Monday

Oh, we do get spoiled! Beautiful days, one after the next -- how can you not love them? Bright skies, delicious breezes, blooms in the garden.






Normally we would be out fixing stuff on the farmette lands (there is always something to fix, dig, improve), but Ed avoids working outdoors when the grading equipment on the lands being developed all around us is making its racket. And I have errands to do. I take out Rosie the moped for this -- she and I haven't been out for many spins this year. Madison passed an ordinance prohibiting the parking of mopeds on sidewalks and so the old girl's usefulness has been diminished. But on a day like this, a ride feels energizing! After breakfast, of course.






(I have many peony bushes in bloom right now. A few snips brings those bushy pink heads to the table.)






(Looking out, the spring colors of the Big Bed are eye catching. The closer lily bed still has a month before it begins its show.)







(A moment with the cheepers. Hands down, Tomato, the shrimp of the lot, remains our cuddliest, friendliest chicken.)






And now it's time to pick up Snowdrop. She is in her last week of school. When we leave, she points to the place in the building that will house her summer "camp," and, too, her new Fall classroom.






Very quickly she launches into a story. It's a futuristic narrative.  And it goes on for a long, long while.






Distracted finally by a reading marathon at the farmhouse. And a dip in the wading pool.





But you can tell that she has not yet stopped spinning this tale in her head. She doesn't stay in the water long. She wants to play with the hose. She wants to play frisbees. She is all over the place!

Finally, she makes her way to the back of the farmette land, where she pronounces the chip pile to be her castle. She is (by her own pronouncement) the queen. I'm not sure what she knows about queens. The subject of royalty doesn't come up much here at the farmette.






(Preparing a feast for the royal table.)






The story gets complicated. Suddenly she is in need of a second castle. The search begins.






The flower bed seems satisfactory, but her little feet topple too many flowers. Still, for a few minutes, it is one beautiful castle.






Yes, that's the way this place seems to me too: one beautiful castle. Especially when the skies are blue, the peonies -- in full bloom and your grandkid is romping from one exquisite farmette corner to the next.