Tuesday

Time to bake again. Apple cake, which is a rerun. (Snowdrop told me she loves everything about it but the apples. Well now, what is left, I ask you...)

The house smells of cinnamon and nutmeg. The sun is out. The path to the barn is even more squishy-muddy and the chickens are exercising their territorial rights by seeking out the farthest corners of farmette lands. We are, at heart, explorers all.

Ed and I are happy to take a walk, happy to feel the warmth of the day (50F or 10C, so not bad, don't you think?), happy to be on the hunt for any color changes in the landscape. 

(right now: a golden prairie against a corn blue sky)

It will be another month before we lose the browns out there, but it's always fun to see the first rebels -- the crocus stalks, the green tips of future daffodils.

In the afternoon I pick up Snowdrop.

(conversation with the youngest chickens)

We're pausing with the longer books for a while so that I can push before her suggestive books about far away places. It's good to learn about cities you've never been to, don't you think?

At home, the brothers:

Back at the farmhouse, supper is simple. Cheeper eggs, cauliflower. We have work to do: we plan a vacation, starting tomorrow, in the Ukraine. A week in Kharkiv, a week in Mykolaiv, finished off with time in Kyiv. Airbnb homes, beautifully presented, not too long ago waiting for guests. Booked now by us, with the hope that our "travels" there will help.

With love and hope...