Friday - 112th

 A full day. A hot, steamy, sweaty full full day.

I know, I know, we are all having unusually full days. Except those who feel emptied out and left dangling. So, let's just say we're all having unusual days.

I'm up super early. Ed's up super early. With eyes half closed, he tells me, at 6 am, that he has to fix a board up on the porch roof. I don't know why he finds this to be the right time for it: maybe he wants to avoid the heat. Maybe he was dreaming of roofs. In any case, he climbs out the upstairs window as I go feed the animals.

(on the way back from the barn and sheep shed, I throw a glance out on the Big Bed...)






Here's another day lily! There will come a time (very soon) when there will be hundreds of them. Right now, I rejoice whenever a new one bursts open.






Hi, Ed.





I turn my attention to grocery delivery. If we are in isolation a year from now (making it the 477th day of isolation), I'll know not to order produce the day before the 4th of July, especially if it's something people might want for their red white and blue celebration (corn, strawberries, etc...). It's either not available, or way past the sell-by date.

Breakfast. Under the porch roof, which is now fixed.


 








The day is a little different in that Snowdrop has a school Zoom meeting early in the morning, after which I am to bring her here (by herself) for the better part of the day. There are a number of good reasons for this new Friday plan. For one thing, it gives us a chance to do some stuff that's tough to accomplish when I'm chasing her sweet two year old brother.

(on arrival, she finds a lavender sprig..)





I start off by suggesting an art project. I am not a clever craft person, but her school sent some ideas of things you might paint and make with your kids at home and I'm happy to give those a spin.

There is a very clever way of making puppets on sticks -- I tell her.
She listens to my outline of the steps. Nope, she has a better idea. She wants to do an art project with the dolls (she has two that are, according to her, school aged).
Making puppets?
No. We'll do inspire-ist art.
Inspire-ist art? Where did you get it from?
Up in my brain. Here's what we do...






At lunch time, she asks me to eat with her. Typically I don't eat lunch with the kids. They are hungry far too early and, too, our lunch menu choices often don't overlap.

But today, I join her.




She looks at my jar of strawberry rhubarb jam.
Can I try some?
Of course.
I give her a spoonful, then another. It is the best thing that I have ever eaten!  Snowdrop has a lot of enthusiasm for foods in her.


Ed has been itching to make some ice cream "the old fashioned way." Put ingredients in a jar, shake vigorously, freeze. We do that this afternoon.






(she's timing him on his jar shaking)





I can't imagine it will be as wonderful as the stuff we sometimes make in the ice cream machine, but the process of doing it this way is definitely fun for a five year old.

And now we are back to art and Snowdrop does start sketching a new book, but then decides it's more fun to help me with my own drawing...





And now it's nearly evening. Time to go home. And still, I feel we should take one more walk out toward the farmette meadows, because it is summer and these walks are so calming and restorative. Ed comes with us. He's eager to show Snowdrop where the damsel flies (what us normal folk would simply call dragon flies) hang out. 






And to lead her to the few places where she can find some raspberries...










And now it is time for me to take her home.

(Driving past the front bed, I notice the first nasturtium are opening up...)






Evening. Ed thinks we should finish harvesting the cherries. It's hot, but he perseveres...






I return to the farmhouse to water the pots. Oh, you may wonder what the tall green shoots are toward the front right. It's garlic, growing randomly in the courtyard. We think it may have seeded from the compost pile. Lots and lots of garlic. Nature can play funny tricks on you.





A hot day, a warm eve. A holiday weekend for many. We're hearing the bang kaboom as we speak. Happy fourth. Healthy fourth. Fire up a grill and burn the stuffing out of some meats and veggies!

With love.