earth day Monday

You could say that for Ed, absolutely every day is Earth Day. I'm sure he finds all this hoopla associated with a designated day demeaning to the real enterprise of protecting the environment. How will you benefited the planet if you pay attention to your deeds just this one day of the year? I feel differently: for me, Earth Day isn't a signal to give the planet a birthday present of kindness. It's a day to take a good look around, to notice all the small details, to exalt the beauty of our Earth! Then, like Ed, spend the next 364 days trying to do well by it, listening to the science of cause and effect, learning to live respectfully, with care and concern for the well being of animals and plants alike.

So, today we rejoice. And it is a very lovely day! Rejoicing isn't hard when you can once again open your windows wide and listen to the morning sounds of birds stirring.

(Jacket is on the picnic table, crab apple is full of baby leaves and flower buds, flowers are really growing fast now. What's there not to love!)






(The daffodil of the day)






(I throw down some stale bread for the cheepers. Dance thinks they should share. )






Sparrow is with us today. Happy guy, taking apart the little train that once belonged to Snowdrop.






Breakfast on the porch!













Afterwards, Sparrow and I walk the farmette lands. He is a little overwhelmed by it all. And the willow gently sways, and Ed takes a look at the construction crews that keep moving dirt, back and forth, every day, for the second year now, back and forth.






Inside again, playing with the truck toy that we typically leave on the porch, where it spontaneously bursts into a song that is as irritating as the worst TV commercial.






Every year I try to photograph the kids with the fresh burst of daffodil gold. Every year they resist. Sparrow puts up with it for one second. This is it. Now move on, gaga!






Afternoon. I pick up a sleepy Snowdrop. She really really wants to go to the coffee shop then the playground. Really. Well why not. We're to get rain later, but right now it's partly sunny and 77F (25C).






We don't stay too long. She's anxious to get to the farmhouse. Hungry for snacks, for a new book. Still, on our way in, she sees Ed about to go out. Well that does it: if he's going out, then she wants to go out too. With bubbles!






Two children.






In love with the beauty of soapy bubbles.






(This is the only daffodil pic I get out of my time with Snowdrop. The girl accepts my camera, so long as she can go about her business. She does not like to be told where to go or what to do for a picture, so I do not make such demands.)






(Sometimes, I can't tell if I'm photographing a grandchild, or Ed, or spring, or the farmette lands, or a combination of the above.)






(Here, it's the grandchild, for sure!)






For Snowdrop, playing with the hose ranks up there with ice cream and cake and pretty much anything else you can think of..






The farmhouse Easter bunny enabled Mary Poppins to "magically" appear. Snowdrop is significantly obsessed with Mary Poppins at the moment. Her stories spin around the nanny who can whip anything into order, snip snop.






And now it's evening and storms are rumbling all around us. Stop Sign, farmette's feral cat, had come around just before the first pounding of rain. Her tummy was smaller and sagging. She had delivered her babies somewhere. She ate ravenously, then slowly moved on to her secret safe place, out there beneath the pouty skies.

Today my eyes feasted on all that spring has delivered here at the farmette thus far. Tomorrow, I'll return to tending the gardens.

Easter Sunday and now I'm 66

I was fifty when I wrote my first Ocean post. Oh my gosh! I'm still putting up a daily post at 66?? So young then! Not even close to retirement. Not a senior. Kids at the university, earning grades for work well done. Snowdrop? Primrose? Sparrow? Not even imaginable. Hey, even Ed was an unknown character, freshly moved into his reconstructed sheep shed, but not in any way crossing my path. Then. The farmette was really different back in those days. We found his photos of it recently -- really different!

And today I'm a super senior! Because 66 sure seems to me to be well into those years of discount fares and shoes with special soles and maybe even hearing aids. I mean not just yet, but one of these years! (Hey Ed, can you turn up the TV? Seriously?) Years when you go around saying you no longer care what people think (it's not true, but you say it anyway) and you wear clothes that are comfortable and you cut back on your beloved wine because, well, it wakes you up at night. As does everything else.

So it's my birthday. It is also Sunday, and Easter, and the weekend of Passover. All important, yes, quite so. Happy celebrating, everyone! But you know what truly stands out on this day for all of us in the Upper Midwest? The brilliantness of the weather! My daughter asks -- have you ever had such a gorgeous day on your birthday?? And I have to say -- I've had good ones, but this is beyond the beyond!

Throw open the windows! Listen to the birds! Get up, get up! Do not waste a minute of something so magnificent!

So first of all, what's growing at the farmette right now? Well, of course, the daffodils have erupted!






I see them here, there, out front...






... framing the farmhouse from all sides.






(All this on my morning walk to feed the kitties. Hi Dance, hi Jacket! Isn't spring well worth the wait?)






Breakfast? Well now, there can be no hesitation: on the porch!





And then we plunge into work outside. I have my annuals to plant. Ed? He has too many projects to even list here. My birthday begins the busiest month for us -- there is no end to all that we want to do. But I convince him that taking down some branches and indeed, taking down a whole tree are a top priority. It's all going to come crashing toward the flower beds. Better do it now while the buds are small. Most will recover if we trample over them now. But they wont if we wait any longer.

Perhaps the most challenging job is to take down the tree that's by the path to the house. If it crashes onto the glass porch roof (which is where it leans right now) -- well that's a terrible outcome. But, Ed has watched enough youtubes on how to change the direction of a fall that he is semi confident. And indeed, the tree does a perfect tumble, away from the roof, away from the lily bed. Nice work!






The cheepers come over to check out all the activity.






It's so warm (high of 78f, or 26c) that they do a quick inspection...





... then retreat to the barn where they have a grand time rolling around in dust for their holiday baths.


Okay, back to my annuals. Ed had salvaged two hanging baskets I had purchased last year and had discarded once the flowers finished their seasonal run. (Of course he did: he wont throw away reusable items.) He hangs them strategically on trees and I have to admit, I like the way they look there. So I fill them. With pansies...






... and with a mix of begonias, alyssum and an interesting foliage plant that I'd never heard of.






Some of my wooden planters are really too old and a bit broken, but so long as I don't move them, they remain serviceable. I planted half today. I'll finish the rest later in the week.






Butterflies, moths, they're all so happy to see blooming flowers again!






In between helping Ed with the tree chopping and planting the pots, I come in to stick a cake in the oven and get dinner prepped for tonight. It is, after all, Easter, and Sunday, so even without the thrown in birthday, there should be some yummy dessert. Why not just purchase a cake, you ask? Well, because I like my own! Rather than the standard buttercream, I just use a bit of whipped cream with pureed fresh strawberries in it and then dribbled over the top. All this over a chocolate base. Perfect for a spring cake.






The young family comes over and of course, it's all very festive! Easter! Birthday! Porch day!






Ah, porch day... It can't be perfect, can it? Snowdrop, in her excitement, steps outside and tumbles on the steps, banging her head on the hard brick surface. The egg on her forehead is tremendous.

She is a tough little girl. The day is just too happy for her. She bounces back and soon enough, she insists I open my presents.






You should wear it tonight, Gaga!






(Sparrow is more interested in playing with the little girl's old train.)






Extra lap time and a favorite book help the sore head feel better.






Dinner!





We Facetime with the Chicago young family. It's as if we were all out on the porch...

Cake!






He likes it!






She likes it!






Afterwards, Snowdrop asks if I would go out with her for a farmette romp. I know what will excite her: the hose is on for the season! Here you go, little one! Spray the world with water!






It's time for the family to head home...






Oh, but it was a beautiful day! I hope next year I wont be surprised on April 21st with a snowstorm, just to remind me that exceptional days can go either way. This year, it went in the direction of near perfection.






Late evening. Dishes done. I join Ed outside for a handful of minutes. This is the contemplative, restful time of the day.





We see the first bats do their dusk dance overhead. In the distance, there is the unmistakable call of the sandhill crane. Jacket and Dance come out and take in the day's last bit of light with us.

Such a full, glorious Sunday. Glorious weekend, actually. Such a sublime way to begin one's 67th year on this beautiful planet.

Saturday

And now it really is a beautiful, sunny day here, in the Upper Midwest! Spring at her finest. Blossom weather. Buds push to open up for the season weather. Happy weather.

It is, unfortunately, my last morning with Primrose, my Chicago granddaughter. Well fine -- let's enjoy it!

Breakfast: first hers!






Then a sort of mini breakfast for my daughter and me.






My grownup girl goes about her morning routines, but everything is relaxed now. No rush to work, no real schedule to keep except for the one we make up for ourselves.

Primrose, of course, is everywhere...






... enjoying mom's lap when an occasion presents itself, reaching for mom's bowl of fruits because, you know, we starve the poor little one.






Because Primrose has had the sniffles this past week, her nights have been more wakeful than usual. This does not interfere with her daytime mood. She is playful and spirited.

("want to see what I do with the Polish painted eggs, grandma?")






One last timed release!






And now we're off for a brunch at Hot Chocolate. Primrose is thrilled that she gets to drink her milk from a cup with a straw. A milk mustache and beard appear instantly. She does not mind.






She is skipping her morning nap so that we can eat and I can catch my early afternoon bus. And still, she is all smiles and cuddles. Oh, I'm going to miss that girl!






Daughter and granddaughter walk grandma to the L train and then we part ways. That's never fun of course, but it's much easier to do it in spring. Back and forth trips become more numerous. There is the excitement of looming vacations and long weekends and evenings on the porch. Of flowers. So many flowers!

Indeed, as my bus pulls into Madison, I call Ed and tell him that I've cancelled the dinner he and I were to eat tonight at one of our favorite spots. Birthday meals can take place anytime. But a day with this much sunshine and warmth deserves respect!

As I throw down my travel stuff in the farmhouse, I hear him pulling up on his motorcycle. Clearly he's been running errands!






And there's time today to do our grand annual errand -- to pick out blooms for the flower pots and to select a couple of hanging baskets for the porch. We visit two nurseries that we adore -- both just a handful of miles from the farmette.The smaller one -- Natalie's -- just opened yesterday. It's splendid to be here again this year!






The significantly larger one, Kopke's, is in its third day of the new season. Here's where I pick out most of the plants for the tubs outside. Their selection is just incredible. (The photo below is of geraniums, because right now, that's where the color is and we are really, really starved for color.)






It's a grand day to be flower shopping. I'm thinking Primrose will love seeing the flowers when next she visits. And Sparrow will learn to love them too. Snowdrop and I will show him how incredibly beautiful they can be.