conversations

Crazy day! Cold, then colder (are you tired yet of my weather reports? Me too!), a dusting of powder, then cool sunshine -- all of it pushing away any thoughts of spring.

I go out to tend to the cheepers and notice that the girls have dug up one of my tulip beds.

I have no good words to say about them! You are so bad!
Then, to Ed: I can't believe we'll be letting loose three more wild girls into my flower beds soon!
You knew this about them. When did you think they would not dig up your beds?
In the middle of February, when I was only thinking of eggs and sweet colorful chicks.
You want to put them up on Craigslist?
Of course not! I just want them to behave!
They wont, you know that.
(Scowl.)

Breakfast in the sun room, with the three little chicks...


 


Except that the three babes are looking more and more like rebellious teens, knocking down everything in sight. Their water spills. I rush to clean it up.
(Scowl.)

Well, never mind.  We like 'em.

And the sun comes out.





And after grocery shopping, I stop by Sur La Table. I need a pitcher for the Sunday dinner table. There -- that one! Oh, hand made in Poland. How perfect is that!





Home again. In a rush, in a rush, in a rush, but oh! Here comes a trickle of Primrose photos from her parents. She is now more than a week old! Must admire -- yes, so adorable, smiling in some reflexive fashion when they play music -- so lovely!

Back to groceries and baby chicks who are now having a "mud bath" in the finer bits of wood shavings. Have to laugh at their antics! You just have to laugh!

And now Snowdrop comes for her afternoon at the farmhouse. Her mom is with her, as the two had to side step to the doctor's office for a check of the usual something or other that hits kids in their first years of school.





Her mom rests. Snowdrop and I fall into our usual: she tells stories. I interrupt them with absurd questions. She always has an answer!





The mice of Brambly Hedge and Suzie and Daffodil (her babies) are here for a breakfast celebration. Grandma, come sit right there and eat your cakes and macarons!
Yes, okay, but you know I like tea with my cakes.
Well, you can't have tea because there is none. And we can't get any because it's too cold. 
Why is it cold?
The cold air is coming through the open window.
Well then close the window.
No, we cannot close the window. It's broken.
We'll get ahah to fix it!
Grandma, you know ahah is at work. (Ed is in fact at the manufacturing firm.)
He'll be back soon! 
Actually he won't be back soon. He is enjoying his work friends and so he is not coming back for a long long long time. (Her mouth draws down in a perfect imitation of total grief.) So I'm sorry. You cannot have your tea. (She returns then to her story.)

Ed does eventually come home and Snowdrop is on him to "fix that broken (imaginary) window!"
He goes along: I need to scrape out the putty from the old window first.





Here's a knife ahah! Put your putty in the garbage here!
And I need to buy new putty and a new piece of glass.
Let's go to the store now!

And they're off!






Shopping for putty and glass.





And the wind blows, and the temps never cross the freezing point, and at least one tulip bed is a mess, and the flower beds are begging for more chips and more care, but it all has to wait until tomorrow or maybe next week or the week after. But our world inside is warm and snug and we laugh and laugh at Snowdrop's antics and toward the end of the day she'll ask -- have I worn you out yet?

Crazy cold spring!