Thursday

I wake up to thoughts of Poland. The virus is surging there (same anti vax issues there as there are here) and predictably it reaches the kids and so now parents and grandparents have those added worries on their shoulders. I need to check in with a Zoom call to Warsaw even before breakfast. But after animal feeding! Those cats would be pawing at the kitchen door if I didn't get to them first thing in the morning! And the cheepers? Thoroughly discombobulated.

It's a beautiful day outside. Still nippy, but we're warming up! I'm going to concentrate on the good side of this, even though I know being grateful for warm November days is not exactly appropriate. November needs to cool down. Wisconsin needs to cool down. The northern hemisphere needs to cool down already!

Still, I so appreciate the beauty of this sunny day! 

 

 

There's a lot of family activity scheduled for this weekend and because we are all careful people, it will take place outside. It is incredibly fortuitous that there will not be rain and indeed, it will be as warm as we could expect on a good day in September. None of us will freeze our little fingers munching on treats and foods on my daughter's deck!

Breakfast, close to noon.

 

Ed asks if I'd like to tidy up stuff outside some more and I answer with a resounding no. Sure, I'll snip off some spent flowers here and there. The monardas have had a crazy expansive run this summer and it would be good to cut them back for the winter (they block the view toward the sheep shed), but I'm not in a hurry. For now, my mind is on cooking and baking. (This is not the same as actually doing some cooking and baking. In early November, I just think a lot about it.)

And eventually I pick up Snowdrop after school.

Me, I would want to cavort for a while in a pile of golden maple leaves at the front of the farmhouse. It's such a pretty sight -- all those yellows scattered thickly on what the kids called "the magic meadow!" But, this is not her choice. The tree. She wants to visit the tree...

... and then head straight for the farmhouse.

Of course, I should talk. Who spent the morning indoors, rather than cavorting anywhere at all? Who gave up on yard work and shrugged at the idea of a walk, choosing instead to read and write, on the couch? 

So too, Snowdrop plays indoors. Books, foods and toys. The three things that make the afternoon such a happy time for the little girl.

Evening. I take her home, where her mom gives her a hug for a super good report from the teacher (after a parent-teacher conference).

(Sparrow watches as she finishes up her homework.)

It's quite dark by the time I come home. Well, that's no surprise. By next week it will be dark by the time Ed and I sit down to breakfast. I exaggerate. But, we are in November's grip already, that's for sure. Short days. But exquisitely lovely ones. Weather-wise, November has always been at the top of my list of "difficult months." Not this year though. Certainly not this year.