four and a half

It's a hot day here, in Madison, Wisconsin. Toward the end of summer, one gets tired of these toasty days, strung together one after the next, like a never ending chain of heat and humidity, punctuated with storms that never really clear the air. But I'm not tired of them. I'm still smarting over the lateness of spring. Sunshine is my friend. My garden is begging for it!

(purple)






In the early morning, I work on pulling more weeds. It's getting to be a little buggy, but honestly, not even half as bad as most summers at this time.






(the annuals in pots: always strong, all summer long)






I also feed the cats. Since the kittens are less frightened, I see their little faces poking out curiously. Wait, how many little faces are there? Five??? Stop Sign delivered five this April??? We have got to fix these guys! I mean, currently we have seven cats, all related, hanging out in the garage. Ed!!






And I may as well say it: we should not be keeping goats here. It's all fine and well this year, maybe even next year. But five, ten years from now? Will I be able/happy to tend to them then? When I'm 76? Or 81?

The goats are once again off the table. The shed order is cancelled. I will write the goat owners that we are just too old to embark upon this venture now.

The garden is and will continue to be my farmette work. That's it. No more speculations about goats.


Breakfast.






Around noon, I go visit the young family. It's Snowdrop's half birthday and though normally we don't celebrate half birthdays with any of the kids or grandkids, I find it to be a good excuse to go over and say hi to the little ones.

First, Sparrow. Just one pic today. He's under the weather... can you tell?






... but Snowdrop has bounced back to her normal chipper self.






A crown...






(dimple still there at 4.5!)






A cake, with four and a half candles...






What could be better?!






At home again, I fill my hours with small stuff. Weeding. There'll be many days of it.

(Path to farmhouse, lookin' tidy!)






And indoor stuff:  I write reviews for all the AirBnBs. I count up all that I spend in travel. I attend to the details of my mother's stuff. And I exhale. April, May, June -- they were such terribly busy months. July is proving to be my month for one giant exhale.

Ed picks peas I'd planted some months back. Steamed, with a pat of butter -- perfect for a summer supper.

Evening. Stop Sign leads the little kittens to the water dish. They're curious. One climbs up to the picnic table, where Dance is sprawled out in the way you'd only want to do on a warm summer eve.