Anyone who has to spend time outside today is likely to feel grumpy about it. I know I did when Ed and I went out later in the day to put six sticks and a sapling into the ground at the edge of the tomato field. These were the remaining trees we had purchased. Paltry little things not more than a pencil in length and with very underdeveloped root systems. I doubt they'll thrive anywhere, but we decided to plant them close together, to be used as replacements (should they in fact come to life) for trees we are sure to lose in our new forest. Ed dug, I planted, and I didn't even try not to complain about how cold it was. At 45F (7C), I thought I was entitled to my grievances.
That was at around the noon hour. Earlier, I did my usual morning chore walk, and I paused to look at some of the flowers, and I even smiled a little, but that's because it wasn't raining yet and the coldness of the morning hadn't yet sunk in. My bones were still warmed by May's sunnier days.
But of course, breakfast had to be in the kitchen. I even considered lighting a candle to dispel the grayness creeping in from outside.
Right after breakfast I went to the young family's house to hang out with Sandpiper. Snowdrop is at school, so it's just the two boys at home...
Sandpiper is two days old, but he is big for his age and so he fills out nicely his baby clothes. But, he is a newborn and his method of coping with the demands of the world right now is to sleep.
Which he does. Abundantly.
And I have another chance to pop in on the little guy: I'm the one picking up Snowdrop at school (she runs to the car, both with new brother excitement and to avoid the rain and the cold)...
I drive her straight home, where of course, she reconnects with her little brother.
Snowdrop, at six, sees only the added love in this enlarged family. She has been through a baby addition. She gets the changes that come with it. Sparrow -- well, he's got that unsettled feeling of having a disturbance in the house, where suddenly, the people he is closest to in the entire world are focusing their attention on a smaller version of himself, only not himself at all. It's almost as if there is a pout in his words.
Still, it's been a smooth few days for the young family. I drive home, stopping to pick up my second CSA box of veggies...
... and breathe a big sigh of relief. Rain, cold, whatever. I stretch out on the couch, Ed covers me with a quilt and I fall asleep.
A nap never felt so good!
Evening already? A FaceTime call! Hi Primrose!
Is it raining in Chicago? Is it cold? Are you sleepy? What a day, huh? Sort of like November in May. But with many happy twists along the way.
