records

Are you tired of hearing that a weather record was set? Okay, I'll zip over that fact really quickly: for November 10th, the record high for Madison, Wisconsin was 67F (19.5C), set in 2010. The average high for this date is 47F (8C). Today's high, this year, in this town? 72F (22C).

We could have eaten breakfast on the porch. Easily. It just would have felt so strange. So, we eat inside.

I have lots to do inside, but this is not the day for it. Out we go.

We work hard! Rip, clip, weed, mulch, compost. Ed even scrubs down the muddy porch posts. By tomorrow we'll be stuck in below freezing temps. The hose will be shut off for the season. The mower put away until there's something to mow again.

He asks me -- I taught you where to shut off the water, right? 

I answer -- yep, yellow nob in the basement by the old water heater.

We're in the basement now. Which one? 

That. I point to a yellow nob.

Oh boy. 

Good thing it didn't go below freezing while I was away. That one would have flooded the basement. It's this one! He point to an obscure nob that you cant even see and that I would have never in a million years located. 

I plant bulbs in pots to bring inside. I bought some without paying attention to the zone requirements. Lycoris radiata. In consulting with the nursery I decided it's a great experiment! If I succeed they will expand their marketing!

And now we are done. Porch cleared, flower fields winterized, chipped, mostly weeded. Bring on the cold, we are ready!

In the afternoon I pick up Snowdrop. A few more minutes of play in the warm air...

Wit the hose, with a spade, with a hairbrush, with mud...

... then we go inside. For our usual books and games. 

Toward evening, I drop her off at a Thursday activity and swing over to my daughter's for a few minutes of catch up time. 

And the day is not done! Later, Ed and I head out to his friend's -- the sailing guy who had done this trip with him (only it was longer, further and way more congenial) three years ago. Time to sit back over dinner and wine and review all the small bits and pieces of this year's boat adventure. I have learned that sailing people can never have enough of a detailed recount. I'm fine with that. It's as close as I ever want to get to an ocean boat trip. (I should say that I have in fact sailed across the Atlantic. A handful of times. Though in a slightly larger boat. You can read about it in Like a Swallow!)

Night time. I have the feeling of deep contentment that comes from a finished outdoor job and a readiness for what's ahead. With love.