Sunday - 289th

Two young families that I love so deeply! Each unique and perfect in my eyes. Loving and kind. Playful and smart. I'm sure you recognize these traits, or similar superlative qualities in your children. If they are older, I'm sure they know how hard it is for you to go through these months on these new pandemic terms. For most of us, it's a rare day where we can all see each other in real time rather than through a Zoom or Portal screen. And when we do, even if only outside, with social distancing, etc, it's magic!

I had a double dose of magic: an Illinois park meet up with the younger family in the morning and a Wisconsin farmhouse meet up with the older family. 

There isn't much time to think about it now, or to write about it, perhaps even digest it, but then, there will soon come those long winter months when I can see neither and I will be happy to come back to these images. These scattered family times aren't valuable just in the  day they take place. They stretch into the future and keep me afloat as we wait for the days when we can be well, more normal.

For now, not many words, but a heck of a lot of photos!

 

It's not too cold today -- just around freezing. I'm up early and Ed, in joining me for breakfast, comments -- too bad you don't have sunshine for your outing.

He helps me load the car with Christmas presents and I am off. 

Two hours later, I'm at Raven Glen Forest Preserve - a place for which I will always have total fondness, because it's where I have been able to spend time with Primrose and her parents, even at the height of the pandemic.

And here, two hours south of the farmette, the skies are a gentle blue gray! Lovely!

 

I load some of the gifts onto a sled. Primrose spots this right away when she arrives. There's no snow here, but a sled can be pulled without it!

A walk to the lake. Primrose is holding on to a book that was part of the gift pile...

We were here in the thick of fall and now we are so on to winter! The lake is frozen now.

(Studying a chunk of ice from the lake...)

First attempt at slip sliding (aka skating, of sorts!)...

And loving every minute of it.

Happy girl!

A mango and gingerbread snack...

A dance, a song, a distanced hug. See you in the awesome new year!!!

Two hours later, I am at the farmhouse, taking out the pots for tonight's dinner.

A quick but very sweet, remote Christmas gift check in with the Chicago family (we'd exchanged presents, but it wasn't practicable to open them in the park)...

And now the Madison family comes and it is as any Sunday -- noisy and lively and one could only wish that this was the norm, not the exceptional month when we can do this without worry.

(Snowdrop goes right for the Wobble -- beloved until the moment when she drops the heavy board on her foot!)

(Sparrow, on the other hand, goes for the tiny Legos, still not believing his luck in gaining access to them...)

(An after dinner exhale on the orange couch...)

It's snowing outside. I step out and watch them navigate the quickly accumulating white stuff. 

 

 

 

A gift. This Sunday was a gift.

Christmas 2020. It ends for us tonight.

Saturday - 260th

It is still Thanksgiving weekend and we are still making Thanksgiving connections. Today, for example, I drove to Illinois for an outdoor, distanced and masked (except when eating and then super-distanced) meetup with my younger girl, her husband, and of course Primrose.

And so my morning is rushed. Hurry up, animals! Eat! Hey Ed, you'll need to de-ice their water dish, I didn't have time to do it!

 

Breakfast... (thanks for coming down, I know you're half asleep still)

And I'm off. 

We chose the same park for our time together -- Raven Glen Forest Preserve -- because it's convenient, uncrowded, and with wide paths. And don't forget the lake to throw sticks in! Again, we are so very lucky to have radiant sunshine and relatively mild temperatures all day.

It feels good to be in this now familiar space with the three of them.

(Arrival!)

 

(Ready for an adventure)

 

 (But first a snack)

The worry evaporates, the pleasure of being together sets in.

And of course, it's grand to watch Primrose grow in confidence and maturity. (Again, I am grateful for a Zoom lens...)

(Classen treats!)

 

(A final look...)

I'm the first to complain about longer car rides (anything over 30 minutes feels long to me), but for this particular meetup, the ride is just fine. The radio is on (I'm so old fashioned), my thoughts fly to my kids and their families. And of course, the sun is out and the world looks lovely, even in November.

On the return trip, I stop at a farm that is selling Christmas trees. I always get a small tree from my Madison grocery store, but they are refusing to do curbside pickup or delivery of their trees and wreaths, so I'm happy to pick one up now, in this southern corner of Wisconsin.

 

But as I get out of the car and one of the young men approaches me to help with the selection, I can't help but feel disappointed that he is not wearing a mask. Neither are his siblings (they look like their sibs). I say no thanks and get back in the car. I want a tree I can feel happy about, from a business that cares about the safety of its shoppers. The tree purchase will have to wait until I can get to the nursery in town that does indeed do curbside pickup.

I get home in mid-afternoon. Ed has been knocking around the farmhouse. That wont do! It's a beautiful day, we need to walk! It's a challenge to find an empty space on this weekend, without hunters shooting at you, but we do find peace (and safety!) along a Nature Conservancy trail.

 

Such a beautiful day! And once again, there's a no fuss dinner (turkey leftovers!) waiting for us this evening. Thanksgiving just keeps on giving!

Saturday - 239th

What a day! Unforgettable! And that's an understatement. The weather, the election, the kids, their families, the walks, the sunset. All stunning.

It's very late. I have many photos to sort through and they're important. They include the young family whom I haven't seen since... July.

Today was all about meeting up in the new reality of the pandemic. I was up early, I fed the animals, Ed came down for breakfast...

 

... and then I drove down to Raven Glen, a forest preserve just south of the Wisconsin - Illinois border. Illinois residents cannot travel to Wisconsin without having to quarantine afterwards, but I surely can go there for an outdoor, distanced, masked meetup with the younger family. A couple of hours in the car and I am with them again.

(On the drive down, I hear the election call. Calm restored!)

The rest of the day can be told in photos. Lots of them, because I see the little girl so rarely now! She should command today's space on Ocean. And she does.

 (A game of soccer...)

 

 

 

(The hike)

(The lake)

(The picnic)

 

(A day of unicorns...)

 

(And eventually, of distanced hugs)

 

(Last wave good bye...)

Sigh...

Typically, I spend Saturday afternoons reading outside with Snowdrop, but today I arrive late and only for a few minutes...

(A good zoom lens is my photographic best friend these days... No mask required for the minutes that we are outdoors, some twenty feet apart)

 

 

 (Anything closer and the mask goes on...)

 

(It's late and so I only stay a short while. Long enough to give my eager listeners an account of how Primrose is faring...)

  

By the time I drive home, the sun has almost set.

 

 

 

Still, as I pull in, I find an Ed, ready for an early evening walk. To count steps, sure, but mostly to review everything. To exhale, with gratitude for this most beautiful day. 

With love...