long week-end

I hadn't picked up Snowdrop from school yesterday (Friday), I wont be picking her up on Monday, and Sunday's family dinner at the farmhouse has been moved to today (Saturday). Moreover, my regular Friday grocery shopping hopped over to this day and, too, here's another reason for confusion: we reached 90F (32C) this afternoon -- unheard of in May. And it's only going to get warmer in the next few days.

Routines are off the table. We have a mixed up weekend and the heat has set in.

Ed and I are up very early. He wants to plant the field in the back of the barn with leftover buckwheat. I want to do grocery shopping. Before breakfast. But not before a spot check of the garden! And yes, the irises are now opening up for us!






And the chicks greet me as if I hadn't seen them for ages!






Mid-morning offers breakfast on the porch.






And late morning is reserved for a trip to the downtown farmers' market. I meet up with Snowdrop and her mom -- everyone is happy to have a pair of sunglasses on hand!

(Waiting in line is tough for a little girl. Unless she decides to practice more interesting standing positions.)






Gaga (we're back to gaga these days), you can push them up when you're in the shade!






My daughter is less than three weeks away from her due date. A pause in the shade is de rigeur.






But what Snowdrop really loves and looks forward to each time we walk the market is when she can shed everything -- hat, sunglasses, stroller, market, the whole thing...






... and have an unrestricted romp.







Back at the farmhouse, I take stock of the garden. Most of it isn't suffering from the heat, but the new plants probably would benefit from some water. Look! Another iris -- this one from the siberian group.






And now it's evening. The young family is here and Snowdrop is keen on taking out new markers and a coloring book she just received from family friends. The girl is a very adept colorer, especially if she is let loose with purple and pink.






Dinner at last. On the porch! We do have a fan going somewhere out there, at its lowest setting, mainly because a very pregnant person isn't going to love the heat of this day. The dish panders to the tastes of pregnant women and little girls. The pasta is stirred with sauteed mushrooms from the market and sun dried tomatoes, which Snowdrop has long asserted are her favorites! Pea sprouts, also from the market, add a real spring taste to it all.






(Stuffing herself with the sun-dried tomatoes.)






Dessert? Cut up donuts and bits of cherry and other berry.






And perhaps this is the best part: on a day like this, there is no hurry. No school the next day, no schedule to consider.  We linger.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      





It's a beautiful evening for it. 

Friday in Chicago

For a split second, I am reminded of Paris. I wonder how this could be: Chicago hasn't an architectural style that is reminiscent of any city in France. Maybe it's these kids who are doing what so many French kids do -- using a scooter to get around (except here, we pay attention to scooter and bike safety -- kids wear helmets).






Or maybe it's that I'm in a city and it's warm and it feels green (unlike New York, which, in all the years that I lived there, never felt green).






Spring is so lovely in any place where you can watch things grow.





And speaking of watching something or someone grow, it's been three weeks since I've seen my youngest grandgirl, Primrose. She is almost two months old now and honestly, she must change daily because she surely is not the wee one I held on my last visit with her!

She is all smiles! There must be a gene that is shared between Primrose and Snowdrop -- the grin gene. Or, is it that both girls are happy kids?






Breakfast, with my daughter. Primrose horns in!






Someday little girl, you too will be begging for a bowl of oatmeal with kefir, fruit and honey!






Her mommy has stuff to do out and about. Excellent! Primrose and I can hang together. She's well fed and I'm told she should sleep soundly now.

Primrose has other plans.








Sweet girl, you must sleep! Let me walk you.
Okay, you're fine with that. But the good sitter is one who allows the child to fall asleep by herself!
Ah well, today, we do the walk-sleep.







Mommy's home. Eat, play, rest. They are simple routines, but each time, the play is more complicated, the girl is more eager to engage and be engaged.











Duckie? Sure, I'll play with duckie!






But Primrose, you must nap!

My visit ends. I leave them to their quiet rest.






On my way out of Chicago, I had wanted to stop and get some delicious Mindy Segal cookies for home, but none were available. Go get some donuts at Stan's instead. They're great!

I get some donuts.






This is the beginning of a long holiday weekend and I fully expect the highway to be packed, but it's not. The bus zips along at a good speed and by late evening I am home, at the farmhouse, where Ed and the cheepers and chicks linger, waiting perhaps, on this warm, summery May day.

and on this sunny summery splendid day...

Ed and I pay some modest attention to the farmette lands, we then take a short hike through the county park, and in the afternoon, Snowdrop comes to play. After, Ed and I sow a field of alyssum seeds. Then, in the later evening, I catch a bus to Chicago.

Remember how late spring was this year? Well, it more than caught up with itself. At a galloping pace, it raced through the early stages of the season and then plunged right into summer-like weather. Today's high is 87F (31C). Do we mind? Of course not: in May, warm air feels good! Sunshine is delightful! The shedding of long sleeved, long legged, long anything is grand!

But the arrival of the first bugs -- well, we could do without that.

In the garden, the race is on for which plant blooms next. There are plenty of peony buds, just a breath away from popping open.





But I think the next show off plant is the iris. I will be very surprised if we don't have delightful bearded German girls coming into full bloom this weekend.

And right alongside of the iris, we have Baptista -- the false indigo, making an appearance in all my flower beds. It can be blue, it can be purple, or it can be yellow. It's delicate and oh so very pretty!






Breakfast, this time not too late...


 


... followed by a little more garden work: a few weeds come out, the peas (so far untouched by the groundhog and rabbit families living under the wood pile!) get a sprinkle of water. That's it.

All this gives us time for a ramble in the county park. Nothing ambitious. Just a quick look, now that the browns have receded and the greens have taken hold. Remember when I dangled the camera from Ed's favorite oak tree for a cross country skiing selfie of the both of us? Well now, here's the spring version.






The pond where the turtles, ducks and geese hang out is a showcase of greens.






So is the main path through the park: we ski here whenever there is snow. Today, there is no snow.





We cut across to the prairie segment of the park. It's not really splendid yet and perhaps it never really is splendid. Prairies need attention -- from nature or you, take your pick. This one looks like it could profit from a fire. But the birds like it!






And now I am at the little girl's school. Snowdrop is in fine spirits: they're finishing off "nap time" in the playground and she is thrilled that I remembered to bring her sunglasses. It's quite bright outside.

(She and her teacher pose with their sun shades)






At the farmette, Snowdrop once again asks to pick a tulip. They're nearly spent, but I probably would have said yes anyway. I remember the childhood pleasure of holding a flower clipped from the garden.






Snowdrop is satisfied!





There isn't even a question: this is pool weather! I had commented to Ed that this kiddie pool is really to infantile for her. True, she can spend a long time pouring water  between cups and splashing everything in sight, but I am tempted by something bigger. I've resisted because once the bugs come out full force, it's not fun to sit there chasing away mosquitoes.
Why don't you put it on the porch?
She needs something bigger.
Sell the grill and put a bigger pool there. Ed never wants to acquire anything without giving up something first.

No one is going to buy a rusty old grill...

Within an hour, the grill, which I never use anymore because it's just too much trouble, is on Craigslist and we have three offers for it. Next week we'll be carrying buckets of water to fill "something bigger" on the porch.

But today Snowdrop is in love with splashing madly in the little one. And isn't it the perfect place to eat watermelon? Drips are easily washed away...






Snowdrop, it's getting late. We really should go inside.
I get a big wallop of water sprayed on me. Gaga, I'm busy splashing!






"I'm making jump ropes!"





Yes you are.


It's nearly midnight now and I am in my room in Chicago. There's that familiar view onto the city, from a somewhat a lower floor this time. I wont take out my camera -- you've seen it.

Tomorrow, I'll be spending time with the littlest of the little girls in my life.

Wednesday

It's amazing how much there is to do in a garden that is "all finished" and ostensibly ready for action. As Ed and I both walk the path to the barn in the early morning, we get distracted -- by the new batch of weeds, by the timber that needs a haul, by the landscape timber I want under the crab apple, by the two last day lilies that need a home, by the last packets of seeds, by the bush that has been begging for a trim for about ten years, by the tree seedlings: buckthorn, box elder, maple, all wanting to take over the world if you let them, by the cat that comes calling and the chicks that want a handful of corn. And so our morning walk to the barn and back, instead of taking five minutes, lasts about three hours.

(Young chicks, perching on a flower support fence. Oh, but I love these three little girls!)






(The tulips are almost finished, the anemone came back beautifully this year, and the lavender -- well, it's a new one and so even though it's May, it's at full bloom.)






Breakfast is very late. (On the porch, just being set up now...)





It is once again a beautiful and warm day. Unfortunately, people are starting to talk of mosquitoes and it is true, we've caught sight of one or two. They're not a bother yet, but they surely will be and so I work extra hard, thinking that soon it wont be so pleasant to spend the whole day buried in bushes, or pushing around dense lily leaves.


Afternoon. I'm excited to be picking up Snowdrop! A day like this offers so many play possibilities! 

But when I come in to fetch the little one, I find her significantly dispirited.  For a three year old, it can't always be a smooth ride in school (I suppose this is the case for anyone at any age) and she has had a few bumps in her day. Rather than seeing her default smile, I find her full of tears. She just wants to curl up in a comfy place and feel good again.

I've been through twelve years of school and many years of preschool with my kids and so I can't possibly be surprised that a day may feel wobbly every now and then.





But, it isn't hard to restore peace in the little girl's heart. Spring is awesome, the day is magnificent and most important -- I have in the fridge a bowl full of red delicious cherries.

We are in the thick of cherry season! And Snowdrop loves cherries!

We read the book that she loved last year in May and that she double loves this year, now that she can get so much more of the cadence and nuance of the text (Cherries and Cherry Pits -- a book that I read to my daughters when they were young). And of course, she eats lots of cherries. And I ask her if she would like to go out and inspect the wee green cherries that are emerging in our young orchard. Yes she would!

(Distracted by the dandelion puffs)






(She is appreciative -- of the dandelions, the young cherries, the asparagus that grows wild here...)






And she notices that I have set up her wading pool. That was before I retrieved her in such a discombobulated state. In fact though, the wading pool is just the distraction she needs. Especially when she learns that I have found a swim suit for her that has... cherries! It's the little things that bring forth a smile, no?






She spends some time playing outside the pool too and the little girls just adore following her.






...everywhere.






Out of the blue, Snowdrop announces that she wants to climb a tree. Well now. I suggest a change of clothing. My backup pair of shorts hasn't arrived yet, but she is happy to pretend that summer p.j. bottoms are shorts. Good. Off we go to the Norway pines. Surely I can help hoist her up on the branches there?






No. It's a rough climb. We give it a try, but in the end, she prefers a moment in the grass, with dandelions all around her.






The day ends with bucketfuls of laughter and a wild indoor game of ball.





Snowdrop goes home, Ed goes for a Wednesday night bike ride. I'm left in the farmhouse watching the evening set in.There may be better things in life than watching a beautiful May day turn into a beautiful May night. I can't think of many right now.