Wednesday

When it rains... oh, does it rain! The night pounding of furious showers against the window, the continuing drizzle when I went to feed the animals, a wet canopy of fallen leaves, the smell of a saturated earth -- November moments, to be sure.

(it's still hard to believe that this girl -- Tuxie -- is from the same litter as the other cats... Coonish, long-haired, shy...)

There is an outpouring of social connectedness as well. Today I had breakfast with a former colleague. That is, after my morning across the table with Ed.

(the real, more social breakfast was at Madison Sourdough, with a cinnamon roll because cold wet weather calls for lots of cinnamon...)

Raining steadily now, keeping me housebound, keeping the cats indoors, keeping Ed to the couch. Candle burning, furnace pumping out the warmth that I so associate with the farmhouse in winter.

Farmhouse in the winter -- those words make me smile. With windows closed, the silence inside is intense and beautiful. By the end of the month, I'll be thirsty for music, but right now, none of it is necessary. It's as if the day has its own song, interspersed with words from friends, occasionally --but not very often-- from Ed. 

And eventually I'm at the school, picking up the kids...

... and bringing them to the farmette.

In the evening, the kids leave. 

The rains have passed -- they always do, eventually, don't they? -- but of course, it's dark now. The idea of going outside for any reason whatsoever (except to lock up the hens and that's Ed's job) is downright barmy -- who wants to go out there when you could be here, under a blanket perhaps, starting in on Season 2 of Annika -- another PBS Brit Crime Drama taking place in wet, chilly Scotland? 

Oh, but I love rainy days!