Monday - 31st

The wind whipped up the farmette solidly last night. Sheets of rain changed to flakes of snow. Nothing significant. Still, it was a brutal weather event. The daffodils this morning were slumped.






April weather. Ever unpredictable, ever throwing extremes our way. But, too, often giving us a final good surprise. Cold and bleak turns blustery but sunny by late afternoon. Nothing I would want to stay out in. But pretty!






Not that there was much time today for outdoor work. After breakfast...






,,, the kids are dropped off at the farmhouse.  Snacks, books, play. In that order.






Lunch? Pancakes, again!






Sparrow, you're getting to be so big...






And right after their lunch...






... Snowdrop and Sparrow leave and I go into a post-Easter Zoom call with my friends in Poland.






I have a chance to view firsthand things they baked, eggs they decorated. ("Mazurek," a layer of shortbread covered with icing then decorated with dried fruits and nuts, is the quintessential Polish Easter dessert.) But mostly, we talk. For a long long time. The need for this doesn't go away just because the world shuts down all around you. It is a tad ironic that I talk to them more often now than in more normal times. Suddenly, they cannot visit each other, putting us all on equal footing. And so I am as much a part of their everyday as I would be were I living in Poland.

Afterwards, Ed and I (and the cheepers and the cats) walk over to our spinach bed.





No sprouts yet!

At the farmhouse again, I have another lovely set of minutes: with Primrose, over a cup of tea. With cream scones (for her).






And now it's evening. The wind is picking up again. So cold! But I'm okay with that. Our warm days will come. We are suspended right now, waiting on all fronts. May as well wait for warmer weather too.

I start work on my grocery list for the week. We'd like to have Mondays or Tuesdays  as our regular weekly order days. Last week a Monday order netted us a Sunday morning curbside pickup. We're hoping to do slightly better this time. Every few minutes I refresh the page, hoping something will open up at our grocery store. And lo! It does! But what's this?  It's for tonight, late at night! That's too soon, but we're not going to be fussy: nothing else may open up again. Click! We'll take it! But wait, we need to up the tip, it's way low. In doing this, we lose our spot. I repeat the process many times: refresh -- nothing. Refresh again - a late night spot! Change tip. I lose the spot. And again and again until finally it takes hold! I'll be washing groceries close to midnight today!

Eating leftovers from yesterday's meal, we remain grateful for all the food that comes our way through the heroic work of others. So very very grateful. Thank you.

With love.