Ed's still resting, the temperatures are still too low for words, the cheepers are still those crazy hens who can't quite figure out the complicated business of great sunshine and horrible cold. In other words -- winter has us in its grip here, at the farmette.
* * *
I take a pause this morning for reflection. An old blogger friend (whom very ancient Ocean readers may remember from the early days of blogging -- she wrote Crow Cottage way back when) died this weekend. Such a fantastic person! I have this brilliant image of her, living as she did by the sea, in love with her lobsterman husband and her small community that perhaps reminded her just a little of her beloved England. She was a person who loved every animal on the planet. Oh, but she was not a whiner. Honestly, she defined stoicism in the face of mounting health issues. And she expected the same from you: don't gripe. Life's too short. How right she was! She was one who spoke her mind: on recent attacks on democracy and, well, on basically anything. A woman who in the last years knitted hundreds of caps for the homeless and in support of animal shelters. With her little tag -- with love by Rebecca. There's a void for all who knew her. Bex, you will be remembered. I can hear your quick reply now -- eh, don't spend too much time fretting. Take care of your chickens and give your cats a hug. Oh, and Ed too. And don't bother writing to my lobsterman. He doesn't do computers. Cheers! Yeah, cheers indeed.
* * *
Breakfast, sort of alone but not really. Ed rose himself to go card shopping (for tomorrow's celebration) even though I told him it was totally unnecessary. (I noted he had the Dollar Store website opened on his laptop. It's where his friend shops for cards. Men, with a shared philosophy of cards.) I fed the animals.
He picked up my order at Batch bake house. I'd put it in long ago and I'd included some Valentine's treats for the young family as well as pain au chocolat for our own Valentine's weekend breakfasts. Turned out of course that he wasn't quite ready for pain au chocolat. But I was!
All day, I dotted i's on future travel plans. And we did take a very short walk. The sun helped, though only at the margins. The cheepers were right -- it's brutal out there. Misleading sunshine!
In the evening, the young family was here for dinner and though I don't really do anything for the big red heart day tomorrow for the kids, I did get super tempted by the special occasion cakes, so we had the one with both chocolate and strawberry stuff all over it (a stellar combination).
(Sandpiper loved it.)
(The little guy can now crawl and stand up to his two older sibs. Well, with their help.)
All lovely stuff. I was a little miffed that the Super Bowl (which I dislike completely) trumped the Olympics on TV, but hey, that's a spoiled person's complaint. There's plenty of stuff to watch. We settled in to a night of Braking Bad gore and, late at night, the tail end of some Olympic events.
With gratitude for all that I have, for my family, for my friends, for Ed.
And with so much love.
