Wednesday - 285th

Crazy winds, weirdly warm temperatures, snowstorms raging just a short drive to the north and west, clouds, sunshine, clouds, and within hours -- a precipitous drop to bitter cold weather. There, have I set the stage for this day?

Morning walk, with traces of snow still evident.

Breakfast flowers.

The kids are as bouncy and all over the place as the stuff going on outside. 

First thing on the agenda: rehearse for a family Christmas Show.

Except that Sparrow does not see himself as a dancing, prancing reindeer. Nope, cannot be coaxed!

They want to do art, but Snowdrop tries five times to get a picture right and fails each time. 

 

 

 

I begin my talk about not cutting down too many trees. About art being a process, not marked always by success. She walks away dejected. "I"m a perfectionist! I guess it's a good thing I don't want to be an artist when I grow up. [Lately she has been saying she wants to be a scientist. A chemist, to be precise.] In science, it's good to be a perfectionist."  She cheers up.

Then she goes through a period of not feeling up to snuff. A bug? What? I cannot say. (I can only say that it cannot be Covid, since the young family has gone nowhere and seen no one since mid-November. Nonetheless, she is checked. We live in weird times.)

Meanwhile, Sparrow helps pile on the cheese on the pizza. Gogs believes in a lot of cheese.

 

 

Lunch and the appearance of sunshine revives Snowdrop, though at this point, I can't say that Sparrow is his usual chipper self. He claims he wants to take a nap. 

But, by the time we go out to walk toward the car, everyone is revived. At least for the next half hour.

After I return the kids to their home, I come back to an Ed in need of a walk. We haven't been out trekking for a couple of days now. Sure, the wind is fierce and the sun has set...

But we need the movement. And the restorative rest that comes from being outdoors. And watching the geese soar over a flaming sky.

And a forest bath.

Evening. A call from Primrose! All warmth and smiles as she eats her supper and I fix one for Ed and me.

 

And then? I cannot tell what will happen next. There's chaos outside as clouds roll in, the winds turn downright violent, the temperatures start their plummet. Shush! What a day! No surprise, I suppose. It's Festivus!