... and if we are ever to do any more work outside, it should be today, because really, it's going to climb, climb to the upper 40sF (maybe 9 or even 10C) and we'll never see such warmth again, or at least not until spring, so today we have to do everything, everything! Mow lawn, trim off garden, pick up a million lotus seed pods, all of it! This morning!
(This over breakfast...)
And I am in part correct. Today, it is at least a dozen degrees warmer than any day last week. But the wind!
Still, we head out.
Cheepers follow.
And we work. We do nearly all of it.
We're set for winter.
And then I pick up Snowdrop.
Because it is very windy, I am reluctant to take her to the park by the lake. The gusts are always at least three times as forceful there.
No problem! She is delighted to swing in her school playground for a while...
And if she chooses the school playground, her buddy (who happens to leave at the same time) is sure to follow.
(In this photo, there is this joke between them about cats rubbing chins... I suppose you had to be 2 or 3 years old to appreciate the hilarity of it.)
When her pal leaves, she settles into baking birthday cakes in the sand play area. Here, she is waiting for one to be ready.
I think she'd be there still, baking cakes, waiting, baking the next one and the one after had I not prodded her to call it quits.
We pull up to the farmette. Ed is raking debris in the courtyard. Oh, Snowdrop cannot say no to that! She herself doesn't like to use the rake, but she works the broom to the max!
The two of them go at it...
... until I remind her that there's stuff to do inside.
For example, there is this wee little keyboard...
Predictably, she loves "playing" it.
And she especially loves positioning Ed by the xylophone and having me bring out the guitar. We are a band! A musically challenged band perhaps, but what we lack in skill, we make up with enthusiasm!
(Pause for putting her babies to sleep upstairs.)
And then we draw, color and scribble until her parents come to pick her up.
Tomorrow, the theme of foods takes over. If you have a very low interest in how people go nuts over preparing a meal (or two or three) for this coming Thursday, take an Ocean pause for three days because I assure you, food thoughts and ideas will dominate for now. It's inevitable.
(This over breakfast...)
And I am in part correct. Today, it is at least a dozen degrees warmer than any day last week. But the wind!
Still, we head out.
Cheepers follow.
And we work. We do nearly all of it.
We're set for winter.
And then I pick up Snowdrop.
Because it is very windy, I am reluctant to take her to the park by the lake. The gusts are always at least three times as forceful there.
No problem! She is delighted to swing in her school playground for a while...
And if she chooses the school playground, her buddy (who happens to leave at the same time) is sure to follow.
(In this photo, there is this joke between them about cats rubbing chins... I suppose you had to be 2 or 3 years old to appreciate the hilarity of it.)
When her pal leaves, she settles into baking birthday cakes in the sand play area. Here, she is waiting for one to be ready.
I think she'd be there still, baking cakes, waiting, baking the next one and the one after had I not prodded her to call it quits.
We pull up to the farmette. Ed is raking debris in the courtyard. Oh, Snowdrop cannot say no to that! She herself doesn't like to use the rake, but she works the broom to the max!
The two of them go at it...
... until I remind her that there's stuff to do inside.
For example, there is this wee little keyboard...
Predictably, she loves "playing" it.
And she especially loves positioning Ed by the xylophone and having me bring out the guitar. We are a band! A musically challenged band perhaps, but what we lack in skill, we make up with enthusiasm!
(Pause for putting her babies to sleep upstairs.)
And then we draw, color and scribble until her parents come to pick her up.
Tomorrow, the theme of foods takes over. If you have a very low interest in how people go nuts over preparing a meal (or two or three) for this coming Thursday, take an Ocean pause for three days because I assure you, food thoughts and ideas will dominate for now. It's inevitable.
