Saturday: the visit

I knew you'd be back! Here I am again, not walking but running (metaphorically, because one thing you cannot do after knee replacement is run) from one activity to the next. We have lots planned for this week!

Both young families are in town and today is farmhouse day so I'm up early attending to stuff. Which does include cleaning the garden.

(a few more late bloomers for you, while they last!)

(classic late summer mix)

A quick breakfast, so rushed that I dont even bother with the porch ...

And then I am off to the market. We are all meeting up there for shopping, for play, for a picnic lunch. 

(greetings!)

(the cousins are here!)

(at 2, they really like to hug trees...)

(to market, to market...)

(lunch)

(Door County peaches)

(games)

And now it's farmhouse time. My visiting daughter and her husband want to try out e-bikes and so while the kids nap, we send them off zooming up the bike path... I'll make converts of everyone yet! 

(they took a selfie from their trek...)

And now all the members of both families are at the house while I fix dinner. The kids play. 

There's music. There's dancing, and I distinctly heard Taylor Swift song singing. By the young and the old-er. Not the old. I admit to hearing most of this stuff for the first time. It's a bit of a mock on the whole summer of 23 Swift frenzy, but still, as I look over from the kitchen, I see a whirlwind of laughter and joyousness. 

Well, Sparrow is to the side of things. I'd brought out a puzzle Snowdrop and I had once started and he lost himself in its complexities.

Of course, when there were only a dozen pieces left, everyone got interested! 

Done! Jubilation! (It doesn't take much to have us cheer and twirl and feel giddy with joy.)

Dinner...

And now bedtime for the kids draws near and so they disperse. Until tomorrow!

with so much love...

Friday: the visit

Here they come! The sweet young family from Chicago, arriving today! And you know what that means: I have to get the house and garden in order. There isn't much time, they're coming early. Off I go...

(It's what you call an "immersive garden," as described today in the NYTimes -- note immersed hen!)

(where will you go when there are no more lilies?)

Ed, breakfast, now! You're not up? That's okay, I'll eat with the cat. 

I drive over to meet my daughter and her two girls by my mom's Assisted Living home. A visit there is first on our agenda.

Followed by lunch. At La Baguette. A reminder of the lunches we ate together just a month ago on the other side of the ocean...

(tempting tart)

A brief pause now as the grand-girls rest. I do want to put in a few minutes on the bike, just because it feels good to pedal. So I pull out Alpine Blue and send her pedals spinning! 

And then we are at it again: we all meet up at Capital Brewery, where you can bring your own pizzas and listen to the music outdoors, in their garden. And dance.

You think this post was too brief and to the point? You haven't seen anything yet! The next 8 days are going to be packed tighter than a suitcase for a trip overseas. I wont forget you here, on Ocean. But know that I will be present with only half my being. The other half? Ha! You just have to tune in and follow along.

Until tomorrow, with love...

Thursday

When will I stop my morning routine of cleaning the garden first thing in the morning? Before animals, before breakfast, before anything at all? I look forward to that day and I do think it's coming soon! The number of spent lilies is down significantly. Still, today I clip and clean. And admire the tail end of a lily run!

Okay, animals. Your turn now. And then comes breakfast, which today is just a brief munch on some fruit...

... because I have a real breakfast date downtown -- with my friend from New Mexico. We have a meetup on the Capitol Square and I think it's a splendid morning for riding Alpine Blue over to see her. (Unfortunately, I estimated my ride to be at 30 minutes and it took 40 and so I was late, but she is a patient soul!)

(My plate tells me to stay curious so I will!)

It's always grand to spend time with her and we put in a number of hours sipping coffee and then walking around the Square. Just before noon, I'm back on my bike, pedaling home.

And now we are finessing the bike details: I learn to recharge the battery. Ed attaches the beautiful basket that Karolina, my Polish friend had brought over during her visit last summer. And we add a mirror. And now I'm set! Me and my wheels, ready to explore the world!

Or, a bit of it, here in south central Wisconsin.

In the afternoon Ed and I go to the market. Honestly, I want to ride over (this new love of biking will pass, I'm sure, so I have to seize the moment and fly with it while it lasts), but the market expedition is one Ed and I share and since he's on his motorcycle, I forgo the bike and hop on behind him.

A few words in the matter of corn. Because, you know, we are in the thick of the corn season. (For some growers, the season lasts about 6 weeks, some push it out a little longer.) If you've lived here long enough, you'll know where the good corn is, and where the great corn can be found. For us, the season starts with Alsum Farms Sweet Corn -- sold on the Square each Saturday. With irrigation, they produced a nice crop of quite good corn. It was a lovely start to the season. This year, I also bought Bee Charmers corn early on, and though typically she has corn with a nice, delicate kernel, her first batch was too small and too young. Just okay. Then, our farmer down the road, Stoneman, has exceptionally good corn, but the drought really toned things down this year and I've not seen much of his crop -- it sells out quickly and I'm not sure how it measures up. Natalie, our framer and gardener  from the local market, has really tasty corn that's especially great for freezing (off the cob) for that delicious Thanksgiving (and winter-long) corn dish you're craving. And Tipi, our CSA farmers, have a fabulous corn that's fresh and sweet and delectable. Especially the variety they're packing into boxes this week. I mean, so much to choose from, where do you even begin?

I decide to start shucking for the winter with Natalie's today, and I save Tipi's for family dinners this weekend. So I have a lot of corn to work with! Now you know how I am spending my evening today.

This, my friends, is what living in Wisconsin is all about: tear off, clean up, shuck, freeze, bag. Many, many times over. I smell of corn.

See you tomorrow!

Wednesday

I remember the morning after I got the (rather used and not altogether fixed yet) moped: I just wanted to go out at the start of the day and see how it felt. Morning rides are special: your senses pick up everything -- scent, sight, sound... The world is yours. You so want to embrace it! On your new(-ish) moped.

I felt the same way today, only with the e-bike and in this case, it is new. Beautiful to behold. Smooth as peaches on the road. Clean, untarnished by kicks, tumbles and bumps. Yet.

But first I had to do the animals (easy peasy) and I had the garden to tidy up (a little sad in the way it's chugging along through drought number 862). The bugs are annoying and I coax Ed into scheduling one spraying with that garlic herbal mixture to keep the mosquitoes at bay at least for the week. [Ed finally agreed. We booked a spraying for Thursday morning, then promptly changed our minds. It just feels so selfish to disrupt the balance of pesky and beneficial insects out there for our own comfort. In the end we haven't the heart to do it, telling ourselves -- the mosquitoes aren't that bad, especially if you stay out of the flower beds. We've certainly seen worse.]

(not many lilies at this point, but things are still colorful!)

(late bloomers to the side of the path)

(Bresse girl in front of Big Bed)

And breakfast.

Okay, so it's not super early anymore, but it's still morning! I'm off to test the bike on the standard 45 minute loop. Past the black eyed Susans that spill out toward our farmette lands.

Past a mixture of big birds..

It's a fine ride indeed!

 And then I'm back, for Snowdrop's arrival for a day at the farmhouse. 

(he explains to her the sales graphs from the machining company)

I'd asked her what she wanted for lunch and she was quick with her response -- spaghetti and asparagus! I'm on it!

And then we read. And read and read and read. (It's a good book!) Until early evening.

Ed is out biking on his regular old Wednesday Night Ride and honestly, I'm tempted to take my bike out for a spin as well, but I want to clean up the overgrown farmette paths a bit so they're walkable, in case anyone wants to walk them in the days ahead. 

And then the light fades and the day is done. Until tomorrow then!

With love...