Tuesday - 81st

The days are going to be full. For Ocean, I predict fewer words, more editing oversights, and perhaps less focused writing. Judging just by this day, there wont be the time for more thoughtful blogging. But hey, short texts have their virtues! Instead of reading many paragraphs, you look at the photos and take in the entirety. Never mind detail. Focus on the mood instead.


(Irises by the driveway...)






So, take this second day of June. It's hot. A high of 90F (32C). Is it a sign of what lies ahead for us this summer? The morning is also chaotic. Animals are hard to herd. One kittie is missing, Chickens spend a good part of the day underneath Ed's car. One cat finds joy in playing with a dead squirrel, another deposits a mouse on our pathway.

Ed and I eat breakfast on the porch...






I'm waiting for a grocery delivery. It's late because some of the city's streets are closed off by protests. Understandable, but I am supposed to be at my daughter's for morning childcare. When the food does come, I do the fastest possible cleaning job before heading out to her place.

Kids. First just the two of them.






(I spend a lot of time trying to keep neat what they so artfully take apart.)











And then I return to the farmhouse, finish the grocery scrub, take a deep breath and drive back to the young family's home. And now the younger family has arrived from Chicago. I enter a scene of utter excitement and joy.






Finally, not on FaceTime anymore.






The younger couple that I've missed so so much!






This morning, there were two (kids). Now they are three.






We eat dinner there (my son-in-law cranks up his pasta machine) ...


 


(summer weather popsicle)






... as this will be home base for both families. It's not vacation time yet and so I'll be busy keeping kids out of parental spaces in the next few days. But, for now, on this evening, work is far from anyone's mind. Swing high, feet up... I leave them like this.






I drive home, to my bursting gardens...


 



... and to the farmhouse, where Ed waits with popcorn in the popper. I tell him about the evening. He listens. Eyes half closed, I finish my post.

With love.