Sunday

Well, tomorrow's snow storm is forecast now to be a rain storm. Still, the temperatures are plunging thereafter and so I think you could say that this is the last of the milder days of this season. [I am always puzzled as to what we should call these early December weeks. Fall? Absolutely not! We've suffered through snows and Arctic blasts already. There is nothing Fallish about early December! Winter? That inevitably leads to the correction: not before December 21st! So, I stay with the generic "this season," allowing the weather gods to surprise us with their tempests and tantrums.]

Ed and I do go out and play a short round of disc golf.

It's not the same as those barefoot-in-the-grass games we had just a month or two ago, but it is a gentle way to spend time playing outdoors.


And in the evening, the young family comes here for dinner. As I work on the meal, I glance out the kitchen window. Toward dusk, all the animals are out on this pleasant December day. Stop Sign naps on her perch, but the kittens, the shed cats, and the cheepers are all playing or scratching within a few feet of each other.






It's so good to see everyone getting along! This is not a given: we've had feisty chickens. We've had hissing cats (indeed, in her younger years, Stop Sign would be quite the mean girl). We've had evil roosters. Right now, there is none of that. They all get along.



Hey, the gang is here!


 








Dinner -- pasta with shrimp and squid in a tomato sauce, a favorite of both kids and grownups -- is always a lovely way to end the weekend. Here we are, hanging on to the last bits of free time, family time.






Breathe in, smile, exhale. Hug. The kids have been really into giving each other hugs. It's such a noble impulse. We'd do well to imitate it. Constantly.