several calls later...

When it is a supremely cold day and you can't imagine an enjoyable walk, let alone a bout of ice skating, you turn toward your inside world and you reach for the phone. Well, in my case, for Skype and Zoom. I have a bunch of oversees calls to make and today seems perfect for this.

Ed claims I exaggerate the chill in the air, but I tell no lies! A high of 11F (-12C) is by definition nippy. Nonetheless, the sun is out and the farmette lands look dazzling, even though there are too many bare patches for my taste.

Breakfast, with an Ed who now has short hair and no beard.

We do some armchair gardening then. This is tricky. Ed likes to research every step we take while I settle easily for things that "sound like they might work." I'm charged with figuring out how to put in a large crop of lavender, he assists with selecting more trees for our Great Tree Planting Project out back. Guess who gets done first? And guess who then offers suggestions and revisions that completely upend my entire planting idea?

 

By late afternoon, I have had it with couch sitting and spinning in circles over trees and lavender cuttings.  I drive out to do an outside visit with the grandkids. Sparrow was back in school today but Snowdrop unfortunately has to suffer the disappointment of staying home and not going anywhere at all. I reassure her that even if she could go skating today, she would not want to go skating today. Way too cold. She disagrees.

I'm prepared for the frigid temps. I come with quilt!

 

(Sandpiper comes out to say hi... He cannot get used to my mask!)

My toes freeze, but the older kids and I put in a good forty minutes of play. Snowbirds and rabbits. Footprint makers.

And so ends another day of this rather choppy week. I'm still smiling, still enjoying the winter world, but honestly, I'll be happier when we finally return to greater predictability with our routines back in place. So far, every day of 2022 has offered surprises of the kind where you have to adjust your thinking and your daily life to feed the needs of the moment. Never before have I felt so much that being flexible and resilient serves you well in life. We adapt. So long as everyone is well or getting better -- we are happy.

With love...