We are back to moderately smoky skies. I tell Ed -- you know this can go on for many weeks. He just shakes his head and mumbles something about stagnant weather systems.
Morning walk:
I sidestep after feeding the animals. To check on the meadows. One still has potential to explode with summer blooms, the other is probably lost to tall grasses. But the baskets that we had tried hanging with strawberry plants last year (didn't work, not enough rain and the birds ate what berries there were) are actually sprouting some pretty significant wildflowers. Let's see how that goes as the season progresses.
And here's some good news -- Pancake, who did show up last night and seemed very out of it and not hungry (it is quite possible that someone else is also feeding him), was back on track running up for his porch breakfast. I got Ed to coax him into the carrier. (He and Ed have bonded, so that he actually allows himself to be petted by him.) Yes! Finally, captured. Ed drives him to the vet for neutering and the rest. We will pick him up tonight. It is imperative that he stay confined for at least a day. We will see how that goes!
Breakfast. We review out todo lists. His is long, mine is longer. Dance has no list at all.
Priorities: make a batch of granola for Ed!
Feed the tubs outside (not quite finished on that one). Print out various reservation receipts and codes. Clean out back pack which, um, has remained unpacked since my April trip. Do laundry. Return ill fitting Snowdrop shoes. Okay stop right there. I can't do another thing. It's time to pick up the girl up on her last day of school. (Her brother is otherwise occupied after school, but I do catch the both leaving the building. He's saying good bye to first grade. She is saying good bye to her whole Elementary School experience.)
Both had such good years! And yes, I'd promised an end of school year treat, but Sparrow isn't with me this afternoon and Snowdrop and I have almost no time. Just a short while at the farmhouse eating and reading, and then I spin her around, back to her home, so that she and I can pack her carryon.
We're leaving tomorrow for a trip of her own design. Sort of. March travel has never been good for northern explorations, but we are in June for this one, so I promised her one trip to places she really wants to see with generally cooler climates.
By late evening I am home again. Ed brings back a restless Pancake -- we lock him up in the Writer's Shed for at least a day. I may see him tomorrow before I take off. Funny how you get attached to even your wildest cats, the ones that treat you as the only person they could ever trust, even just a little. We'll see if Pancake will return to his previous habits. (Some of them I wish he'd shed, though honestly, he's been well behaved around the farmette felines.)
I cook up chili, so that Ed would have a bunch of suppers at the ready. I'm leaving tomorrow and I haven't even begun packing. It doesn't matter. It will get done. Flowers will get watered, house will get a quick once over. Tonight, I stay with Ed on the couch. We laugh at a show together. He falls asleep. I smile at him, at us.
with so much love...
