paying the price

First, an apology: I have read and loved your comments. I have formulated (in my head) responses to all of them, but they never made it to Ocean pages.

Basically, I have not kept up with life.

Oh, I do the essentials: I cook fresh and honest meals, I spend time with Ed, I take care of my grandgirl. The farmhouse is in good form and the garden is thriving.

But I have not taken care of small details and I am sorry for it. Do know that every message from you is part of this text, my life, my pleasure.

There is a reason why I start with this apology: today is the worst of the worst: an acute example of taking on too much and huffing and puffing my way through the day, because, well, I didn't think things through...

I did think about breakfast and it was lovely.






But the rest of the morning and, too, the late afternoon were lost to my rushing through garden work. We're getting a burst of cold wet air tomorrow and so I need to finish planting, transplanting and replanting flowers today! So many bulbs remain! Too, there are the fragile pots to bring in, others to move -- oh, don't get me started. I have a lot on my plate.

It didn't have to be this way. Had I fewer bulbs, smaller ambitions, lighter aspirations, I'd be fine. Instead, I dig frantically and, too, I scold the cheepers for scratching up bulbs I had already put in. Girls! Behave!!


By the afternoon, I am mostly done. I breathe a sigh of relief and tell myself I will never get into this kind of a time crunch again. (Knowing damn well that I am very likely to get into this kind of a time crunch again.)


I pick up a rested and jubilant Snowdrop.







Because this truly is the last warm-ish day of the year, we spend a long long time on the playground.

Oh, I'll miss these hours of unstructured outdoor play, where she is driven by her imagination, nothing more.






Toward evening, we are back at the farmhouse. She finds our frisbees and we toss them around a bit.






I tell her, too, that she can pick any flower she wants.






Within a day, we'll have frost and the annuals will disappear for the year.





It's been such a beautiful fall. And yes, I'm quite fine with the coming of winter.  I've done my planting for spring, so I know what awaits us come April. In the meantime, as always, I'm hoping for a snowy cold season!