Sometimes, one has to do what has to be done. After breakfast, I clean the farmhouse while Ed attends to the loss in the family of a colleague. Such is life.
If you think that's a rough beginning to a Sunday, let me add to it: Ed had a flat tire on the coldest day of this season (yesterday) and my tire, too, is failing rapidly. And so another chunk of the morning has to be set aside to repairing these malfunctions.
It's very tempting to then settle into the quiet of the farmhouse and read books and sip tea for the rest of the day. But no. This wont do. Not when the Arctic blast has finally flown the coop and the air is pleasantly just below freezing!
We pack up Snowdrop's outdoor props -- the big girl sled and her (newly acquired for her birthday) toddler skis and head out to the light inclines of the golf disc park.
Well you might wonder how it is that I can test the toddler skis even as I've passed the toddler stage many decades ago. Well, I read that they can be worn from shoe size toddler 6 (Snowdrop is an 8) all the way to adult size 10 (I'm a 7). So we can share!
Actually, I just wanted to get a feel for the skis. What can she do with them? How might they be used?
And I find myself confirming very quickly that that these boards should stay within your backyard, preferably a level backyard, with no inclines to speak of.
Me, I dared take them to the hills, thinking surely that my wealth of skiing experience would allow me to stay upright.
Ha!
I fell good and hard.
Ed tries out the sled.
That worked well enough, despite the very gentle incline.
We go down together, just for the heck of it. Selfie!
And the winter sky looked lovely and the geese flew by and the sun tried hard to push through the silver clouds.
With great guffaws and no broken bones, we retreat back to the car (no flat tires! yeah!) and slowly head home.
The young family is here for dinner tonight and of course, Snowdrop rushes to see if I have put up her birthday gift -- the winter chalet from Playmobil. I have. She is delighted.
The girl is in great form, chomping away at pasta and big fat shrimp, smothered in porcini sauce.
And of course, there is the dessert: the birthday cake.
Tomorrow, for the first time in weeks, we're to climb all the way to the freezing point. How good is that!
If you think that's a rough beginning to a Sunday, let me add to it: Ed had a flat tire on the coldest day of this season (yesterday) and my tire, too, is failing rapidly. And so another chunk of the morning has to be set aside to repairing these malfunctions.
It's very tempting to then settle into the quiet of the farmhouse and read books and sip tea for the rest of the day. But no. This wont do. Not when the Arctic blast has finally flown the coop and the air is pleasantly just below freezing!
We pack up Snowdrop's outdoor props -- the big girl sled and her (newly acquired for her birthday) toddler skis and head out to the light inclines of the golf disc park.
Well you might wonder how it is that I can test the toddler skis even as I've passed the toddler stage many decades ago. Well, I read that they can be worn from shoe size toddler 6 (Snowdrop is an 8) all the way to adult size 10 (I'm a 7). So we can share!
Actually, I just wanted to get a feel for the skis. What can she do with them? How might they be used?
And I find myself confirming very quickly that that these boards should stay within your backyard, preferably a level backyard, with no inclines to speak of.
Me, I dared take them to the hills, thinking surely that my wealth of skiing experience would allow me to stay upright.
Ha!
I fell good and hard.
Ed tries out the sled.
That worked well enough, despite the very gentle incline.
We go down together, just for the heck of it. Selfie!
And the winter sky looked lovely and the geese flew by and the sun tried hard to push through the silver clouds.
With great guffaws and no broken bones, we retreat back to the car (no flat tires! yeah!) and slowly head home.
The young family is here for dinner tonight and of course, Snowdrop rushes to see if I have put up her birthday gift -- the winter chalet from Playmobil. I have. She is delighted.
The girl is in great form, chomping away at pasta and big fat shrimp, smothered in porcini sauce.
And of course, there is the dessert: the birthday cake.
Tomorrow, for the first time in weeks, we're to climb all the way to the freezing point. How good is that!
