Friday

It was 5:30. I was debating with myself about  the usual -- should I get up now? I could be out in the garden already. So much to do... Ed had been downstairs managing some morning cat chaos. He comes up, slides into a comfortable sleeping position and tells me -- don't get up. Get some more sleep. I fed the animals already.

It was just what I needed to prompt me to finally push the clock to its usual groove. I dozed on an off for the next three hours and when I got up, I knew I had finally kicked the jet lag out the back door.

But of course, there are consequences to getting up so late. I'm not done with lily snipping until 10. And as I clean up the beds, I see that the dryness of the soil has returned. I'm not surprised. It's been about ten days since that last blessed rainfall. Somewhat reluctantly I drag out the hose. Not for a thorough watering, but for a "spot dousing." I focus the water on plants with lots of buds or ones that are in the thick of their blooming cycle. Another hour goes by. Oh, sure, it's all very beautiful and this is what I do in the month of July and yes, the flowers are (mostly) thriving...

...But it's after 11 before I call Ed down to the breakfast table. (Dance has claimed his seat. He would never push her off. He sits to the side.)

A different day with my childcare as well. One little one is in school, another is still home sick, and Snowdrop is looking for companionship! I pick her up in the early afternoon and bring her to the farmhouse.

(yep, that's a stuck out tongue for the camera!)

Once she leaves, Ed and I push ourselves to go out for an evening walk. And as always, it is lovely and we are so happy to have roused ourselves for this.

(on the way to the park...)

You're probably thinking that I finally sat through a whole movie tonight! You would be wrong. We lost power just before 6 pm and we did not get it back by my bedtime. There is no obvious reason for the outage and many trucks came with workers attempting to repair whatever damage there may be. Tree branches were cut, line men went up, line men came down. Then they all left. Power stayed off. 

No matter. We had a very quiet evening at home, in the dark. The air outside is cool, the windows are wide open. Ed suggested we hop on the motorbike for a beer and a WiFi fix at Christie's -- the bar down the road, on Lake Waubesa, but I eked out enough battery life out of my phone to publish my post. Tomorrow, I'm (reasonably) sure we will return to normal. If not -- well that's why we have cafes on this planet, right?

With love...