a clean garden but...

... a messy house? Who, me?

Yeah, me. At least it hasn't yet reached its minimalist goals. Can I blame the kids? Okay -- I blame the kids.

It really got out of control during Grandma Camp. The kids found sticker pads that I put aside. They made toy arrangements that they swear cannot be touched for eternity. And the fairy gardens? Well, they loved doing them but what happens next? They are big. The Chicago household already nixed the idea of one traveling back with Primrose to their home. And there are craft materials thrown into an Amazon box along with... lollipops for air travel, rubber duckies from wading pool days, magnets, and very tangled threads for friendship bracelets.

I know craft people who have these little drawers with neatly organized supplies. Everything has a place. I admire that amount of care given to random pieces of plastic, paper and fabric, but as I've said before, I have never loved creating stuff out of paper straws and pipe cleaners and if I bring in such materials for a kid project (which is so rare that the kids associate it only with camp), I haven't a clue as to what to do with them once the project is behind us. Same goes for random small nothings accumulated for kid use over the years.

Well, today I attacked those boxes and made Goodwill piles that are impressive! I'm not done and I'm not really motivated to do a whole playroom overhaul, but I have to say, few things give me more pleasure than clearing out old stuff. And so count this morning as being almost joyful.

Of course, first, I did clean up the flower beds. The air quality was not great (those Canadian fires again), and the mosquitoes were spiteful, but I kept at it. 859 today, but judging by today's flower display, I'd say that tomorrow I should start going down in my count. Which will be a relief.

In the meantime, here are the lilies of today. With their flower (and froggie) friends:

 

(early morning light) 

 

("you're not going to snip this one, are you?")

(hiding under the petal)

(my "nymphs," in full bloom)

(beautiful color)

(In bright sunshine)

(lemon yellow, next to a sweat pea)

(Big Bed colors)

(Big Bed from the middle, looking toward the farmhouse)

(a true lily that did not get eaten up by lily leaf bugs)

(By the porch: lilies, phlox and... garlic.)

The day disappeared for me. One appointment, many errands, and all those cleanups!  

But of course, there was breakfast. With Ed and Dance. I'd just baked fresh granola. And, too, we still have two weeks of peaches coming our way.

 

 

Lunch and dinner were far less exciting.

I have a string of days before me where the most important thing I'm likely to do is bake granola and snip lilies. I can think of worse ways to spend a summer week.

with love... 

 

 

 

lily lie lay, lily lie loh..

 What a mess!

 

 

(Are you going to feed us, or snip lilies first?)

 

 

Sigh... I'll feed you. But what a mess!

 

 

 

In the end it was 2217. That is the snipped lily count this morning. Ed comments: that's a lot of lilies and that's an awful lot of counting! Of course, he is correct. But the burden is in snipping along with mosquitoes and, too, giving that much time to it when time is scarce. It's not in the counting. I like the rhythm of numbering them. It's very meditative. I'd even call it soothing and relaxing were it not for the bugs. 

Naturally, that tally is inflated because I did not snip lilies yesterday and only did a third of them the day before. Nonetheless, it does tell me that we are still in the high numbers -- close to a thousand per day. 

It's been a really great day lily season! (The true lilies, on the other hand, have suffered. Many gardeners have complained about the lily leaf beetle invasion and sure enough, the beetles have hit my orientals. You can spray them weekly to ward off the pests but I'm not going to do that. I'll just avoid them in future plantings.)

Cleaned up flower fields:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (that's better!)

 

  

 

 

So many lilies! So why are you putting in more? -- Ed asks. 

Well, these lilies arrived in the mail and they wont do anything this year but they will fill in some bare spots next year. We dug out a bush -- a bare spot was created! I am spineless when my favorite lily company sends me tempting emails with sales and very pretty new colors.  So, I have as a goal to plant my last plantings for the summer: 7 more lilies.

But first, breakfast.

And that snipping, which I had interrupted because I so needed my cup of coffee! And finally, planting.

 

The young family is here for dinner tonight and I just have to get some fresh corn. Our farmer down the road is late this year so I high tail it over to Eugster' s, where Primrose and I last shopped for corn. You may well ask me -- why not stock up then? Wouldn't Friday's corn be good for a Sunday dinner? Well no. When you live in the middle of corn country, you really get hooked on the Stradivarius of corns. Two day old corn, even from a fine corn grower is like settling for a Tonarelli when you can have a Stradivarius. Really, corn picked the same day is at height of excellence. None can compare.

Here they come.

Dinner, outside...

And then I am spent. I haven't yet caught up on rest and of course, garden work is... work. So yes, tired, but very very content. Happy. Grateful.

with so much love... 

camp ends

The familiarity of summer sleep-away camp is an American thing. Most people I know here have had some camp experience. Even Ed went to camp and indeed was a camp counselor. Most and perhaps all of my Polish friends never went to camp when they were kids. Many stayed with grandparents or other distant family members during summer.s Me, I went to camp three times in my six childhood years living in New York. The other summers I stayed with my grandparents in Poland. My youth was clearly a mix of Polishness and Americanisms.

Polish people do not understand the significance of a camp experience: typically, it's your first time away from family. A time of meeting new kids, and living under the loose supervision of a staff barely older than you. A time to take responsibility over your belongings, your whole self, in fact, as you learn to make choices that teach you a lot about how to best navigate all that's out there.

My Grandma Camp is nothing like that. I am nearly three times the age of all three campers (my three oldest grandchildren) combined. Everyone knows each other. I give some choice, but also have planned activities. Food is the old reliable stuff. Nothing new and disgusting (I learned about "bug juice" in one camp, and "eggplant caviar" in another -- the Russian one).

And yet, my Grandma Camp this year pulled all three kids away from their homes and their parents for a handful of days. They let loose here, at the farmette. Really let loose. Didn't Stephen Colbert recently say that laughter conquers fear? That you can't both laugh and be afraid? There was a lot of laughter at my camp. No one was afraid. Well, except when a movie turned scary: both Primrose and Sparrow would hide for a few seconds in the "art room."

The other day Primrose told me what her least favorite moment of camp was this one: we were at the dairy farm and I was so busy looking at, and photographing baby calves that I didn't notice the manure ditch that ran the length of the barn. I tripped over it and fell. The farmer was terribly concerned over my bruises, my age, my fall. I think Primrose was concerned that I had fallen into cow poop! Since looking at a photo possibility has given me bruises before (think: head wound at a French train station that required a visit to the ER), once I saw that no ER trip was required, I shrugged and brushed it off (and lucky break for me -- they had sanitizers and wipes everywhere!). Still, if that was Primrose's worst moment, that tells me a lot about how well she handled all the other challenges of a 24/7 camp with cousins!

 

This morning, I gave myself an extra half hour in bed in my hotel room. And I walked with a leisurely pace to the younger family's home, pausing at a coffee shop along the way.

I carried my drink with me to their house and ate granola and watched the kids play and read and go about their normal routines.

(post-shower)

It was a beautiful morning!

 

We walked over to Pompette's for a late brunch. They know how much I love this last meal out in Chicago!

(my Chicago girls!)

 

 

Unfortunately, the rains came down while we were eating and they continued... 

 

 

... including on my drive back to Madison. The road heading northwest was bumper to bumper traffic out of the city and in later stretches I passed three major car crashes. I have to think the weather contributed to those. Me, I was in no hurry and by the time I came to Wisconsin, the skies had mostly cleared and the highway had more or less emptied out. It was easy to fall into a dreamy state of reflection, recollection, and gratitude. Three hours later I pulled into the driveway.

 

(what a mess...) 

 

Hi Ed, I'm home! 

Yep, I walked right in, ignoring the lilies. I have no intention of snipping a single flower. There will be time for that. Just not today. I'm exhaling!

with a smile and so much love... 

the last day of camp

I give out no indication of being compulsive. And the only history of obsessiveness I can recall is with crushes of the past. I'd obsess over what wasn't working for me, but then, doesn't every person who is in love and feels an absence of reciprocity? People who dabble and let things slide aren't exactly the obsessive types.

But how else do you explain my unnecessary rush this morning?

It's a really beautiful day here, in the upper Midwest. Blue skies, good air quality, warm but not hot. I did not need to be up super early, as the campers are at their Aunt Goat's house for an overnight. And yet I did get up early. Sure, I had to pack my bag and pack up Primrose's stuff. Yes, I had to feed the animals. And, too, I wanted a breakfast with Ed. But all that would take a scant amount of time. Snipping 250 lilies? (I let go of the rest.) Why do it? I'm going away and Ed doesn't care. And yet I cleared the spent lilies that are by the porch, and by the walkway to the door. And it took a while. Obsessive!

My morning craziness:

 

(it's so early that the nymphs and shepherds are just barely opening up) 

(I missed one in this group.... can you spot it? Bottom left.)

(the phloxes have a way of showing off!)

With at least a quiet breakfast...

And then I'm off to pick up Primrose. Bye Aunt Goat!

The plan is to split the girl's last day of camp between Madison and Chicago. And we do in fact, do that. After her last morning with her cousins (at their house), I take her to Eugster's Farm. She'd been there in the past, to pet animals and admire the sunflowers, but this time we are on a practical mission: to buy freshly picked corn.

Yeah! Delicious Wisconsin corn for tonight's supper.

The drive down to Chicago is reasonably fast. We are there by about 1:30. 

(camper, returning home)

 

 

My younger daughter has been waiting to take her lunch break with us. At Floriole Bakery.

While her mom finishes up work in the afternoon, Primrose and I take a walk: to my hotel for tonight (I'm back at the Robey). To a bookstore. For a small ice cream. And to pick up some N/A beer for tonight.

(checking out my wee room...)

(at home, she settles in with a new book)

 

And now here's a special evening treat: my daughter packs some foods (smoked salmon, cheeses, and a delicious salad she whipped up with the corn),  we pick up Juniper and the dad and head downtown for a picnic and concert at the Pritzker Pavillion in Millenium Park. It's the Tchaikovsky Violin concerto and it is beautiful.

The whole evening is beautiful! The spacious lawn for picnicers allows for kids to get up if they have to. There's room for everyone. And our food is delicious. And the music swells and fills me with the kind of emotion that comes with familiar pieces beautifully interpreted. 

(A moment of realization: she's home with her parents again! The cousins miss her, she misses the cousins, but it sure is nice to have these guys nearby!)

We finish with ice cream at Amorino's. Memories of our last trip together in April!

 

 

 

(Chicago: a city with a little of everything)

 

I end the evening in the quiet of my hotel room. 

(the Robey)

 

 

I'm too tired to think, review, explore again the details of last week. I'll do that in the next few days. In the meantime, camp comes to an end. Those intense lively funny joyful memories? Forever with us, of that I am sure.

with so much love...