The notable change for me this week is that I do not have kids at the farmhouse. This is very rare -- indeed, it may be a first! A whole week without young family members coming and going? Weird. (They have other family obligations and activities sprinkled throughout and so I am stepping aside for a bit.)
Stupid me: I made the mistake of scheduling various appointments for each of those days. Doctors, dentists, closings, installations -- you name it. I never have free afternoons for this stuff and so I excessively seized the opportunity to check things off my list. What a blunder! I could have had an unscheduled week. Instead, I still have to be places and do things every single day. To be trite: ya' live and learn.
Nonetheless, I do feel, for better or for worse, the immense quiet of the week and that quiet starts today. Suddenly, the farmhouse feels like it's standing still. Taking in the day, keeping to a slow pace.
Morning walk. Leisurely.
(early this year and already being attacked by the birds!)
(my happy meadow!)
Breakfast. Also leisurely.
The day is beautiful. Mostly sunny, not too hot, with a stiff breeze. Of course we are going to take ourselves outside. A bit of weeding ("dont wear out!" -- he tells me... he knows I can quickly overdo it in the gardens) and then we load up the truck with boats and bikes.
Our plan today is to ditch the bikes at the edge of the Yahara River, over at Fish Camp Park, and to drive down to the southern tip of McFarland, to start our paddle there. (About an hour and fifteen of kayaking and maybe twenty minutes of biking.) We did this very "paddle and ride" in November of 2005. I'd been with Ed barely a month then and he proposed that I leave work early, so that we can do this kayak trip before the weather turns wintry and nasty. With bikes. And we did it once again, in the summer of 2012. I felt I really knew Ed well, seven years into our life together! But of course, now, as we get close to our nineteenth year together, we are like old pegs in a board. Firmly in place, and not too far from where we were in those early years: loving our life, loving the scenic landscape of our little corner of Wisconsin, loving these paddle and bike excursions -- only now I'm on my electric bike. Oh yeah! Greatly appreciated on this very windy day.
Those gusts of wind were on our backs on the water, and at first, I thought this was awesome! Pushing us down the Yahara.
But when we reached Mud Lake, I changed my mind. A shift in the direction, a choppy water -- I had to work hard to keep the boat on course.
((that there is Ed, hanging on to his hat)
No matter. Good for the arm muscles, right?
(a very spiffy new kayak landing at Fish Camp Park)
The bike ride back to the truck for me was about as easy as they get. Hills? Wind? No problem. Crank up the battery and away I fly.
At home, it feels exceptionally strange not to be fixing dinner for the whole lot of them. Leftovers on Sunday? How can that be?
Still, we do love the occasional quiet. Ed dozes, I read, write, and take in the dappled light as the tree branches shift and sway in the breeze.
You could not ask for a prettier evening!
