to Chicago

Did I mention how crazy our planning was for this trip of mine? All along I was to run like mad the moment I heard my daughter was going into labor. In good traffic, their home is about 2.5 hours away from the farmette, but in Chicago you cannot count on good traffic. We hoped it would all somehow come together okay. I was to stay with their little Primrose until they came home from the hospital with the new addition. The due date is in the second half of December, but it is going to be a planned delivery, so we expected my coming to Chicago would be no later than today and that she would go into the hospital tomorrow.

All hell broke loose when last week Primrose was exposed to Covid from a teacher in her school. You can imagine the what ifs that flew. We quickly reformulated the plan. If Primrose were to fall ill, I would bring my older daughter to Chicago (she volunteered) and hang back at the sidelines. I dont know what their hospital return would have looked like, but they are great planners and so I'm sure there were options on the table. 

So it was a question of testing and waiting. A week has passed, the girl did not develop Covid (would someone dare challenge the mask mandate to my face? Two of my younger grandkids had the highly transmissible variant of Covid in their masks-mandatory school room and both managed to avoid bringing it home and yes, I'm knocking on wood and thanking stars), so I've packed my bag and not too long after breakfast...

I head south.

 

(for the road!)

 

 

I am grateful for my new car. I have good driving weather, but still, it is cold, and the car lives in the great outdoors. I need it to have an "I'm tough!" attitude toward winter. So far so good.

Hello, young family, soon to be a family of four! Hello Primrose! What? You baked cookies with mom?

Hello, younger very big bellied daughter of mine...

Dinner with the young family...

 

Let me put away the camera for now. I'm sure it will get a work out in the days ahead. Tonight, let's just enjoy each others company and review the thousand and one details that always attend big disruptions in routines.

(Oh, here's a snapshot done by my girl! Their Christmas tree makes an appearance! As does Primrose, playing a game with me.)

 

 

 

And let's feel grateful for all that for once went right for everyone involved.

With love...

the evolution of a party

My Polish friends and I began Zoom-partying back in March of 2020, when I came to the inevitable conclusion that I could not travel to Poland as planned. So we met on Zoom instead of in person, and we have been Zoom partying every three or four weeks ever since. (Well, it feels more like a party to them as we gather during their evenings... and my noon hour.)

At first, Poland was spared a Covid surge and so the commiserating flowed mostly east to west. Toward me. Especially in the Fall of 2020, when Wisconsin rose to the honor of being a state with proportionately the greatest numbers of infection in this country, which itself lead the world in infections at the time. 

But, we've since learned that the virus bounces around the world like a silly putty let loose in a school building. You can't predict where it will bounce to next and how long it will stay there. And so each month we passed the sympathy along to those who felt the burden of the pandemic most. At least two of my friends did get sick, several of their children and grandchildren also fell ill, though thankfully all have recovered -- some more quickly than others. 

Today we were to have a Zoom holiday-themed gathering, but though I wore antlers and some sipped potent beverages, we spent more than two hours once again immersed in the topic of Covid. We have all been triple vaxxed, yet the fact remains that we are all in that demographic that has proven to be so defenseless again and again as variants emerge, and people refuse to get shots for the good of humanity, let alone themselves. So we talk about what our holidays will look like this year and we are all a cheerful bunch, so jokes fly and good humor prevails, but I cannot tell you how eager we are to wake up someday (maybe in 2022?) without the fear of Covid hanging over us. A Zoom party where we don't compare Covid notes -- impossible to imagine right now, but something to look forward to in some future period of time. 

(3 missing today, happily *not* because of Covid)

In other news -- we Wisconsinites are creeping up to temperatures that belong more to early fall, even though we are just one week away from winter solstice. Today the sun was out and the patches of snow suddenly became a rarity.

Breakfast.

After my Zoom get together, I went with Ed to run two very important errands -- he needed a new battery for his car from Farm & Fleet, and I really needed a box of Candinas. Their herbal infusion truffle and ginger truffle are still hard to beat. We needed a box to carry us into the new year!

Both the chocolate shoppe and F&F are close to a segment of the Ice Age trail that cuts through the Prairie Moraine County Park. It's a lovely little segment (it took us about an hour to cover most of it), especially if you don't mind the occasional dog joining you on a part of the path (it overlaps with a terrific dog park -- one I would certainly take my pooch to if I had a pooch: lots of good dog sniffing ground and forest trees to mark). The sun was already making its way to the horizon, but still, it felt warm enough for Ed to leave his jacket in the car.

And then we came home and I made a frittata -- large enough for us to have tonight, with plenty of leftovers for him to enjoy in my absence. Unless something unexpected happens, I will be in Chicago starting tomorrow. 

In the meantime, some lights and gingerbread and love, sent your way.

a peaceful wild

It's not your typical Sunday. First of all, we're just a handful of days before Christmas and for me, that's a big deal, especially since nothing about the week ahead is going to be normal. So a double whammy of  crazy. Then, too, there is still a wintry dusting of snow on the ground...

 

But it wont last. We're told that Wednesday will set records in terms of warmth. At the same time, a plunge into Arctic territory will follow, so that by next weekend we'll be colder than cold. Wild weather, though surely of a peaceful kind, for which we are grateful.

Breakfast? That's sweet. 

And then the kids come. They're not here for dinner today and so they asked for a farmhouse play date during the day. Of course! 

They had just run an errand with mom to a bakery and each was allowed to bring over a treat. Sparrow picked a cupcake...

Snowdrop chose the baguette. 

There was a mix of play and books and fruits and the usual preferred pasta lunches. A happy day, with lots of imaginative story telling. At times quiet...

At times a bit on the wild side.

(timed release)

They leave in the afternoon. The house grows still. 

Maybe too still. Ed and I talk each other into a walk in our local park. On the way, we pass a field of sandhill cranes. You can't easily snap a good photo -- their pale colors blend with those of the harvested cornfield. Still, they are beautiful to behold and we pause to take a good look.

At home again I automatically light my candle. It's hard to think of a winter evening without it. Tonight I reach for Havikko Home, described here in this way: it’s a bold blend of lingonberries and birch, with notes of frozen lingonberries, balsam fir, cinnamon, clove, cedarwood, and white birch.  The name "Haavikko Home" was inspired by Teresa's Finnish grandmother's last name. (Made in Wisconsin!)

Talk about evocative! I'm not sure what frozen lingonberries smell like, but the effect is one of winter baking in a cabin up north. Wild woods, peaceful cabin, with, what the heck -- a pot full of bubbling ligonberries being transformed into jam. 

Winter never felt so cozy, or smelled this good!

Saturday

My grandkids are getting to an age where they can hold me accountable for things I said. For example, in our ongoing discussion about Santa, Snowdrop, who is very close to turning seven, interrupted my soliloquy about hearing mysterious bells ring in the distance late on Christmas Eve and said -- gaga, you already told me you used to fool your girls about Santa being nearby with a set of bells that you yourself would jingle! So I did. But how is it that I am now reminded of what I did with "my girls" by my own granddaughter? 

Being held to one's words can be a problem. After all, your attitude might change and new information may have you think twice about promises once made. In the case of Santa, there are shifting sands, too, as kids age and your conversations become more penetrating. And it's not only about Santa. The pandemic keeps reconfiguring our parameters of what is safe. Yet people expect consistency. I know I promised travel with Snowdrop. Too, she was told forever and ever that once vaccinated, she would be safe. Yet here she is, still asked to avoid crowded indoor spaces, still needing that mask, because there are the younger kids and the community spread and the new variant and so on and so on. 

You hope kids realize that you are not omnipotent and that promises are best guesses and they're not without merit -- they are twinkling stars that keep us feeling the enchantment of life, even as we can't really tell if they will twinkle for us every single day in exactly the same way. Some will, some wont and that's fine too. An adventurous life is one where we can't always predict the outcome, but we know for sure that there will be stories to tell of the daring deeds and faced obstacles and yes, eventually those stars we encountered along the way.

There was a lot of rain last night and eventually that rain turned to snow. Not much snow for us here, in south central Wisconsin, but enough to make you want to go out and touch it. Delicately, because, well, it's just a thin layer that's bound to melt, if not today, then in the days ahead.

(cat, hiding)

Snowdrop is left here right after her early morning activity. (Her brother is at a birthday event, so she comes alone). She shows up without a jacket so I assume she wants to hurry inside.

And she does -- just to put on some farmhouse mittens, caps, pullover, gloves. There's always warm stuff she can use here.

Then out she goes again. Even this tiny bit of snow makes her giddy!

But I remind her that she insisted we bake muffins together and I held off eating breakfast until we had some fresh from the oven, and eventually she agreed to turn her back to outdoor play. I was relieved. Neither of us were properly dressed for freezing temps.

Indoors, we baked.

And ate.

And yes, it is the perfect combination -- a romp in the cold crisp air, and a session of baking in a very warm kitchen.

Some time in the afternoon, after we'd gone through too many books to count and she had played out all her own stories in the playroom I take her home. And now, back at the farmhouse, I watch the light change all around me. Outside, and inside as well.

 

My candle -- this one from the Keap people, ever so gently bringing the whiff of Northlands into the house -- is like light therapy only without the ugly white box shining at you. Just a flicker is enough. Funny how oftentimes just a little something goes a long way.

all is calm

So far, no great turmoil taking place here at the farmette. All is quiet. Sort of. When Ed's not around I play music. But gently. And yes, Snowdrop is here this afternoon, but she has an unusually delicate voice. In fact, she told me the other day that she is the only one in her class who has NOT received the reprimand to please read more quietly when you are reading to yourself. She says no one can hear her. It's funny, she tells me -- I am the biggest chatterbox in class, but I never get caught at it because my voice is so quiet.

I agree with that! (Most of the time.) When I drive her to the farmette after school, I strain to hear what she is telling me. And the worst is if she answers with an uh-huh or an uh-uh. One is a yes, the other a no. Indistinguishable coming from the back seat. 

The day allowed me to catch up with wrapping and writing. Not exactly serious writing, but card messaging for the holidays. Somehow I cannot get it into my head that a printed card is good to go. I feel I must insert a handwritten note. A weird anachronism from my childhood when I saw piles of printed cards come in to my parents' home (my father was a diplomat, which is by definition a magnet for holiday greeting cards) -- ones sent by office staff, never touched by the senders themselves. These days, printed cards are special and personal and have a lot of the sender in them and I deeply appreciate, indeed love each one that comes my way. Still, when it comes time for me to send something out -- the pen is in my hand and I pause to scribble something to the recipient.

I'm done, except for one person whom, well, I have to ask: Jennie -- are the rumors true?? Did you really pack your bags and move from California to Paris??? Let me know!!

Photos from today are all from the afternoon. Despite the alleged calm, there was a lot of confusion at breakfast as Ed was taking care of several things at the same time -- never a good thing for him! Fascinated, I watched, without camera in hand. But soon after, peace prevailed.

So, Snowdrop pics! If all goes well, this would be my last school pick up for a while, so enjoy this bundled up first grader!

 

And now for some playful moments, here...

(Hey, that cookie is definitely mine!)

... and back at her house, with her brothers:

While here, at the farmhouse, all is very very calm.

Oh yeah...

Wait, Dance! Leave that tree alone!  Shush....

Thursday

Tricky scheduling situations kept me glued to the computer all morning long. We did have a lovely breakfast...

And I had the treat of good music in the background while doing my kitchen routines.

This is totally thanks to Ed and my younger son-in-law. Ed helped me sell of a bunch of stuff on Craigslist this week, netting me a little pocket money. With it, I bought my bluetooth "sound system" (portable and beautiful, displayed above). It's amazing how prices have come down and quality has gone up with these small devices. I knew I needed one when the Chicago young family last visited and my son-in-law wanted to stream some good music for us (he picks such excellent stuff). Looking around at what is available here at the farmhouse, he let out a light smile and said -- you do have the dated devices! I mean, that was being kind. I actually had no devices. We had to listen directly from his phone. But I vowed to improve things here a bit, and clearing spaces around the house put Ed in such a good mood that he even helped me move forward with this new, wee but powerful addition to our home.

In the afternoon I scooted out to pick up Snowdrop. I hadn't had time for lunch so I grabbed a coffee and cookie while she was here. Chocolate covered covered gingerbread? No way is she going to let me eat that alone!

(Reading through some new books...)

We are all circling around bugs and viruses that are in the air and I dare say she felt a little run down, but she rallied and it was a lovely afternoon.

(Helping Ed fix a computer problem for my mom...)

And in the evening? Happy half b'day, little Sparrow! You are officially 3.5 years old today!

 

 

Sandpiper, on the other hand, tries hard to impress with a pull on the old sock...

I mean, it's a real skill! And back at home, Dance just keeps hitting on that girl-with-a-goat ornament again and again and again.