this is the life...

In your crazy existence, there are moments when suddenly you get a breather, maybe on vacation, say by a pool or by a lake or ocean, stretched out on a lounger, cool drink in hand, good book on your lap, gentle breeze rustling the pages (well, maybe not on a Kindle page, but you get the idea) and you say -- ah, this is the life! As if this moment of idleness is what you aspire to, eventually, and especially when you retire. 

I get it. Reclining in the middle of the day, coddling yourself with a book that promises a good ending, after the rush of each working day -- I get it. I used to love sunbathing on beaches for this reason. You are lying down and doing nothing! Unimaginable on a regular old day back home.

But the standards (for "this is the life!") change over time.  For me, there is still the exotic allure of being in the Luxembourg Gardens on a sweetly perfect spring day, or sitting at Cafe Varenne and watching the hum of life around me -- that's feels awesome! But the time I say "this is the life!" with the greatest amount of vigor and conviction is on days like this: hot outside, a little too buggy, but still, I weed and snip and fix things in the garden. And then I sit down to breakfast with Ed on the porch and it's a tad too warm for him, but still, we do it, and the skies are dazzling and the lilies are perky again, and I think -- ah, this is the life! And then I work some more -- not too much, because honestly, things are looking okay out there, intervention not needed on a grand scale, just small bursts of weeding in the usual spots that always produce too much of the stuff that doesn't belong, and then I come in to our cool living room -- no AC yet because if you keep the windows closed there is so much shade around the house that it really does keep things cool inside, and I sit down and Ed is there too, and I maybe make myself my second cup of milky coffee, so un-Italian and un-French, so incorrect, but so yummy and I think again -- ah, this is the life!

Because really, it's such a beautiful day that if you can't find pleasure in it now, in your older age, well then what's the point... (Exceptions allowed! Older age can raise tricky health issues and can bring with it a lot of personal loss. All the more reason if you are not suffering either of those, you really ought to take a look around on a day like this and admit this much: to be here, in this world of flowers and trees and foods that nourish you and people you love -- well, now, sit back and let it out -- this is the life!)

As for photos -- well, as I said, the morning, after all that rain was buggy. And I had to get Ed out of bed because when I went to feed the animals, I noticed that once again someone had taken down the cat door to the sheep shed. We think it's a skunk or a racoon who wants to get inside to eat the leftover cat food that we leave out for the three cats that basically live in that shed. In any case, Ed needed to fix it ASAP, because with the downed door, the mosquitoes had been given a clear passageway to the inside and they were making use of it! 

Some early morning garden photos:

Ed absolutely would not pause until that cat door was firmly in place. That means that breakfast would be very very late. Well, here's an idea -- why dont I bike over to Tati's Cafe in the new development and pick up some of the Madison Sourdough treats that they now sell on most mornings?

Yeah!

I also bike over to take a peak at Steffi's House. Did the rains wash it away? They did not. Is the crew doing the landscaping? They are! (Well, one of them is...)

Home again. For breakfast. With Ed.

More work outside.

Some afternoon garden photos:

And now time on the couch, over that second milky coffee... Such a feeling of contentment and well being washes over me... The stress (and excitement) of climbing a mountain, of making a flight connection, of driving a single-track -- all that's behind me. Things are calm right now... How good is that!!

(Dance, on the couch...)

(hens, at rest: one in the barn, two in the shade, three in the sun...)

Finally, an evening garden photo:

 

with love...

messy second day

What a mess! Total chaos. Everything in shambles.

Yuk.

I'm talking about the flower fields of course. Indeed, all fields, forests, meadows -- everything. It rained crazily hard last night, into this morning, into the afternoon and evening too. Sheets of water to an already saturated landscape. Tall flowers keeled over. Lilies drooped and hid their faces. Puddles, mud, streaming water. I got drenched going out to feed the animals.

What a day...

Breakfast says it all: inside, oatmeal. Last time I had oatmeal was in Scotland, once, in Tongue. Before that? On a dismal cold day at the farmhouse, probably when there was still snow on the ground. Today -- I'm in an oatmeal mood.

 

 

I spent the morning thinking about what to do with my two cameras. Both are broken. Usable, but each has a malfunction. One -- the shutter release is sticky, probably dirty from excessive use, the other has the switch between view finder and screen mode not working. It's been in the shop before for the same problem. And the thing is, it's such a pain to send them in for a quick fix. So I'm stewing about it. At some point I will have to do it, the only question being which one goes in first and which one can I most live without for the next month or so. In July no less when my flowers beg to be photographed!

Well, not today. Today they're begging for the rain to stop.

There is a dry window right around lunchtime and I dash outside to pick off some spent lilies. I'm already near 300  flowers in my bucket for the day. I also try to stake the hollyhocks, but they are so heavy with rain that it's a little pointless. They are nearly broken with despair. 

Still, this is a good time to take at least a few photos. There is some color out there! Let's love it for what it is!

I get wet. You try plunging into a flower field after a heavy rainfall. And inevitably, it starts raining again. I go in. It stops, I go out, now in dry pants, which get wet again.

I'm on pants number three for the day. But, I did clip the lilies and I pulled some weeds. And I am sooooo looking forward to a drier tomorrow!  

the farmette in July

Spring is vibrant and bursting with the early pinks, yellows and blues of the growing season. Autumn throws upon us the purples and golds. But July is the month when the flowers in the farmette fields show off all the best of the year's colors, textures and combinations. July here shines!

I'm up very early. As always after a return from Europe. 5 a.m. and I'm done with sleep for the day.. The better to see what's outside!

Ed had warned me that it was a green jungle out there, that everything is dense, that several of the lilies had already burst into bloom. He was sort of right, but not entirely.

It is true that we had an unusually large amount of rain this spring and too few sunny days. An early heat wave pushed everything forward by a week or so, but now the temps are moderating. So what does this kind of a year do to the flower beds?  Well, as he said, it's densely green out there. Last year there was a drought and the lilies and phloxes were restrained in their stem and leaf production. This year? No restraint. But we could use more sunshine hours to pop those lily blooms out and bring out those strong colors. Still, this is a picky picky assessment. For the most part, it's been an easy year to be a flower grower. Well, unless you counted on the spring peonies to stand tall for you. The rains did knock things down a bit in June. And of course, all the rain meant that there was an EXTRAORDINARY amount of weeding to be done. Still, it's been good out there!

Let's take a look at what's blooming on the farmette on the first day of this beautiful month:

Looking good!

But I do need to weed. A lot. And I need to clean up the already spent day lilies. So I get to work and I go at it for a good three hours before I give it a pause.

A pause for breakfast. On the porch. With Ed. And the no longer flea infested cat. (I pick a small bunch of flowers for the table. I never like to deplete the fields too much, but here's a wee bunch -- living proof that I dont just grow lilies!)

Perhaps the stars in the garden right now are the alceas --- hollyhock by common name. There have been years were they stubbornly refused to throw flowers. This year? Splendid!

Too, the lavender field is stellar! Absolutely beautiful.

And Ed is prodding me to pick radishes. I grew them from seed, did not thin out the extras and I have a total explosion out there. We will be eating lots of large radishes.

 

 

We survey the stuff together. His tomatoes are doing well so far!

We pick a handful of wild blackberries...

 

 

 

And go on to the meadow by the peach orchard. It's producing the most amazing assortment of flowers...

I should do some more work out there, but I have errands. To pick up the car (in the body shop for the ten days I was away). To visit my mother. To grocery shop.

[My mother is doing as can be expected. Still tired, still not very happy, perhaps a little more resigned to the fact that she's not going to bounce back to where she was even just a year ago. And of course it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy: the more tired she is, the less she wants to move at all, which makes her even weaker.]

Home again. Groceries put away. Laundry, lunch, laughter. All that. Just happy to be back.

In the late afternoon I bike over to Steffi's House to see how the young Polish couple is doing and to check on the outside mess that has yet to be dealt with by the construction team. Result: the newborn baby is lovely and the the plantings are all positioned to go in! Soon I hope. We could all use a little more green stuff in that block and a little less mud.

Evening. The mosquitoes are not that bad! The birds are singing up a storm! And once nighttime settles over the farmette fields, the fireflies do a magnificent dance for us, showing their spark, their beauty, perhaps joy too? Because it is so great to be alive and dancing at night! (Or sitting on the farmhouse couch again...)

with love...