The first two Sundays of the month were packed with grandparent visits and Shakespeare shows that confounded the schedule. The following two Sundays will be even more confusing as I embark on a trip that is about as convoluted (in my opinion) as they come. But today? Today is normal! A Sunday, like all Sundays should be.
Albeit cold. Here's my prediction: this is the coldest we will be at until... next November! So on the one hand -- yes, cold. On the other -- it closes the pages on winter for us. Sure, we can have frosty nights all the way into May (don't I know it! All those pots of annuals that I have to bring inside then, because of a cold snap!). But today is the last day of daytime temps just above freezing. I don't often step into the the domain of meteorological predictions, but looking ahead I see that we are about to leave behind the cold windy chilly I-really-dont-want-to-go-outside days. Yeah!
Nonetheless, there are morning chores that require outdoor strolls and I do them rather late because who wants to get out of a warm comfy bed on a cold morning?!
(Despite the cold, there is spring birdsong, loud and compelling; a Blue Jay, a Black-capped Chickadee, outperforming each other, while the chickens march on, accompanied by Tuxie and Pancake)
It amazes me how long it takes: chicken feeding, Sunday indoor plant watering...
(the orchids that I bring in for the winter have bloomed all season long)
... cat feeding in three places, drinking station resupplied outside, then indoors -- fruits to cut up, buns to reheat, coffee to make and finally -- breakfast to eat!
By the time I'm done with all that it is 11 am. I kid you not.
Ed goes out to work on trimming the fallen tree. We have two people who would take it off of our lot -- a neighbor who'll use it for firewood and someone else who would use it to build a staircase. We puzzle over this -- is there really enough wood for a whole staircase? We put off both offers for now, waiting to see if someone will surface with a more creative (artsy maybe?) idea.
I then concentrate on doing a bit of house clearing and cleaning and boom! It's time to get dinner ready for the young family. The regular Sunday dinner that hasn't been so regular lately. And it wont be, going forward. Our next regular Sunday dinner wont take place at the farmhouse until... Easter!
And because everything has been so irregular in every respect, it feels all the more special when everything is just normal!
All kids healthy and accounted for! Parents too!
(Dinner, just before 7 p.m., in sunshine!)
On a normal Sunday of the past, I would have had little reason to come back to The News at the end of a post, or to cite to compelling articles that summarize an out of control spin into the unknown. And you know what -- I'll follow that tradition tonight! Yes, I read plenty in the course of the day. But late in the evening, after the last dish had been washed and the last cheese crumb swept from under the table, Ed and I put on a recent video clip about farming on Just a Few Acres. It's like a lullaby -- slow paced and soothing. Perfect for the end to a very plain and simple Sunday.
with love...
