I did not want to be frustrated. Now today! It's a warm and beautiful day and I have plenty of time to get some things on the ground at the farmette. I have little reason to feel impatient. I love the tranquility that accompanies gardening. Today is all about tranquility! Exasperation -- I do not need you or want you in this day!
And yet I am being taunted. Ed, who has so little time right now (work, inventions, and the taxes that are causing him to fume as only an American could fume on this is tax weekend) -- so little time! -- offers nonetheless to help me a little in the yard this afternoon.
I'm grateful.
Until I learn that actually, the furnace is malfunctioning again and any free time has to be spent on trying to understand what the hell is happening with that huge monster of a machine downstairs.
Frustrating.
But, but, how can you fume when the flowers are exploding everywhere??
Well, just look at that face of a person who has to fix a furnace and do his taxes!
I leave him to his misery and go over to Snowdrop's. Today is the first day of our outdoor farmer's market! Snowdrop, her mom and I set out for the walk downtown. It's warm, breezy and lovely! (Our walk is in large part along the lake.)
Once there, we start our market with the usual pause for a bakery treat at L'Etoile/Graze. I have a special regard for this place as it is where I worked for several years, preparing just such baked goods for market customers. I have to say, I think back then (it was some ten years ago), we had better control over how many baked goods we prepared and how many sales clerks were needed to move things along. Today, the wait is long and baked goods begin disappearing halfway into the market morning.
Frustrating.
Snowdrop and I take a stroll while her mommy waits in line. I had to smile at how befuddled the little girl is, what with the wind, the lack of long sleeves -- a whole new way of facing the world!
Snowdrop's daddy shows up for a little while and the little girl is happy to see him, but, too, she is lost in her croissant situation and so I am not going to be able to give you a photo without that piece of bakery plastered to her face.
Still, well into our walk around the Square where the market is held each week (and my oh my, is it a crowded square, as I swear, half of Chicago comes up for our weekly event), my frustrations fade. There's just something grand about having this warm day show up in mid April! I mean, it's just too beautiful!
But at the farmette, my replacement piece of technology comes in the mail and I am again set spinning as once more I cannot get the new device to interact with my iPhone. Finally, I call someone in some very distant country who is probably paid pennies for attending to customer calls and in the course of talking to him, I figure out what it is that I am doing incorrectly (yes, it's my fault, though honestly, the manufacturer should have seen this one coming!) and now I am set straight yet another frustration melts away.
I work all afternoon in the yard and it is just one beautiful period of planting for me. Yes, there are always tricky points and challenging situations, but I'm used to maneuvering among these. The afternoon is calm. And more importantly, all the annuals I purchased the other day are planted in the thirteen tubs I have waiting for them.
In the evening, Snowdrop comes over for pizza and a sleepover. I know: I am without imagination. Each time she is here for a sleepover, we bake and eat pizza. What can I say -- she likes it, I like it.
But without doubt, her favorite part is when we go outside after the meal. It's dusk. The birds are explosive in their evening music. Nothing needs to be done, no dirt needs to be upturned. It's just us and those birds and the newly planted flowers...
And bubbles, because Snowdrop insists on bubbles.
These evening walks up and down the farmette land on warm spring or summer evenings have value that cannot be easily described. Tonight, the sky is dramatic and beautiful. The air is scented and warm. The daffodils -- well, a month ago, I would not have believed that so much beauty is within our reach.
Perhaps you need life's trivial frustrations to get you thinking about the things that are running smoothly in your life. I get that: the punch before the bliss. Well, by nightfall I'm full of bliss. All that's missing is the full moon (four days ago) and a promise, an absolute promise of more of the same.
And yet I am being taunted. Ed, who has so little time right now (work, inventions, and the taxes that are causing him to fume as only an American could fume on this is tax weekend) -- so little time! -- offers nonetheless to help me a little in the yard this afternoon.
I'm grateful.
Until I learn that actually, the furnace is malfunctioning again and any free time has to be spent on trying to understand what the hell is happening with that huge monster of a machine downstairs.
Frustrating.
But, but, how can you fume when the flowers are exploding everywhere??
Well, just look at that face of a person who has to fix a furnace and do his taxes!
I leave him to his misery and go over to Snowdrop's. Today is the first day of our outdoor farmer's market! Snowdrop, her mom and I set out for the walk downtown. It's warm, breezy and lovely! (Our walk is in large part along the lake.)
Once there, we start our market with the usual pause for a bakery treat at L'Etoile/Graze. I have a special regard for this place as it is where I worked for several years, preparing just such baked goods for market customers. I have to say, I think back then (it was some ten years ago), we had better control over how many baked goods we prepared and how many sales clerks were needed to move things along. Today, the wait is long and baked goods begin disappearing halfway into the market morning.
Frustrating.
Snowdrop and I take a stroll while her mommy waits in line. I had to smile at how befuddled the little girl is, what with the wind, the lack of long sleeves -- a whole new way of facing the world!
Snowdrop's daddy shows up for a little while and the little girl is happy to see him, but, too, she is lost in her croissant situation and so I am not going to be able to give you a photo without that piece of bakery plastered to her face.
Still, well into our walk around the Square where the market is held each week (and my oh my, is it a crowded square, as I swear, half of Chicago comes up for our weekly event), my frustrations fade. There's just something grand about having this warm day show up in mid April! I mean, it's just too beautiful!
But at the farmette, my replacement piece of technology comes in the mail and I am again set spinning as once more I cannot get the new device to interact with my iPhone. Finally, I call someone in some very distant country who is probably paid pennies for attending to customer calls and in the course of talking to him, I figure out what it is that I am doing incorrectly (yes, it's my fault, though honestly, the manufacturer should have seen this one coming!) and now I am set straight yet another frustration melts away.
I work all afternoon in the yard and it is just one beautiful period of planting for me. Yes, there are always tricky points and challenging situations, but I'm used to maneuvering among these. The afternoon is calm. And more importantly, all the annuals I purchased the other day are planted in the thirteen tubs I have waiting for them.
In the evening, Snowdrop comes over for pizza and a sleepover. I know: I am without imagination. Each time she is here for a sleepover, we bake and eat pizza. What can I say -- she likes it, I like it.
But without doubt, her favorite part is when we go outside after the meal. It's dusk. The birds are explosive in their evening music. Nothing needs to be done, no dirt needs to be upturned. It's just us and those birds and the newly planted flowers...
And bubbles, because Snowdrop insists on bubbles.
These evening walks up and down the farmette land on warm spring or summer evenings have value that cannot be easily described. Tonight, the sky is dramatic and beautiful. The air is scented and warm. The daffodils -- well, a month ago, I would not have believed that so much beauty is within our reach.
Perhaps you need life's trivial frustrations to get you thinking about the things that are running smoothly in your life. I get that: the punch before the bliss. Well, by nightfall I'm full of bliss. All that's missing is the full moon (four days ago) and a promise, an absolute promise of more of the same.
