disparate worlds: one minute she is the driver of the great big car, the next, she's serving tea to the great big man in the farmhouse.






Me, I shamelessly use the little girl to get at Ed's overgrown beard.
Would you like to watch me cut ahah's beard?
Yes!
He never says no to her requests.






And now it's way past your nap time!
But I want to take my bike outside and ride it...
No, Snowdrop! Rest!






In the evening, I am at the local farmers market admiring (and purchasing) heirloom tomatoes.





But I'm really looking for something else: is there corn yet?

We noticed when biking that the climate this year has been kind to the corn crop. And -- this is so amazing and wonderful! -- we live just five minutes away from one of the best (in terms of taste) corn growers in our state (and therefore the country! ) So I want to know -- are we close???

I do not see their corn at the market yet. But the facebook page (Stoneman's corn -- a family run business that has been selling corn locally for more than 50 years) tells me this weekend begins their (short but beautiful) selling season!

Such are the treasures of farmette life. As we listen to news stories about self driving cars (we're interested!), we think that maybe, just maybe, we can age at the farmette and not be bothered by the (short!) distance that separates us from the city.