Tuesday

It's the kind of morning you dream about: cool, comfortable, with the promise of sunshine. Ed asks, even before we are fully awake -- want to go for a bike ride?

I do. Very much so! 

The animals and the garden walk first.

And we're off. It's still cool (mid 50sF, or around 10C), but nothing a sweatshirt cannot cure.

Our loop is the same, but as we challenge ourselves more, so that it is now reduced from 45 minutes to 40. 

It's beautiful: the pause by the lake, taking note of the animals we pass (families of wild turkeys, groundhogs, always the Sandhills, occasionally a deer), the rolling hills of farmland, a pig farm, a prairie, an oak savanna. All on a splendid September morning.

(the golden soy at this time of the year almost looks artificial...)

Breakfast, on the porch, together.

Then ballet. I have the confidence of a person who likely doesn't know how poor her technique really is: I finish Ballet 1 and go on to Ballet 2! All these years of lesson-watching pays off! (Or, inflates the head and pushes you to keep going.)

And then I pick up the kids.

Have we established a good routine yet? Two steps forward! 

And have I told you that it is a beautiful day? In and out and all around.

And the evening? Time to roll out comfort foods.  Either that, or turn on the furnace. It's nippy outside tonight!

(farro with tomatoes, doused with parmesan cheese and basil, from the Smitten Kitchen)

with love...