Chicago

The weekend: it is that break and rest that you get for working at your job (in most jobs) or going to school. You abandon someone else's imposed schedule and create your own.

Some of us are so programmed, so wedded to the weekday clock that we find this to be an insignificant change. We get up at nearly the same time, we eat meals that we're hungry for at the same hour. The older you get the more this is the case. So that even if you are retired and by definition not tied to that work ordering of your day, you do not do what you've longed all your tired adult work days to do -- you do not as a habit sleep in, you do not unravel your commitment to a set schedule.

So I am not surprised that this Chicago household, though looser at the edges, still gets up at close to a weekday hour and still aims to follow many of the routines of a weekday. It's just easier that way. Though the stress is nearly gone: no one will kill you if you slack off and get going later than you had wanted to.

Morning: breakfast, and a leisurely vibe. Us older guys eat granola. Juniper tries oatmeal with peanut butter to test her peanut tolerance.

(Juniper and Primrose: good with each other, good for each other)

My daughter has the idea that we could walk to the Green City Market in Lincoln Park. It's one of Chicago's nicest farmers markets and it's only a brisk 45 minute trudge from where we are. I'm tickled with this expedition. I love local markets, especially now, in July, and I very much want to see how different this one is from our own. A Chicago market gets lots of produce from Michigan so I'll be able to see what's growing in Illinois and its eastern neighbor.

We set out. My daughter comments later that she looks stern in the photo. I think she looks determined!

It really is a cool walk. Chicago's neighborhoods are architecturally and historically and commercially interesting. Perhaps it's not a great plan to meander through all of them, but today's walk certainly ranks as a really good one. 

And the market is also a winner. It's along a U-shaped space, with lots of green grasses and shady spots for a blanket if you want to linger. And we do!

We pick up some bakery items and, too, some fruits from Michigan... 

... and I do see that there are for more fruit stands than we have and perhaps somewhat fewer veggie and flower stands. But the vibe is great and the foods are delicious. And guess what! I find a stand with this year's first corn! Definitely worth adding to tonight's dinner.

In the afternoon, the kids rest (Juniper cut her first tooth and this brings her a great source of relief -- she has struggled through teething and a set of viruses during my time here and it's nice to see her finally exhale some). I prepare the foods for supper. And what may that be? You wont be surprised if I say a spinach and mushroom frittata! I mean, talk about making something that I know from every angle! Besides, they have lots of good CSA eggs in their fridge.

(dessert: vanilla ice cream with blackberries, just like one in her book; if you're a kid you'll likely know which book)

Evening. Hard to believe it's my last one. Too, it's not as if everything is cleared up and everyone is good to go. But, the kids are *mostly* good to go (for now) and their dad will be coming home tomorrow.

In the meantime, bugs, viruses and all, it's been thrilling to be with these three! Such great girls they are! 

With so much love...

Chicago

The summer morning has rain in it here in Chicago, though unfortunately only spotty showers up north. The farmette really needs more than just spotty shower. 

Juniper had another night low on sleep and high on tossing and turning, which means that her mom also had a night low on sleep. But we're hoping the little one has crested and is climbing down to a happier healthier plateau. The fever is still bouncing, as light fevers do, but she got up raring to go. Just not to school yet. It'll be another day with grandma while mom and big sister go off, one to work, the other to her own school adventures.

(ready!)

(definitely sweater weather)

(left with grandma and camera!)

(lots of morning smiles)

(working on her inner Chopin...)

While Juniper naps, I get dinner ready. Someday, when the grandkids write their own memoirs, they may well insert something like this into their text: "my grandmother Nina, called gaga by some, because, well, that was an easy word to pronounce at age one, loved family meals and she spent her grandma years trying to find foods and preparations that would please every single member of both young families. She struck gold with crunchy chicken. We all loved it and we're told that our mothers felt an equal pleasure eating it for dinner when they were young. Grandma said she did not invent it -- some dude named Pierre Farney put it in a cook book called the Sixty Minute Gourmet some eighty years ago. Well, maybe not eighty, but quite a while back. Still, she adjusted it to what was available and sometimes she used breadcrumbs and sometimes she used Panko, but it always tasted perfectly delicious and we would all have happy grins when she would tell us that tonight was crunchy chicken night!"

Of course, there is still Juniper. She could be her own person and choose tofu over crunchy chicken. Never assume. But for now, I fillet the chicken breasts and egg 'em and crumb them and put them aside for later pan frying.

When a break appears in the rain, I take Juniper out for a short walk. Nothing ambitious. Just enough to wipe off the dust in the mind and clear the senses. 

Evening: all the girls, young and older, are home.

(hey world, mom's home!)

There's time for play. Juniper watches, Primrose unwinds. Grandma hugs...

... then gets down to the business of cooking dinner.

(and Juniper joins us! not quite ready for crunchy chicken, but asparagus spears -- yes: easy to hold, easy to gnaw on)

Cross our fingers for a weekend where the babe continues to be on the upswing and the household returns to the usual lovely normal.

But really, it's been so good to have all these hours with Juniper (seven months old today!), indeed, with the both of them. With the three of them!

With so much love...

Chicago

Some time at a dawn-ish hour a text came in from my daughter telling me that Juniper was Covid negative. This is good news of course. I stayed in bed marveling at how the lab worked round the clock to get these results to parents. But this spot of good news didn't erase the sleepless night the little girl had, nor did it free her to go to school today. And so I pack my bag and go up to the empty hotel lobby (this hotel has its lobby on the upper level) and check out, casting one glance at the spectacular view they have of the Chicago skyline.

(I ignore the free breakfast which, as in most chain hotels, is really there to keep you from overeating. Absolutely nothing tempts you. My daughter's granola and fruit later in the morning will be way better.)

I tug my case and trudge up one commercial street...

... turning into the leafy residential area where my girl lives.

And now I truly can be helpful, though not in the way we had imagined it. With me here, my daughter can get some work done. I start off with taking Primrose to school...

(ready!)

... with Juniper along for the ride. I am trying to keep the babe awake so that I can nap her later. Primrose is a great help here.

Okay, school girl, have a great day and we'll see you at pickup!

Now Juniper, please stay awake!

She does.

At home I cycle through the routines: nap, feed, bathe, play, nap, feed, play, walk. A baby's life. Oh, sure, what you do in the waking hours changes. Juniper is playful, upright and raring to go.

Still, there is a schedule and it helps her and me if we more or less stick with it.

(quick post bath hug)

The day is beautiful -- really gorgeous. A walk is brilliant. In fact, I don't know many babes who do not relish outdoor time, even in less perfect weather. The stimulation of sounds and sights, the movement, the dappled sunlight -- it's all one great adventure. And Juniper is one who loves adventure.

And we have a terrific destination goal: just a couple of days ago, a new place opened in the neighborhood: Dolci Amori, with lots of fresh, beautiful, delicious Italian cookies.

Dessert for today and a big box of cookies for Ed!

Eventually I head out to pick up Primrose. Juniper is not up for another walk so it's just us two. 

And guess what! I spot a daylily!

It's been a full day and my daughter is going on far too little sleep so we call it quits early tonight. Still, there was time for lunch together and now there is time for a spritz of wine and just a little reflection. About all the good that the day has brought us. About the sweet moments and delightful smiles. Half full indeed!

With so much love...

to Chicago

I've long planned to be in Chicago this week. My son in law is out of town and my daughter could you a second pair of hands. Too, it's time for my monthly visit! Kids grow fast. I don't want to lose the thread of that rapid development.

So my morning farmette routines are ones that I typically fit in before I leave. Water the pots, inside and out, clean up the garden as best as I can, knowing that I will have my work cut out for me with the lilies when I come back at the end of the weekend. All those unsnapped flowers! Ah well, Ed wont even notice! My obsessions are not his obsessions nor are his mine. We may share a love of this land, but what exactly fills our hearts here is very specific to who we are and what we bring to it.

Okay, my morning walk. Last chance to admire the early July flowers! (We are still at least a week behind last year in terms of blooms. This is a good thing -- the peak of blossoming will happen after I come back.)

(froggie on the outside today...)

Breakfast, on the porch. 

Pack, check on Ed's food supply, one last look at the garden and I'm off!

I expect it to be a singularly wonderful visit. Many evenings with my daughter, many play hours with the girls. But halfway down to Chicago, in my zoned out highway mindset, I get the call from my daughter: Juniper is under the weather. She is being sent home from school.

No one thinks it's Covid. No one knows for sure it's not Covid. Until we have a negative test, me being with her, playing with her, laughing with her is not a good idea.

We recalibrate. 

I drive to a nearby hotel and book a room, then I ditch the car and, while my daughter takes Juniper to the doc, I go to pick up Primrose at school. And this part is as it should be: playful, joyful, lovely. And we continue to do our stuff back at her house (coloring the city book!)

Eventually Juniper comes back from the doc and I put on my mask and watch her from a distance.

It's not the best way to visit with a baby and especially a granddaughter, but it will have to do until her test results come back. 

In the meantime, I play with Primrose and linger while she eats her supper (and discusses dessert with her mom)...

... but that's all we can squeeze in on this rather messy day. Let's hope tomorrow this all will blow over and we'll be able to get back to our planned days together.

I walk to the hotel, stopping by at Uni's to pick up some take out Japanese food. The name of the place reminds me of our own Uni back home and momentarily, I reel back in thought to the farmette and the chickens. Ed is riding his bike tonight. He'll be home late. When he does this, I put away the cheepers because waiting until he returns is not the safest strategy. Tonight he'll make do. And my daughter will make do without my help if things go awry at her place. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in my hotel room eating raw salmon (is that really what I ordered? I guess so, I was distracted...) and munching on edamame and looking out the window. Not quite the view I thought I'd have with me tonight.

Still, if I look to the right, I can almost see the rooftop of the building where my two grandgirls are, I hope, sleeping.

Goodnight all you kids out there who have had to put up with so much shuffling, and change of plans, and reimagining because of Covid. 

With so much love...

Tuesday

Somehow a poem by Mary Oliver ended up on the screen this morning. One of those things where the internet sends me stuff it thinks suits my whims and predilections. It's frightening how accurate they can be! Here's the poem:

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers

flow in the right direction, with the earth turn

as it was taught, and if not how shall

I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,

can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows

can do it and I am, well,

hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,

am I going to get rheumatism,

lockjaw, dementia?

Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.

And gave it up. And took my old body

and went out into the morning,

and sang.

Many picked up on this particular poem when the pandemic struck and indeed, Mary Oliver became more of a household name in the last couple of years. Maybe interest was stoked by our rather desperate search for calm. Or maybe her death three years ago put her in a flash of limelight. And surely we need her now more than in years of greater contentment. 

I discovered her in a weird way that today seems quaintly of a bygone era: I used to go to my local Borders Bookstore on a regular basis. And I would browse and pick up a stack of books and then sit down, perhaps at the coffee shop, and I would read a passage here, a poem there. Somehow I had pulled Oliver from the shelf and I was hooked. And then I read about her as a person and I was hooked even more. 

For me, Oliver was one of the few poets (indeed writers) who could link emotion to nature seamlessly and present it as one. She liked solitude (though she lived with her partner for some four decades) and took long walks that gave her so much material for her poems!  And what was significant on those walks for her is just the stuff that I may have thought to be significant. Of course, she had exactly the right words for it. We the readers could coast, along for the ride. And it was always a ride worth taking.

It's rare for me to love poetry. Sure, I have absorbed all of Szymborska and most of Neruda, and I have a book of Wordsworth that I refuse to ever give up, but on a daily basis, I prefer prose. Still, Oliver is forever in my pocket and I am so happy that some genius metric put that poem on my computer screen this morning.

I woke early and worked hard outside. Four hours, nonstop. Snip, clip, dig, water. I'm taking a break from outdoor work in the next few days so I have to get my fields in shape to withstand my purposeful neglect.  The day is sunny, beautiful and everything about my work is grand. Here are today's favorite photos from the farmette flower fields:

Breakfast? After noon. On the porch. With a screen before us on account of the hearings.

And soon after, I pick up Snowdrop from Invention Camp. They have these camp spirit games, hence the cap. 

We come to the farmhouse. Two things to note here: first, there are a few fraises des bois ripe and ready for picking in my two fraises des bois pots on the picnic table. They're covered by a net so that the cheepers or other berry loving animals wont get to them. We untangle the little berries and Snowdrop has her first taste of what is a common enough fruit in Europe, but is never ever sold in an American market.

Too, I show her where some ripe raspberries have popped out. 

She tells me -- you're lucky to live on a farm. I smile at that. Without Ed's presence and help, I'd give up on the farmette projects in two minutes. 

Toward evening I take her home and linger there for a while, chatting to my daughter while the kids play. What kids? Well, yes, this guy...

But too the older ones, along with some neighborhood children that inevitably stop by in the course of a summer eve. 

And eventually I am home again, cooking chili. I know -- that is one weird dish to cook for a warm summer eve, but I want to fix a few meals that are good to have on hand in the fridge and, too, we need to work through the rest of last year's tomatoes.

We eat on the porch. Why? Because at 8:30 (which seems to be our summer dinner hour these days) the light outside is so beautiful! This beautiful!

A canvas of warm and gentle color: a dab here, a fleck there.