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...