Sunday

You reach a point where you just give up on your couch. The slipcovers shift within two minutes of sitting down, the cushions are mincemeat. It's deformed, distressed and dysfunctional.

I reached that point unfortunately in the early years of the life of the couch. Since then, it's been a daily struggle to keep it looking like you'd actually want to sit on it. As I cleaned the farmhouse this morning, I kept thinking -- the seating arrangement here has to change.

But first, the kittens.

Are you here to feed me at last?





We hope we're doing well by them. Questions remain, but for now, we bring out little bowls of food. We watch them eat, we watch them relax afterwards.






We return to the farmhouse to eat a late and very sunny breakfast...





I make my case for a new couch.

I'll sell this one on Craigslist!
You know no one will buy it...
That tells you something!
It's a terrible idea.
No it's not.
How about if we got a used couch off of craigslist?
No! Never!


We pause to play disc golf.

It's mid afternoon and still, we look up and see the cranes.






They land in groups, they rifle through the corn fields, we watch, always mesmerized, in awe...





Refreshed, we return to the farmhouse. I start in on Sunday dinner. Ed browses Craigslist for used couches.

Here's a fine one. Leather. Like new.
Leather?? You would sit on a leather couch? Unbelievable.
As between buying something new and making do with someone's used leather couch, I'd choose the latter.

Living with Ed has taught me not to be rigid. We spend the rest of the evening looking on Craigslist.

Interrupted by dinner with the young family.

It's been years since I've seen the little one! Years!! (Or so it seems...)







She is happy, chatty, delightfully impish...






And we are happy, chatty, perhaps just a little impish as well...





After dinner, the young family returns home and we settle in for a quiet evening at the farmhouse. Now is not the time to fuss about used couches out there. Now's the time to sit back and exhale and smile at all the good moments that this past week has given us.