bits of normal, and a croissant

I feel this winter like I'm on a bobsled rushing toward the great unknown and every time I think I've reached an stable surface, it picks up speed again and continues. Fun much of the time, exhilarating sometimes, and a bit terrifying. So today I put the brakes on. A forceful slowdown should follow. Enough for me to smell the roses, sorry, croissants. No roses on a bobsled run!

Covid has thrown in a few random twists and turns and we got another one today as Ed woke up with still a bouncing fever (from normal to elevated to normal to elevated...) and quite likely a continued positive reading. Not only did we not meet up yesterday, but we will be careful again today because the kids will be here and I have to keep the house clear of germs. Ed equals germs.

Put together the disappointment of not spending time with him, along with the even colder weather (I head out to feed the chickens when it's just 1F/-17C), and you can get pretty mopey fast. It's like hitting a particularly difficult stretch in your bobsled run.

So after feeding the huddled-in-the-barn girls...

... I go out and buy some croissants. First ones this year.

(driving to town: yes, the lake is finally frozen for the duration; the freeze date was on January 5th, which is neither late nor early)

 

Ah, croissants... heaven on earth!

 

Really, there is such joy in biting into one. Along with the milky coffee of course. 

Like everyone, I'm sure, I am really tired of reading about all the ways I can and should actively improve my life (in terms of better food, less or no drink, and more movement), so I reluctantly and with a very big eye roll open up the story in the NYTimes today titled 35 Simple Health Tips, ostensibly guaranteed to "improve my life." The article is two days old so maybe you've seen it, but I've been busy, so I give it a go just this morning. And I like it! Oh sure, I groan at the ones that are so repetitive it hurts -- drink less, eat more lentils. Yes, great, thank you, I've heard each at least twenty times already in this week alone. But there are some sweet ones that make me smile and for this reason I'm using my gift quota yet again and giving you the link here so you can read it for free. I mean, wake up and greet your pets with a loud good morning? That's just lovely! Read through them! (The advice givers, by the way, are mostly people of repute and experience in matters of well being.)

It most definitely is a slower morning for me. Intentionally so. And as I set my eyes on a couple of hours of downtime, I think back with a smile to Sparrow's parting words last night as the young family packed up to head for home. He said with great conviction -- "when I grow up, I want to be a grandfather! It's so great! You do nothing, then you see your grandchildren, then do nothing again!" 

Oh to be six once more! (After the hugs and goodbyes last night, I turned toward the mess in the kitchen and the playroom, setting aside some leftover seafood pasta and a piece of cake for Ed, cursing the dishwasher which is underused, but decided nonetheless just then to have a malfunctioning piece in the detergent compartment.) 

 

Ed had to skip the birthday dinner, but he does come over at midday to pick up food and to visit with me. He masks and sticks to the kitchen, brushing Dance who loves loves loves having a good comb-through. 

And then he leaves and I tidy and wash and cut up fruits for the kids and do everything that isn't nothing!

I pick up the kids after their school day. 

It's Sparrow's turn to select a "treat of the week" and as so often before, he picks ice cream. Snowdrop is delighted. On this cold, cold day, the kids are thrilled to stop for ice cream!

And it is still really freezing out there! We never moved out of the single digits F (so never above -13C). But the sun sparkles like a million diamonds on the smattering of snow, and we are all getting better here, at the farmette, and isn't that just grand!

 

Ed comes over in the evening. It's another fragment of normal: I cook shrimp with kimchee, we settle in to watch a show. He does fall asleep halfway through it, but hey, he's here, spread out on the couch, for a good part of the evening. Yes, lovely bits of normal.

with love...