Sunday

I came downstairs at my usual morning hour and found Ed sprawled on the floor with a pillow under his back. It's not unusual for him to spend the better part of the night downstairs, working, napping, working some more until he feels he's done enough. Sometimes he'll come up to bed at dawn. He's not a guy driven by what the clock expects from the rest of us: he is his own scheduler. But on the floor? With that telltale pillow? That's unusual.

Turns out he had done something to his knee while I was away and somehow that injury lead to a back problem and though he thought he'd put it behind him, his injuries, or sprains, or old age had other ideas. Basically, at the moment, the guy's a mess.

Well okay. He can rest. Unless there's a problem, the house is basically my responsibility. While he huddles under the quilt, I can go about my business.

Except there's a problem.

It's a beautiful morning and I'm feeling light hearted and bouncy going to the barn. But wait -- what's that big object in our animal trap? A raccoon? The size of a bear?? Oh boy.

We have a place where we can transport animals to, but it's far. More importantly, I hate getting near these large snarling beasts. I know that they can't get at me through the cage, but still...

I come back to review with him the options. If he can get himself to the car, I can wheel the monster over and we can both drive to the release point. Then he can open the door while I hide inside the car. Or, in the alternative, I suppose we can go to our neighbor's who likes to shoot invaders and have him blast the raccoon to smithereens. Those appear to be our choices.

While Ed assesses his movement capabilities, I drive over to Madison Sourdough. Surely this morning deserves a breakfast of delicious pastries!

Just as good as those in France!

When I pull into our driveway, loaded down with croissants, cinnamon rolls and a baguette, I see that Ed's car is gone. He clearly is not one to take his aches and pains seriously. Somehow he managed to load the dinosaur into the car. I can't say that I am disappointed!

That and breakfast are about all the effort he can put forth...

(Dance does a photo bomb...)

He spends the day resting, I do the stuff that needs to be done today, which includes opening my suitcase! It arrived this morning with gracious apologies for its errant behavior!

In the afternoon, I go for a solo walk. It's stunningly gorgeous outside -- just above freezing, plenty of sunshine. The ice on farmette paths is melting beautifully. Life is good! Well, except for the fact that now two people living in the farmhouse have wounded knees! Must be something we ate.

Dinner at the farmette is with the young family. 

(arriving)

(a rare moment where the three find a common interest n a toy)

(hug)

Lovely to have them all here again!

By night time, Ed swears that he is on the mend (ha! I've heard that one before from my own knee discussions!). We happily watch our Clarkson series and munch on chocolates - Valentine's Day, now supplemented by Toblerone squares, since we're mindful of the latest buzz about dark chocolate additives. It's nostalgic for us because we began our life together nearly 18 years ago munching on Toblerone squares in the evening. We've come full circle! Only we're a little bit older and, one hopes, a little bit wiser.

with love...