Friday

Amazing facts about this day include: in the night, we had the last of the supermoons of 2023 shine down on us here, in south central Wisconsin. I don't think such moons ever look like the photos people post, where the moon dominates over half the horizon, but nonetheless, it was beautiful. This morning, a mist has settled in on the farmette lands. Cool, lovely, calm. 

But not great for biking the rural roads. I feed the animals and fix fruit snacks for the kids and breakfast for myself. Ed's busy with a work call and today I don't want to wait. 

Another amazing fact: it's the last September day of school. That means a whole month of early mornings, and classroom demands, and friendship intricacies has whizzed by for the kids. And for me.

And yet another: the spigot has been opened and the water is pouring out. That's the best way to describe my GWP2 (Great Writing Project No.2) right now. I am both thrilled and overwhelmed with the ideas that are forming in my head (and more slowly, but very steadily -- appearing on the page in the form of sentences).

One more: I'm two days short of completing a month of closing my movement rings. That means I surely will make September 2023 my most vigorously active month yet. Still, I do not intend to continue with the ring closing insanity. I'm concerned that I'll become a David Sedaris, who, by his own words, cannot go to sleep unless his exercise goal of 21 000 steps per day is met, even if it means fake walking in his airplane seat while flying over the Atlantic. Obsessions are hard to let go of, so I'm hoping to stop before it gets the better of me. The question is -- can I keep on biking/hiking without being crazy about meeting some arbitrary goals?

And this, nothing short of super amazing: I fit it all in! we biked, we hiked, I weeded, I danced. Some days are like that. It's like getting a string of green lights when you're in a hurry. It just works in your favor. So, too, the day -- a beautiful one, with clearing skies and gently cool breezes -- struck all the right notes.

Photos from our bike ride and hike:

(right by the bike path...)

We encountered a guy mowing down a huge swath of land through the prairie and, too, the woodland we love so much. When he took a pause, we asked what was going on. Apparently they're putting in a branch of the bike path here, right through our beloved hiking spot. On the downside -- the serenity of the place will be disturbed. On the upside, when we do our 45 minute bike loop, we can avoid more of the roads and cut through this way.  I darn glad I'm back on a bike! Our neck of the woods is exploding with bike paths.

In the afternoon, I pick up the kids. 

And despite the fact that Friday afternoons are rather packed (there's the farmhouse stuff -- reading, eating, playing -- and there's his violin and her ballet), they convince me that it is absolutely necessary to get an ice cream at Tati Co! Well okay, I do want to support the new coffee shop...

And miraculously it all runs like a smooth glide over a sheet of ice without a single ripple in it. And he gets to his violin lesson on time and she gets to her ballet class, her long hair done in that required bun, on time!

Amazing. Small things, tossed together to form a smooth and satisfying whole.

with love...