You know the kind, don't you? Weather that makes you sing. Seasonally appropriate of course, but still pushing the extremes of loveliness.
We begin a several day period of joyful weather.
Sunshine and warming temperatures: this is spring's gift for us. And I love it!
(Tuxie and Pancake: used to be at war with each other, but in recent months a fragile peace is in place)
Pancake update -- he had a quiet night. He ate ravenously yesterday evening and this morning appeared insulted when I "only" gave him a can of wet cat food. He doesn't like the "turkey" selection! He went off to study birds instead.
(several of the cats are good mousers; two are capable of bringing down an occasional bird; I've not seen Pancake do either, though living in the wild surely has to have given him such skills)
And the birds! They are a riot of sound this morning. I picked out cardinals, sparrows, red-winged blackbirds and a downy woodpecker. Did you know how melodious woodpeckers are? It's not all about the tap tap tap!
I drove to Madison Sourdough for breakfast treats. That place is surging in popularity. The line extended way outside. Luckily, I preordered.
And now for our celebratory breakfast photo. Why? Because it's International Women's Day and I feel very attached to my womanhood, even if it has had its troubles in the male-dominated epoch I grew up in.
Happy March 8th, my compadres!
Then came an hour, well no, three hours of toiling over a decision that has taunted me at the sidelines for many many months. It has to do with travel: I do a lot of it and I always just take a carry-on. My trips are usually in the 9 -12 day range and I can fit everything for that amount of time, with an extra tote added during winter trips to the mountains. But I'm going on a somewhat longer trip soon and I finally decided that the carry-on wont be large enough, especially since I'll be switching places -- country, city, you name it -- and, too, I'll be using the trains a lot, and it wont be easy to maneuver the usual supplementary tote in addition to the suitcase up narrow train stairs in double-decker wagons.
So I need to purchase a larger suitcase -- one you can check in. One that will keep me from having to take along anything else.
Oh the agony of investing in this! I mean, I'm old -- how much travel do I have left in me? A lifetime warranty is a bit laughable, especially since I expect to do short trips again after this one. But I can't afford to have it break while it's being thrashed about on trains, planes and automobiles.
By lunchtime I was down to two choices and I am absolutely incapable of deciding which is the better. (Basically it's the choice between soft and hardshell and I have read every review on the planet and yes, there are millions of reviews out there.)
I cant decide. I put away the computer and Ed and I go out for a walk. To Brooklyn Wildlife Area! We have the time. And it's a gorgeous day.
Of course, gorgeous March days soften the frozen earth, melt all snow, and create a messy hiking terrain. We expected the trails to be slightly muddy. They were significantly muddy.
Nonetheless, it was a glorious walk!
(it's still a brown landscape, but that wont last...)
(with a slice of moon overhead...)
And now comes a tricky part: there is a gathering of grandparents at the local pizza place. Some grandparents have come up from Chicago to see Snowdrop's final performance as Hero in Much Ado About Nothing. One has come from Buffalo. They're all (along with parents and Sparrow once again) getting a pizza and then going straight to the theater. I am going to skip the play. I love Snowdrop to pieces, but it is a long production (four hours!) and though I do make a point of seeing all of her plays, I limit myself to just one performance. Still, it is a very rare thing that all the Madison grandkids' grandparents are in the same room at the same time. In Chicago, we had such a gathering on Juniper's birthday (it is of course a different set of grandparents for Juniper and Primrose) and it was sweet to have us all there. So I hop over to at least share this meal with the guys here today.
Yes, I'm tempted to just follow in with them and watch Snowdrop do a beautiful Hero interpretation, but again, I have to place limits on the grandkid activities. I have plenty of these sweet guys in my days. Let the other grandparents delight in being with them to cheer her on and to play with Sparrow tonight.
I return to the farmhouse, hand over some pizza slices to the guy who does not attend gatherings if he can help it!
We watch a show, we exhale, totally looking forward to another day of joyful weather. And another after that! How wonderful it is to be creeping up on spring!
with love...
