Today was much like yesterday, only colder and the walk was better.
I'm not talking about the morning famette walk -- that early lap around the backfields of this property, to the rear of the barn and home again.
True, I love these first minutes of outdoor time. I get a feel for the weather, I can smell the dry crustiness or the damp slushiness of the earth. The day is fresh and young and I'm ready for it. But I get how this isn't particularly exciting to you: oh, another sprint around the familiar. Yawn.
And it's nearly always followed by again a very familiar breakfast. Today, in the sun room, even though there is no sun.
But these steady and stable routines are not what turned the day into a more adventurous and pretty one for us. As I said, the walk, the big walk, the hike was (in stark contrast to yesterday's stroll) glorious.
Once again, we really hesitated about going out. The temperature never passed the freezing point. For the last day of November, that's not totally strange, but it is on the colder side of cold. Still, a morning of shopping (online once more) needs an afternoon of rejuvenation. I call Bruce Company -- a place that always has abundant Christmas trees, all freshly cut in Wisconsin -- and purchase a small tree for curbside pickup. And I suggest to Ed that as long as we're driving 15 minutes to Bruce's, mightn't we drive another 15 and hit the trails at Indian Lake County Park?
It's a beautiful park with nearly perfect trails, but the drive to get to it, plus its weekend popularity push it off our usual list of favorites. But on a cold Monday, late afternoon no less, it's nearly empty. And the clouds part just enough and the colors are sublime. Want to walk with us?
On the way home, we stop to pick up the tree. So pretty, if a bit unusual in shape! No decorations yet. I'm waiting for the little lights to arrive in a day or two. Still, it definitely feels grander doing life's chores and tasks with a tree in the corner, bringing that bit of the outdoor world straight into the farmhouse living space.
