Monday

It was the most imperfect, expensive, beautiful, anticipated, delightful, worrisome trip! What was meant to be a small weekend getaway to a warm and new for Snowdrop place, turned out to be something akin to a run across a half frozen lake, with thin ice threatening to suck you in if you weren't careful. When we landed last night in Madison, my first thought was -- I'm so glad Snowdrop loved this adventure. My second -- I'm so glad we made it and that nothing unraveled for us!

I'm still not over Covid. Although according to the CDC guidelines, I have been safe to reenter for more than five days and safe to even shed precautions as of last night, I'm like you'd be after a bad cold -- still pulling out the tissues every now and then, still hackin' away occasionally. Remember the honey store I visited in Paris a few weeks ago? Their honey-lemon hard candy pulled me through my travels! Never was a spontaneous purchase so welcome, so beloved! Thank you, bees of Provence or Savoie or wherever you collected that fantastic sweet stuff! You saved me from sounding far sicker than I really was!

And so now I am back. For the first normal Monday of October 2023. 

After the tension of the past weeks -- will I get over this on time? can I protect her from it? does she have some other virus? will the Disney meetup work for her? -- I told myself that on my first day back, I will do nothing. Or at least I will expect of myself nothing. At all. Bulbs to plant? La di da... Let them marinate in the autumnal juices of our mud room! Bike to winterize? Ha! It's not winter yet! Movement circles to close? Forget that, baby! I'm not getting sucked into that game again! Nothing expected of myself. Just nothing.

Predictably, the morning is low on content. I shooed Ed out of the farmhouse for the night, since I was just on the border of my last "precautions" day, but by this morning, I rather arbitrarily proclaimed myself to be done with being a Covid storage center. And so after my walk to the barn...

Ed came over for breakfast...

Which was absolutely lovely. 

We're having a cold front pass through today and tomorrow. Many parents are very excited at having to head out tomorrow with their kids at night, as the thermometer plunges below freezing, just to add a gut punch to the challenge of walking up and down the streets of the city to collect candy (because surely their kids dont get enough of that each day). I am glad that the trick-or-treating days are long behind me! Who says aging confers no benefits?!

And in the afternoon I pick up a Snowdrop, who must surely be tired, but who has enough spunk in her to carry her through a full day despite our late night arrival. There is a bit of confusion because post-school Monday is when Sparrow spends time with his dad, except that dad's car wont start, so we do some scrambling, delivering, and jump starting. Sparrow has only one concern: will this prevent him from getting his rightful share of after-school cookies?? Kids think very intense thoughts about cookies. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that kids think intense thoughts about things we regard as trivial, and parents think intense thoughts about things grandparents regard as trivial. We let go of inconsequential worries as we grow older. Another good reason to love senior years!

Snowdrop and I read at the farmhouse. Back to our Vanderbeekers in Harlem books! Back to a bowl of fruits for her and a reheated croissant. 

It all seems so normal! I am hungry for that right now! Normal. Uncluttered and calm. Following our routines, watching the seasonal changes, appreciating the tranquility of the last days of October. It is, to me, a perfect way to end this colorful month of autumn.

And the evening? with Ed, on the couch.

with so much love...