Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Cardinal, Brown-headed Cowbird, Killdeer, House Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow. Oh, and a Canadian Goose. Canada's retaliatory gift to us (such a mean bird!). These are the birds I hear this morning as I walk to the barn to feed the animals.
But, but -- what about the lunar eclipse? Did I get up for it -- you may be asking.
I did. I walked out onto the driveway about 2:30 a.m., when the moon was mostly eclipsed. Was it worth it? Eh. I expected radiant color. There was none. Still, I took a picture, then went back to sleep.
Now back to the morning: it'll be warm today. Perhaps not record breaking, but still -- a high of 75F/24C. How to treat this day that is showing its best face... Well, let me bike to Tati's neighborhood coffee shop and pick up something for breakfast. Cinnamon roll to share... yum! (And absentee ballots to fill out and mail in.)
Ed has a busy early afternoon and I have a busy late afternoon, but we have a short window in the morning and we use it to prune the fruit trees in the new orchard.
(and the cat watched...)
(and the chickens came to see what's up...)
Ed keeps saying he doesn't really know how to do a good pruning job. And he is correct -- we were clumsy at the outset and the trees grew in ways that an experienced fruit tree farmer would laugh at. Still, there are basic ideas that I follow: trim out the new runners, the inside branches, and the ones that bump into others. Create air flow. And so we proceed.
After Ed goes off for his work, I continue working in the yard. More trimming, clearing, pruning. And pulling out creeping charlie! The nuisance plant! I can't believe that my crocuses and snowdrops and daffodils are still underground, but the creeping charlie is starting to assert itself! (Big groan...)
From there -- to the grocery store and back home again for a quick unpack -- no time for lunch today! -- I'm off again, to do a hiking shoe exchange, and finally -- I get in line to pick up the kids at school.
Now, how do you handle the treat situation? The once a week french fries and once a week ice cream promise fails when you have only one day this week to do anything at all. Easy! You do both.
And now we are home, reading, playing, eating.
Yes, it's a rushed day -- I fit a lot into it. But I'm up for it. I had a gentler pace going earlier in the week. I can shift gears for a while. Reminds me of younger years, when this kind of day was my everyday.
It would have been a calm evening, except that I choked on a piece of food. No kidding! Wedged piece of radicchio! Would that ever be a dumb way to die or what?? I can hear it now: she lived a full life, only to give it up to radicchio... The jokes would have to fly! Ed was home and kept telling me that since I was breathing, I was not in danger. Nonetheless, two minutes into this drama and we were on our way to the ER. He was enough flustered that he backed my car into a tree stump. Good fortune then came our way as I managed to expel the chunk out before I had to embarrass myself by stumbling into a hospital choked up over... radicchio.
There is a lesson to this: rush if you have to, but do eat slowly and with care.
with so much love ...
