an April Sunday

Some weather events just stick in your memory: I'm not likely to forget the tornado that swept across  the farmette the week of my daughter's wedding here. And I'm not going to forget the "spring" weather that we're having right now, on this April 15th.

They're calling it a cyclone. I always thought those were tropical storms, but I think the term has a greater meteorological meaning. Suffice it to say that for us, it is a strong, weird, in fact bizarre and enduring storm system that is bringing sleet, ice and snow over much of our state today. This on top of an already very delayed spring. Indeed, I am quite sure that weather wise, this has been the most uninspired, cold spring of my memory. (Granted -- no tornadoes. For this we are grateful.)

Does that set the stage for you?

So once again we focus on the indoors. We have Snowdrop over-nighting here! That is one joyful event! Just a couple of weeks have passed since she last slept over, but I see that this girl is growing by leaps and bounds (perhaps as all three year olds do). Today, she wakes up too early. Still, she is a bit excited and so she gets up, comes to our room, peers in. Ed and I are "sleeping." She doesn't disturb us, but rather, retreats to her room, turns on the light and plays in bed for a while. Half an hour later, she comes in again. We're still "sleeping." Out she goes, quietly, back to bed. and this time she dozes off until she hears me trotting off downstairs.

Are we near that age when they actually like staying in bed as much as we like them to stay in bed (on weekends)? Maybe not, but I see glimmers of it!

I'll post a short string of "morning at the farmhouse" photos. Let's start with the not-so-great outdoors:





And the very unhappy cheepers. (Where's Henny? The darn girl is brooding -- meaning she wont get off her perch on real or imagined eggs. She wants babies!)






Then there are the little ones in the sun room, wondering why one day there is sunshine, and then for days and days, there is none.






And now Snowdrop is awake and ready to come down!






Happy to be out of a high chair. New lesson needed on how not to use new seating situation to make grandma sweat.






Outside, it only gets worse.





Inside, Snowdrop asks for pancakes and maple syrup. I get things ready. But she wants me to join in her play.
I can't, Snowdrop. I'm flipping bacon.
But I'm as lonely as can be!
(You surely are expressive, little girl!) Go find something to do by yourself.

She does.






Finally, the big breakfast.

She is so into maple syrup that it seems the right time to explain where it comes from.
She takes it in. And where does honey come from?
So many lessons in one meal...





And now it's time for her to go home.

But oh, the ice! The snow! Is there anyone who likes this now?!

Yes there is.






One last time with the mitts, the farmhouse boots, the pinkest of pink scarves. One last time with the shovel.






Job well done, Snowdrop! Now let's hope for sunshine this week!






The roads are so bad on my drive to Snowdrop's home that we all agree to put off the usual Sunday dinner to another time. And so in the evening, I cook for just Ed and me.

Oh, but we have guests! Seven of them actually.






I have to smile. It's a scene out of a Christmas card. Surely not from a mid-April glance outside.





Well, we have power (it had its flickering moments, but it held on!). We have food on the table. And somewhere in the distant future -- we will have spring. I hope.

Saturday

Well, just write this weekend off as one where the great outdoors does not beckon. To be sure, I'm feeling grateful that the storms that are raging across the Midwest dump ONLY freezing rain and snow on us. The winds are strong, but so far, no trees are downed at the farmette and the power is on. Weather bulletins and warnings keep appearing in my Inbox. Warnings of dangerous conditions. We are safe. We are warm inside our solid little farmhouse.

Too, it's not as if winter is just arriving for the long haul. In the garden, the green stuff is trying to do its spring thing...






This was to be the day of the first outdoor farmers market. I can't imagine anyone showed up for it.

My entire outdoor time was a morning sprint to the barn to feed the chickens. That's it.






Breakfast -- among flowers!






And then I hide in the cushions of the old love seat and read the 11th mystery novel (in a series of 13 and if the weather continues thus, I'll zip right through to the end), sipping hot tea and trying hard not to look outside.

Ed spends some quality time with the farmhouse babies.





Outside, inches upon inches of ice and snow begin to fall in what is called an "unusual weather event."

In the evening, Snowdrop comes to us for a sleepover.

No, she doesn't ever just come in. She bounds in, all ready for an evening of FUN!






Well, she's easy to please. Good food comes with Sunday dinners. On Saturday, it's pizza time! With a side platter of broccoli, which has become sort of a game here, though honestly, she enjoys both the game and the broccoli itself.






I have for her a tiny addition to her Playmobil family -- a pregnant mommy. There is also a wee baby and a stroller. You could give Snowdrop jewels and fancy cars. They would not please her half as much as a pregnant mommy and a stroller with a baby.





There, all put together and ready for a walk.





As I write this, our farmhouse is being pounded with sleet, snow and ice. It's a mean world out there. All the more reason to focus on making it a kind and gentle place within. With the hope that the power wont go out and we'll stay snuggly warm all night long.

Friday

Wet days are a gardener's reprieve. Not much can be done outside when the cold rain comes down. What a relief! Two days of work calls for a moment of rest: a pause so that you can think about what it is that you're doing out there. It's an interesting idea, no? Gardening requires thinking!

I have seeds that need to go in right about now, but there has to be strategy in their application. If I scratch them into the now relatively weed free soil, the cheepers will scratch them right out. That wont do. I have to outsmart chickens! That may be tough!

Too, we're going to try once more to do a broad application of buckwheat, right where I plowed down old raspberry canes. How and when and where to do it -- that still needs some thought.

Our tomatoes have sprouted under the warm lamps Ed has set up for them, but we have no idea where to plant them. We had small yields two years in a row. Was it the fault of the soil? We don't know. Where should we plant them this year? Neither of us have a perfect answer to that one.

And finally, I did succumb to the February cabin fever purchase of some online perennials. We're expanding the roadside bed. They should go there, but I want to fit a few new faces close to the porch as well, so that I can stare at them with amazement and delight. How to do this? Think, think!


In the meantime, the little cheepers have now decided that the edge of the box (it is such a high box! how do they do it?!) is a fine place to be. Ed and I are resigned, like the ineffective "parents" that we are: just on the edge now! not an inch further, you hear? Ha! How long before the itch to go further lands them (oh horror!) on a piece of furniture? How do people contain their young chicks anyway??






We eat breakfast in the front room because we are sure that if we are in the same room as the chicks, they'll only try harder to join us and I'm sorry, but I am not ready for a breakfast for the five of us!






In the afternoon, I pick up Snowdrop.

She is not a happy camper. Her nap was interrupted, I neglected to stuff her snack in my purse for the car ride back, the rain is unpleasantly constant and cold, and she cannot control the heavy umbrella that she "borrowed" from her parents. Any smart grandparent will tell you that this is not time to suggest puddle play.





She begs for a story in the car and after a few minutes of listening to my usual improv (sometimes I can make it come together, sometimes I stumble), she relaxes.

By the time we are at the farmhouse, she is nearly her usual smiling self. But offer her a baby chick to pet and her guard goes up. This is not a day for taking bold steps and experimenting with brave new gestures.






Magnets and books. These two thing fill our time today.






And yes, Snowdrop is the chipper little bunny, telling long stories, using remarkable phrases just to try them out...






And still, I know that she is fighting tiredness.






Evening. It's quiet in the farmhouse. There is promise of ice, sleet, rain -- all rolled into a weekend whole. We're waiting for this terrible horrible weather to strike us again, but in the meantime, all is quiet.

such a day...

The one April day that stands out as the grand belle of them all. A day not to be wasted. A day to hold in your pocket for all those other times when the world around you seems so drab and dull and relentlessly winter-like.

On this day, I felt we could take breakfast to the porch!






Our idea of heaven is to eat a morning meal here, studying the landscape that unfolds before us.






By late morning it's 60F (15C). I am working in the fields. Pull out all the stops -- this is the one day when I can get things done!







Weed, dig, prune, chip -- all of it.






Ed tells me later (possibly feeling there was a bit of inequity in our efforts out there): you worked really hard today. Yes I did!

Today is also the day I spot the first blooms at the farmette: Siberian Squill. Pure loveliness, underneath the grand maples.






It's a day to suggest a walk to the playground after school for Snowdrop.

Back and forth on the swing. She just does not get tired of it. Ever.






At the farmette, we examine the emerging blue flowers...






And inside, she rediscovers a book that grabbed her attention exactly a year ago. But on this reading, she understands so much more of its subtleties...






My grandgirl is lively today. Ed says she is always very lively, always preferring a run over a walk, but it seems to me that the upswing in the weather has energized her, in the same way that it has energized all of us.






Evening. She is about to be picked up. I take out supper ingredients for dinner.
What's that?
Spinach. (Today marks the last delivery of our CSA winter spinach. If there is any reason to really miss winter it's this -- the loss of the excellent, sweet sweet winter spinach. Snowdrop likes it too, though in less copious amounts than me!)






Sweet girl goes home... I turn to the much neglected today little chicks.
Well now, out again!





I forgive them. It was a day for the great outdoors!

to work once more

We enter a two day spell of what I think of as perfect April weather: warming sunshine, temperatures finally crossing into the lower 50sF (maybe 12C). It's the kind of day that pulls you outdoors. Bits of green grass and tips of daffodils begin their vigorous climb out of their winter slumber.





We're not the only ones wanting to be out of our confinement. I come downstairs and find the awesome threesome raring to explore!





This wont do. It does seem that no wall is too high for these girls!

I suggest to Ed we take a break from fretting about chickens. We eat breakfast in the front room and try to ignore their sweet chirping noises from the sun room where they reside.





And very quickly after, we're outside, assessing what work needs to be done right away.

The big cheepers have dug up a few of my plants. Repairing the damage is a priority. Our wood chip pile is plentiful, but it's still frozen. We do some bandaid work around the roots and then head out to the beds that need serious weeding. Oh, but it's a beautiful day for it!






Off comes the jacket. Ed is in short sleeves. I'm not quite there yet, but it surely feels grand to be digging and tidying the garden once again!






A few hours later, we put down our shovels. We can't overdo it. Besides, it's time to pick up Snowdrop.

She and I haven't much time before dance class, but the girl is full of ideas on how to fill those minutes. At the outset, she wants to go up to her room to rest. "I'm exhausted, grandma!" -- she tells me.






She doesn't look exhausted and indeed, her moment of rest lasts ten seconds. At most. I prod her to get ready for class. We need to get going! She's excited and eager, but she does have other things to attend to first. "Just one more minute!"






What do you have to do, Snowdrop? 
Sing a song and play some music!
What song, little girl?
It's called "Joy and love!"

I'd say the lyrics pretty much conform to that subject matter.






Finally, we leave. She takes her baby to class, or at least to show her where the class takes place.






And now the dancing begins.

It's a very interesting combination today -- of a Mexican hat dance...






... and a Hawaiian hula number.






Snowdrop loves it all.






The girls in her class get pretty worked up during free form dance and at one point, one of them accidentally rams into Snowdrop, who sprawls to the floor. No one's hurt and Snowdrop takes these things in stride. The dancing continues.

But after class, the mom comes over and encourages her little girl to ask if Snowdrop was feeling okay after her fall. It's such a simple gesture and still, it makes me smile all the way home. Kindness is always so beautiful.

It was that kind of a good, good day.