Saturday

Well, I have hope again! At least on the weather front. By the time I click "publish" here, on Ocean, we may hear the patter of rain on the farmhouse roof. Perhaps not a prolonged rain, but we'll take any kind! Light and steady would be best (are you listening up there??).

I also have long term hope for the knee recovery, though I made the terrible mistake of listening to Ed. I had asked him -- how long do you think the leg stays in pain after knee replacement? He answered -- I don't know, look it up. And so I did.

One year?? Are you kidding me? I cant sit without needing to change positions every few minutes for a year?? I better stock up on Tylenol!

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It's a pretty day here, in south-central Wisconsin. Warm, but not stifling. Sunny in the morning, but there must be a breeze because it does not feel oppressive. I've arranged to meet up with the young family at the downtown Farmers Market and so I do a rather fast run through morning tasks.

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I postpone breakfast until after the market. Yes, that may be late, but we've taken to eating late morning meals. Indeed, we've taken to eating late all meals in the summer. It has to do with daylight, I think. You dont want to commit to couch time until dusk and currently our sunset is at 8:36 p.m.

First stop for me is, of course, Madison Sourdough. For the usual weekend stuff. And then I head straight for the market. Hi gang!

To me, the walk around the Square is a marker of how much the kids have grown. Only Sandpiper is still in the stroller. The trudge is long and though there are rewards along the way (cookies!), there is still the warmth of the summer sun to contend with, and of course there are the crowds that makes it a slower (and thus more arduous) stroll. The whole lot of them got up early enough to beat the big crowds and so in fact it is a lovely time. Everyone was in great spirits!

I stock up on late spring stuff: asparagus, beets, flowers, carrots. And apple chokeberry jam. And an apple cider doughnut to add to the breakfast loot!

It was "meet the rescuers day," where kids could meet and greet police officers and fire fighters. The boys were thrilled to do this (and to pretend to drive a firetruck), while Snowdrop and I hung back and read on the lawn. (This was more a function of age rather than gender. There would have been a time when she would have chosen a truck over a book as well. In any case, they all got firefighter hats and sunglasses. Not quite sure how the latter fit into rescue work but hey, the kids liked them.)

Such a beautiful time...

From there, they proceeded to the children's museum, I returned home. For breakfast with Ed and with the market flowers.

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Once again my read of the weather forecast completely rewrites the weekend for me. I'll hold off watering the beds and concentrate on weeding around the crabapple. This is a tough job that must be done at least once a year. All sorts of trees and vines sprout at its base and threaten to suck up all nutrients and moisture that the old tree needs. It's jungle down there and I pull or clip out a whole wheelbarrow-full of new growth.

And then I feed and water the tubs. And the climbers. And the hanging stuff. If I can't expand horizontally (no more sunny spaces!), I seem to find raises to grow things vertically. Vines, dangling containers, they're all here this year.

In the meantime, Ed waters and weeds the five or six dozen baby trees we planted over the past two years. This is hard work as the hose does not reach into the distant field back of the barn. He usually does a dozen at a time and then breaks for a nap. I tell him one of these days we'll have to hire help for all the work that we do each spring. He totally ignores that comment. I don't think he can imagine the day that we cannot do it all ourselves. For now, we're on it!

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Late dinner late evening beautiful skies full of clouds. Here's hoping!