Saturday

It's all because of the cheese curds. If there is an addiction to these squeaky bits of salty cheese, Ed has it. And he is fussy. Most wont do. He likes Farmer John's cheese curds. So much so, that even though our local market has closed up shop for the season, and even though Farmer John usually spends the winter with his wife's family in the Philippines, Ed called him to ask if perhaps he's still making curds before his imminent departure.

He is. Moreover, Farmer John is doing one more market this year -- today, all the way in Sun Prairie. And yes, he'll set aside nearly all his curds for Ed if we drive over to pick them up.

This then will be our destination for the day. But there's more: Ed found matching lights for the porch set at Menards (they have, in their string of rainbow of colors, the coveted purple bulb!), so add that to our errand list. And he initiated a return of the unwanted string of bulbs (no purple!) and the now broken gizmo that detects defective bulbs, and when Ed initiates returns, he doesn't really know what he is doing (it's usually my chore), so now we have to drive all the way to campus to send back the merchandise. 

And there's more: so long as we're driving all over town doing purchases and returns, we might as well stop off at Madison Sourdough to pick up the week's supply of croissants.

You can see how very quickly we move from having a beautiful nothing planned for this day, a perfect set of unscheduled hours, to a morning spent in the car.

But first, a very chilly walk to the barn. It's way below freezing this morning.

And a cozy oatmeal breakfast to compensate for the cold...

And now we are off.

Neither of us likes car errands, but some are more fun than others and I'd say all but the Amazon returns come in on the side of fun. 

Menards with Ed? Fun! The guy gets lost (in an intentional way) in that cavernous place of home improvement stuff. Me, I like seeing all the tacky and not so tacky Christmas decorations. We used to shop for lights here when he and I were a "young couple." I'd threaten to pick up a huge holiday penguin for the front yard. He'd humor me. For a while. 

(Back in the car now, he takes out the purchased string of lights and the long and wordy instructional sheet. What's there to instruct? -- I ask. You plug it in. Boom! There is light!  Ed always reads instructional stuff. He says now -- oh, but LED lights are so fascinating! Really?)

Winter farmers market in Sun Prairie? Fun, because it's warm (indoors!) and off the beaten path for us. And chatting to Farmer John is always lovely. 

He invites us to come visit in the Philippines. For a moment I consider the idea. SO many islands!  -- he says. That, my dear man, is not a temptation for me!

One more fun detail of the market -- there is a vendor selling his wife's jams. Ann in a Jam -- is the brand name. And he has a sample jar of Cherry and Brandy Old Fashioned. I am very fussy about jams, but I have to say, this one is awesome! Immediately I imagine dipping a croissant into this on a cold winter morning. Could anything be better? We pick up a jar as the seller tells us -- but my real favorite is Strawberry Peach. We pick up a jar of that as well.

From there to Madison Sourdough. Another fun stop, for the smell of breads. Well, maybe by now only one bread...

Amazon return downtown on campus? Not fun. All those students! Football crowds today! Traffic congestion! Parking issues! You get very unused to all that when you live in the country. Honestly, leaving that behind as we drive home is positively exhilarating.

At the farmhouse, Ed puts up the porch lights (walkway and entrance: to be done). Old and new combined. May they shine brightly on us all winter long.

(I'm sure you can tell there are purple bulbs, right? Right??)

with love...