Thursday

Up most of the night, out of bed by 6, with no naps in the game plan for today. This is a recipe for a very tired day going forward. You have to ask -- why the heck do I do this to myself? The answer -- a shrug. It happens.

I had some appointments this morning and so breakfast was on the late side. I was glad that Ed joined me for it because the table looked unusually uplifting. I had ordered some bunches of daffodils from the grocery store but they ran out. The shopper chose a substitution -- a primrose for each missing daffodil bunch. I mean, don't they all shout spring at you? 

 

 

 

Ah, the primrose... the lovely, lovely little flower of Parisian parks and English woodlands! And Wisconsin kitchen tables. I've tried growing them, but the animals chomp at anything that pops out of the ground that early here in Wisconsin. 

And speaking of animals, I have a flash bulletin on RD Berry, the cat we took to the Humane Society just yesterday. We checked in on him today. We see that they cut off his clumped hair and checked him over and gave him a name (to their credit, they did not ask us if we had named him). There he was, listed as Big Mac.

Big Mac?? 

There is nothing big or hamburger like about him! Still, his personality wowed them and wowed new owners. We were told they are very excited about bringing him home. And so RD Berry, aka Big Mac, is adopted.

This makes us so happy! May it be a forever home for this gentle little feline. 

In the afternoon, I pick Snowdrop up at school. I listen to her stories of recess play. She and her friend are working on a language that trees would understand. It's silent and takes place in the quiet of the head. I have to smile at this account: are they just playing? She would say no. They're very serious about it. Well now, don't I sometimes murmur a humble gratitude to the trees in the forests we walk or ski through? Why do it if the trees do not understand my words? Maybe speaking to a forest is a method of simply acknowledging our connection to the trees within. And what lover of the natural world would not want to do that?

On the way home she tells me she wants to be an environmental lawyer. (This after I cursed -- in a family friendly manner -- a truck that spewed a dark cloud of smoke from its exhaust.) And here I do smile. It's been a quick jaunt from dancer to chemist to veterinarian to environmental lawyer. It's wonderful to see kids excited about their futures.

Including this guy:

He graduated to munching on bread sticks before supper. Soon it will be olives and roasted beets and stinky cheeses. 

Kids grow up. They're good at that. And we just sit on the sideline, wondering what just happened...

 

With love...