hatching

To me, January is for hatching new plans. It's what you do! You look at your funds. You plan trips and summer vacations. You start thinking about your spring planting and you envision new gardens. You decide on how your winter will end and importantly, how the rest of your life will proceed. Ambitious? Well yeah! In the best of ways.

If I had to pick themes from this day I'd say it had a great deal of hatching and then also a bit of the usual lovely space in between. Hatching what, you ask? Well, I investigated my eating options for a forthcoming trip. That took a long time! Ed was amused. Then, secondly, I met up with my older girl and we reviewed December and looked ahead to the possibilities of the New Year. Might she be able to get away with her husband and leave me with the kids? Might the two of us get away to Chicago? How will the summer work out for the kids this year? Exciting stuff, hatched in the early evening at a new place for me -- Leopold's Cafe and Bookstore. And just so you know, this place is so popular and so packed, that they have to borrow tables for the spillover from the neighboring Rocky Rococo's Pizza. That is not exactly an atmospheric place, but when you're desperate for a seat, you don't care. Luckily we were not desperate for a seat. (here's my faux-furred girl...)

The quiet moments in-between the hatching were spent with chickens...

And doing my weekly watering of plants that we winter over on the sheep shed windowsills (with hens looking in and cats looking out...).

(Well, not on all windowsills. Some are otherwise in use. Here's our beautiful feral Tuxie girl.)

And they're spent with Ed, both at breakfast and on a walk by Lake Waubesa...

(Looking out, you assume the lake is completely frozen over. The ice fishing huts certainly make you think it's rock solid out there.)

(It's not.)

(What is iced over is the trail.)

And of course, in the evening, we luxuriate, with leftovers for dinner, and with a return to our tagged shows and movies. While the three barn/farmhouse cats sleep. Luxuriously as well.

(Dance and Unfriendly Snowflake)

A beautiful January day! I tell you, this month has lots of redeeming qualities! And perhaps you'll recall -- starting this morning, we begin to lengthen our morning daylight minutes. Slowly. But surely.

May the full moon, the Wolf Moon,  a micro moon shine brightly on all of us tonight.