frozen

Winterize the porch: that was the assignment for today. What this means is that we take out all the potted plants, dump them in the compost pile and clean up the spaces they leave behind. And so long as we are working there, I may as well dig up the weeds growing just to the north of the screen. That's a fall rather than spring project. It's the last spot on the farmette lands that unfreezes in the early spring (north, shade), so if I want the weeds out, now's the time to dig.

And here's what I notice: yes, it is cold outside, but that's not the issue. I have sweaters and jackets for that. The more unnerving thing is that the earth itself is already very very cold. I wear gardening gloves but they don't help at all. My fingers grow numb pretty quickly. That's the first sure sign of our being at the cusp of winter: frozen fingers.

So yes indeed, we had a deep frost and most annuals gave up the ship. The walk to feed the animals was crisp and brisk.

And shortly after breakfast Ed and I got to work.

I can't say we wanted to stay out all day. The hands just can't take that kind of chill for long. Still, if after today, we do nothing more in the flower fields until spring, we'd be okay! Any additional work that we do outside will be cosmetic.

With that feel good attitude, I suggest he and I head out to Gail Ambrosius chocolate shop.

I have known Gail for a while -- since the two of us worked as the Saturday morning bakers at L'Etoile Restaurant. We made croissants and gougeres and epi loaves while it was still dark outside and in those predawn hours I learned that Gail was just biding her time at L'Etoile. Her goal has always been to open an exquisite chocolate shop. And eventually she did it. She is now regarded as one of the premiere chocolatiers in the Midwest. The only reason Ed and I tend to buy our box at Candinas instead of at Gail's is that the former is on our way to Farm & Fleet. Gail is a little out of the way. 

But today, we make a special trip to her shop. Her truffles are incredible: earl gray, jasmine, blueberry. Shiitake,  lemongrass, curry. Cointreau, cognac, rose. These days, I hardly eat any sweets. With one exception: a piece of special chocolate, at the close of dinner, every night. Oftentimes it's nothing more than a few squares from a bar of dark with orange bits. But lately we've been working our way through a truffle box and so the appetite for these has been whetted. 

 

 

Gail's chocolate shop is simple. In this way, she is different than, say, a French chocolatier, who will go to great pains to make attractive displays. But to her credit, we are not a city of strollers and shoppers. Working on window displays would be a waste of her time.

We buy a box with a variety of flavors. And as we make our selection, I'm thinking that a good chocolate truffle is probably up there with my most favorite foods. It is indeed a luxury -- her chocolates are expensive -- but Ed and I split just one chocolate each night, so a box will last us a long while.

Gail is working in the back, but she sees me in the store and so she comes out to chat. Of course, it's been a rough year. You can't make chocolates remotely. Finding people to do the intensively delicate work during a pandemic has to be tough. She said they barely managed to get through last year's holidays. But this year is better and I wouldn't be surprised if she is pushed to make an eye-popping number of chocolates. I can't think of a better gift to give someone on your holiday list. 

After we made our purchase, carefully selecting each and every one of these:

...Ed and I stay in this part of town and walk through the neighborhood. From Lake Monona, along the Yahara River (which joins Madison's two big lakes), and then back again.

(Looking toward Lake Monona)

(... and in the direction of Lake Mendota)

It's a lovely day for it, but it is a bit nippy. I had the foresight to wear my winter jacket, but I missed my cap and Ed -- well, he's still in shorts. (Hey, it did go up to 41F, or 5C, but still, not shorts weather, Ed! His explanation? Oh, they were the closest pair of pants around.)

 

Soup for supper -- my veggie combo, with all those CSA veggies and cannellini beans and grated parmesan. And a chocolate for dessert. Blueberry tonight. Mmmmm....

farmette bubble

Truly I don't get it. I wake up and check my smart phone. Madison is at 29F, so about -2C. Below freezing. The cold weather has arrived. Yet when I step outside with a can full of warm water so that I can defrost the animal water dish outside (it freezes over come nighttime during the winter months), I see no ice crystals out there. And the annuals haven't flopped down yet. So -- were we spared? Fine with me! Let's enjoy one more day of pretty colors!

Tonight, they're predicting a low of 25F (that's -4C). No way will we escape the inevitable. Still, the day is sunny and crisp. A lovely November morning.

In the afternoon, I'm there again at school, car at the head of the line, waiting for Snowdrop.

With infections still bouncing around everywhere, you never know how your plans will change and I am super grateful that at the moment, I can still do this pick up and bring the little girl to the farmhouse for an afternoon here. Knock on wood! Yeah, pound on it, that old timber!

(she found the marshmallows in the pantry...)

Sparrow is home of course. Parents say he's a little bouncing off the walls. Not surprised: his schedule suddenly is upside down. Not only is his school room closed down, but the kids' sitter is also sick with something. Still, the little guys are doing well! Knock knock knock knock knock!!

One day at a time.

And in the evening, Ed and I find the very latest (22nd!) season of Grand Designs! I swear, we grew up on this show, watching it from the very first episodes aired when he and I first began our own grand design of a life together. A blissful finale to a very pretty day indeed.

onto November

What's safe these days? Are you back in the swing of life, or are you one toe in and the rest still out? Surely that's me -- nine toes are hardly even skirting the waters of normal life.

I have an appointment at my whoop-tee-do-for-my-Subaru dealer. Some factory recall issue that, I'm told, will take up to two hours to fix.

What's a person to do...

I leave the car at the Subaru shop and head out for a stroll.

If it is around 40F (4/5C) and windy, you need to bundle up. I did not do that. Walking through the wasteland that is Odana Road, home to most of Madison's west side car dealers, social security offices and other equally unattractive entities, I feel that bite of cold air. Had there been a cap shop, I would have gone in and purchased one. No cap shop. I walk bareheaded.

Eventually I come to a coffee shop. Such a dilemma! What warms you more, a continued brisk walk, or a cup of hot tea, but at an outside table? Those are your choices -- pick!

You may feel confident in your movements, in staying in the heated coffee shop on a comfy cushion chair. I don't. This week Sparrow's entire class has been told to stay home. They're being monitored for Covid because a classmate tested positive at the end of last week. I noted that in the entire Dane County (home to Madison), there are on the average only four infections in the age category 0 - 4 per day. So you think -- what are the chances that it will be in your kid's class! Ho hum. (Masks work: Sparrow so far is testing negative.)

I sit at my outdoor table warming my hands on the warm cup of tea, wishing still I had a cap, and then the sun comes out and I think  -- well now, this is okay! And just at that moment, the dealer calls to tell me the car is ready. I give up my spot in the sun and walk back to reclaim my Blue Moon.

The nice thing about traipsing about in the cold, soulless blocks of Odana Road in the morning? I have no guilt in spending the afternoon on the couch ruminating about the forthcoming holidays. Not many photos for you. No surprise there! My camera refused to be dazzled by my walking route. My Fitbit, on the other hand, was excited.

Photos from before the car project:

(Still missed that frost by a degree. But tonight, we'll get a deep freeze, which will, unfortunately, retire these blooms for good.)

(Inside, of course.)

(Autumn gold)

(Evening chat with Primrose!)

Happy November to all!

with love.

Sunday

Happy Halloween! May you have plenty of good toothpaste to work its magic after an evening of a sugar extravaganza!

I'm fully into the holiday today, except not the calendar appropriate holiday. We never get trick-or-treaters out here in the country and so were it not for the kids (more on that later), Halloween would not even receive honorable mention here. But I am fully immersed into Christmas. The family continues to grow and therefore, so does this grandma's cooking/baking/present procurement/etc/etc obligations. And with the impending (well, nearly impending) birth of my granddaughter and the travel that this will entail, to say nothing of the holiday disruption it will likely produce, one has to think ahead and strategize. 

So this is what I do for the better part of the day: I think and I strategize.

The day moves from being cloudy...

(and cozy indoors...)

... to sunny and Ed and I do go out in the afternoon. To work on the million tasks that accumulate for us out there. I finish bulb planting and I continue to bring down some of the perennials. Ed works on fixing rotted trim and then he helps me with raking the beds. Do you know how awful it is to have a female lotus tree growing adjacent to your flower fields? That tree drops seed pods by the thousands. True, the deer come in the winter to eat them, but believe me, we could feed the herds from here to Alaska and still have leftovers on the ground. Which of course sprout into a million lotus saplings right smack in the middle of my flower fields. So raking is a necessity and we started in on that job today. 

It's pretty and decently warm-ish for the last day of October. Honestly, for us here in south central Wisconsin, it's been an amazingly generous and beautiful month.

But as I dig, snip and rake, my mind is on the next holiday and the one after that. Plan and strategize, all day long. 

Except in the evening! Forget about Those Other Holidays! It's Halloweeen!

I go out to my daughter's neighborhood just for a little bit, to see them all in their regalia. There's a black cat and Applejack the pony and I believe there is a little lion in that car seat.

They head out in a small group of friends, parents, etc.

... But I'm told it's the two older girls -- Snowdrop and her school pal -- who stay out the longest, going from door to door with the zeal of two let loose gazelles. Bedtime was very very late today!

Here, at the farmhouse, the sun sets and we retreated to our usual quiet space. 

 

 

 

Ed shuts off the water for the hose outside. The long overdue night frost is finally going to hit us tonight.  We can start hoping for that first snowfall! Maybe before Thanksgiving, maybe after. Always exciting, always beautiful out here, in the country.

Saturday

Gogs, to a little girl, five minutes is forever! Snowdrop has said this several times in the last few days. She'll brush off promises of things to come in a year, a month, a week. What matters is the moment and the options or opportunities that come with it. Okay, she'll listen to what might come in a minute or two, but the cut off is five -- anything beyond that is just too far away.

Kids really are experts at living in the moment.

Time ran away from me today (as it so often does these days). Woosh! It's the end of the day. How did I get here? It was just morning a minute ago!

Well, it was a busy day. In fact, a super busy day. Perhaps the biggest difference between being retired and working a full time job is that my retired days start more slowly now. I don't jump out of bed and run. I ease into the morning. But after that -- well, I move fast.

Brisk walk to feed the animals.

Brisk preparation of fruit for breakfast, not to be eaten right away, but to have ready for later. Then a quick drive... 

 

 

 

... to the bakery to pick up croissants for a breakfast with Snowdrop and her mom. Snowdrop is already after an activity and Sparrow is gone to do his Saturday activity with his dad, so it's just us three girls and Sandpiper.

You'd have to be a tough grandma to say no to the little girl's request to go back to the farmette with you. I'm no tough grandma. Besides, it's a gorgeous, crisp autumnal day and I can easily twist Snowdrop's arm to stop over at the Arboretum. It's a late Fall season and the trees are, of course, stunning. 

Farmhouse lunch, farmhouse books, farmhouse play and now it is already mid afternoon and Ed hasn't moved a muscle yet. (He has listened to a lot of youtubes. On the couch. Like this one, which piqued her curiosity. She relays that "it's about midpoint constraint fusion some number"). 

 

 

 

I need to push the guy out for a walk. We drop off Snowdrop at home and I return to the Arboretum (it really is at  the midpoint between our two houses). This time with him.

That second walk is all well and good, but I also have Sunday dinner to prepare, even though it's Saturday. We switched the family meal to this day because tomorrow is, well, you know, Trick or Treat day. And so I see the young family once more. At the farmhouse.

For dinner.

All five of them.

(One final "let's bother Ed." Which he allows, always with a grin.)

And after the dishes are cleared and the place put in some semblance of order, I go out in search of the Northern Lights. They were to be spectacular. In the northern states. This evening. If they were, somehow I missed them.

No matter! I'm ready for some couch time. A movie and popcorn. Maybe even a boring movie so time would move more slowly on this beautiful late October day.

Friday

 Do you know the acronym FOMO? I was reading about it in the context of the big hit in Apple's lineup of new products this fall: the cleaning cloth. Yours for $19, but you have to wait, because they're sold out all the way through the end of the year. Of course, this little square of microfibers is, in typical Apple fashion, overpriced. Nonetheless, people buy it. They know they're being fleeced, yet they buy it. Why? Pushed into it by FOMO. Fear of missing out.

Oh yeah, the idea of chasing something that other privileged souls have accessed. It's a mix of a sheep heard mentality along with a desire to keep up with the jones. Compete, conform, scramble to be better or at least as good as those around you. And, too, I saw plenty of FOMO while living under so called communist rule. Lack of access to consumer goods and services triggered this fear in the extreme. If you heard that a store got a shipment of a consumer item, you got in line for it. Not to compete with your neighbor, but to make sure you got some of it in case you needed it in the future. You did not want to miss out.

I have vestiges of this very particular form of FOMO festering in me. Get it now, while supplies last. I almost signed up for the Apple cloth until I came to my senses. And here's the thing: I live with a person who doesn't have a FOMO fiber in his entire large framed body. Indeed, if everyone is going after a super Apple cleaning cloth, he is sure to let me know that paper towels or his tshirt are equally capable of cleaning his computer screen. (To say nothing of the micro cloths we have lying around everywhere, because they come free with glasses and, too, when you fly Air France overseas.) Curbing your inner FOBO: it's such a good idea. And so hard to do. 

 

In other news -- it is a typical late autumnal morning: wet and cold. I think these are the last days of the annual blooms, so I'm going to cast one last look at them now, with a nod of thanks for the color they have added to my gardens this late in the season!

Breakfast. The minimalist look. In the kitchen. Late.

 

 

 

And very soon after, I pick up Snowdrop and bring her back to... her favorite tree. It had been too wet to spend much time in it the past few days. Today -- dry enough.

(But honestly, it's indoor weather for us. With a lunch that she talked me into -- Culver's take out. Chicken tenders, cheese curds. She loves both. Happily for this gogs, she also loves the bowl of fruit I have ready for her.)

Once again we pick up Sparrow at the end of his school day. 

(With leaves, at home now...)

And once again we greet a cheerful Sandpiper waiting for his sibs to come home.

In the evening, I drive to the next town to pick up my repaired (once again) camera. It's a common occurrence here: the Fed Ex guy comes with the delivery to our "front door." We don't use that door and there isn't a doorbell hooked up to it and so if a signature is needed -- we're out of luck. We get a note rather than a delivery.

 

 

I drive back when it's already dark. This before we jump back into daylight non-savings time. Ah, the months of meteorological winter! They really push you to snuggle early under a blanket. And we do! Every evening, on the couch, we do.