moving to normal

My calendar says it all: there is nothing unusual about the week before me. For the first time in months, I'm coasting on normal.

Oh, how I appreciate a touch of normal! It's not that chaos, travel, moves, weddings, new school, new home, new schedule are objectionable. (Storms and mosquitoes on the other hand are objectionable; and we're mostly done with those as well.) But when normal appears on the horizon again -- I feel grateful.

A regular ol' breakfast.





We talk about how we might treat a day that is sunny, breezy and mild. A walk maybe? Something outdoorsy! Work in the yard? Yes!

With so much talk of rain in the south and, too, with such a wet spring here, in Wisconsin, you may have a hard time wrapping your mind around the fact that right now, we need rain. But in fact, we do. We haven't had much in recent weeks and though the blooming period is nearly done, I think it's a mistake to totally neglect the water needs of your flowers now. The care you give them in autumn will be amply recognized and rewarded next spring.

And so I water a few of the flower fields, including the front bed.






I spend many many hours watering, clipping and trimming. And of course, I can only enjoy all of it now because the bug population is so diminished!


And now it's time to pick up Snowdrop.
Did she nap? -- I ask the teacher.
Well, she did not sleep...

Oh, Snowdrop, you, more than many kids your age, you need your sleep!

Well, no matter. We do our adventuring, delighting in the late summer flowers in the neighborhood. Not many two year olds can name flowers the way she does!
What's this one?
Goldenrod! -- she says proudly.











We're at the playground. A couple of kids are playing in the sand. Snowdrop watches.






... and then decides that sifting grains of gold is a great thing to do on this lovely September day!











Indeed, when we come back to the farmette and I offer her time in the sandbox, she dives right in!






But it's not all grand. The bugs that were dispersed and diminished in the morning seem to make a fleeting appearance now, in the late afternoon. And so I urge her to call it a day and come inside.

First though, she needs to be de-sanded.

The Montessori School approach to life is to allow the child to do things on her own. To give her age appropriate tools and then to let her fly.

I give Snowdrop an age appropriate hose spray and I let her fly...






The day is calm, bright, beautiful. Normal. Wonderful.