Sunday

Snowdrop is famous for always rising early when she is here at the farmhouse. Today, the morning of her overnight is no different. I hear her chatting to herself up in her crib just as the sun rises over the horizon. A few minutes later, her chatter is louder and I know the gig is up.

Little one, so long as you're up at sunrise, would you like to see the sun rise? It comes up -- we have light. It goes down -- we have a dark night.

She stands in her dinosaur pajamas and considers the implications of this. Then she turns toward the farmhouse with a wave of her hand and a sweet bye bye sun!





I don't quite give her breakfast at first. Just a yogurt to tide her over.

Here she is, anxious to put on her polka dot sneakers, which she found waiting for her on the counter.






Those go on after your bath, little one.

There, shoes on, ah-ah up, girl happy.






And now it is time for breakfast. Pancakes! She doesn't want to help make them. She wants to sit out on the porch in her chair at the table. I catch her gaze out the window...






She came here with an overnight bag, in which her mommy packed her outfit for the day -- something that'll be fitting for the baseball game the young family will be attending. I am so out of the loop that I cannot even tell what the M stands for. I could look it up, but I let it remain a mystery -- I am that removed from paying attention to ball games. It is an activity Snowdrop shares entirely with her parents.

Okay, breakfast is ready. And yes, she loves the pancakes. With syrup. And fruit.






We have a little time left for play and having discovered her red wagon on the porch, Snowdrop is excited to take it out for a spin. Meaning she sits and I spin.

I take her to the fields to the east of us -- a bumpy, muddy ride, but with some flower views to keep me happy. When I pause to take a photo, she indicates that pauses are not cool.






Back at the house, she suggests a game of "let's climb up on anything in sight..."






... but I tell her it's time to head home.






After she leaves, Ed and I head out for a bike ride around Lake Kegonsa. It takes us close to two hours to complete the ride, with just a handful of stops to admire the fields of soy...






... and corn...






It's a warm day but you can so tell it's Autumn!





It feels good to be doing bike rides with Ed. We've done this loop a handful of times in the past and so I think of it as our signature ride -- a few challenging (for me) hills, just to make me squirm. This year it still felt eminently doable. Next year? Ah, but we shall see.



In the evening we see the young family again, as they come over for Sunday dinner.

Snowdrop's dad wants to catch the tail end of a game,  and she insists on sitting on the porch and participating. They both eat the predinner snacks which, on Sunday, nearly always include roasted beets, cheese, and olives.






When she comes back inside, I tell her dinner is in a little while still. She takes control of her space and movement. She puts on a hat. She moves books, She runs to her toy animals. She runs back to the porch. She is on the move!






And at the end of the day,  so very happy to be eating dinner with the rest of us....






It was a beautiful day. I did "forget" to do a thorough cleaning of the farmhouse sometime in the thick of it all but hey, if you looked around, you wouldn't notice it. I don't think. Right? Right???

Saturday

I say to Ed -- I need a very expensive haircut.
You're gorgeous, gorgeous!
That was before I got the damn plant with the pernicious seeds tangled in my hair! Now I'm a shaggy mess!

From that brief exchange, you may be able to tell that I worked in the yard. It's not that there were no bugs, but it seemed to me that they are packing their bags and retreating, because I could work for many hours and not be too bothered by them.

And work I did!

Right after breakfast.






If I need a haircut after my efforts, the yard needed something much more draconian before I got out my plant snipper. Some parts (those visible to anyone coming through for a visit) had been "cosmetically maintained" by me even through the worst of the mosquito season...





But plunge more deeply into the beds and there is chaos. And a lot of spent blooms that should have been removed weeks ago.

So I worked and miraculously, the basic maintenance did not take forever -- just most of the day. I still have a winter prep to do and of course, the raspberries need a sheering, but really, things aren't too bad out there right now.

(Oh, the faithful nasturtium! No wonder Monet was so drawn to it!)






(And the loyal day lily...)






(It's always good to consider how it all hangs together, even now, in the Fall season.)






In the evening, I make pizza again.

And if you think that means Snowdrop was here...






... you're right -- she was here and indeed is still here, as I invited her for a sleepover at the farmhouse.






(Pizza!)






(For dessert -- strawberries! -- I try out her new "restaurant high chair..." She's outgrowing her infant high chair. Time to sit her at the table.)







(We go out in the dark to help grandpa Ed put away the cheepers.)






But shhhh now! Talk quietly so that the little one does not wake up until some late hour tomorrow! Shhh!

Friday in photos

A working breakfast. I've got a future Paris trip on my mind!






Snowdrop comes over. Food play!






And her mom stops in as well. Snowdrop is delighted!






So long as gaga's mind is on Paris, let's pause for a baguette...






Eventually, there is a nap, and after, there is a walk.
A walk? Yeah! With owl! And mommy! And gaga!

Follow along.






(Our resident family of wild turkeys.)






All the way to the creek and back.






With a pause to admire the slow moving stream of water.






And then we're home again and the young family leaves and Ed returns and we are back to old routines. Ed, don't forget to close the coop for the night. Ed! Wake up, Ed! Smile...

Thursday

It's interesting to be with someone who doesn't own a cell phone (do you even know people like that in these times??). You cannot check in with him. If something happens that he feels ought to be conveyed to you, you'll get a call from a strange number, as he'll be borrowing a random phone to make that call.

I've needled Ed about not getting a cell phone, but he rightly points out that he is almost never away. What would be the point?

This morning, he made a second attempt to go off on his business trip and so far as I know, he got to where he wanted to be. In any case, I had no strange numbers popping into my own phone.

I wont give you a breakfast photo -- I ate alone, or almost alone. I decided to bug my younger daughter and call her so that I would have her company over my bowl of oatmeal and fruit. Not photo worthy. Though I will throw in a shot from one tiny corner of the garden.






I'm not too pleased with the fact that the bugs have reappeared in Madison. Our warmer and wetter weather are, I'm sure, what's behind it. In any case, you wont have me doing anything about the yard until it's good and cold outside. I am fed up with bugs.

In fact, Snowdrop must share my distaste for being out right now. (Though I know she does love going out for "recess" at school, but by the smell of things, I can tell that they douse the kids with bug spray.) When I bring her to the farmette, I suggest we walk to check for eggs and she's willing, but immediately after, she points to the farmhouse and says in that insistent voice of hers: go in house! -- with finger pointing, in case I didn't get it.






Once in, she is cheerful and full of play.






(This is a favorite: sit at my desk and "write.")






I notice that her hair often gets tussled and wild after school (bug spray, feverish play, hands everywhere) and so I suggest that she sport a pony tail -- like me today! (for different reasons having more to do with laziness and Ed being away rather than bug spray, feverish play or hands being everywhere).






Is it still in, grandma?
It is, but it wont be if you keep tugging at it...






How about now?
Well sort of...






Snowdrop, upstairs to bed!






After her nap, I notice the hair tie is no more, but no matter. The girl is refreshed, energized, playful.






Feeding her animal pals toy foods ranks as one of her most favorite things to do. They always get a yogurt. If they're lucky they'll get noodles and a cheese sandwich.






And then her parents are here and they're radiant today as it's their anniversary and I am always so tickled that one daughter married on the first day of spring and the other -- Snowdrop's mom -- married on the the first day of fall and so I know that the new seasons is upon us and honestly, I think that's such a good thing!

I started with a garden photo and I'll end with one as well. On the way to the coop to lock the cheepers in for the night. Looks like fall, no?

Wednesday

It stormed at night, it stormed at 4:45 a.m. as Ed was taking off for a business trip, it stormed after he left and I went out to let the chickens out, and when he came back because his flight had been cancelled.

Well, it made for a nicer breakfast. Instead of him being out of town, I have his company and he is fully awake and we eat warm oatmeal and comment on how soggy this month is getting to be.





When I pick up Snowdrop at school, she insists on wearing her raincoat -- a good idea, I suppose, except that it's a short distance from school to car and then from car to the house.

She would have loved to take a walk...





... but I am less enthused.

How about a ride around inside in your toy car instead?

Good enough.






But I can see by her acrobatics and stretches that the girl is full of energy.
A nap first, little one. Then we'll consider the possibilities.






You'll think this to have been a short post. It's true. After her nap, Snowdrop and I wait very patiently for the weather to improve. I had images of outings. She keeps running to get her shoes, telling me emphatically -- shoes on, go out!

I show her the clouds.





We listen to thunder.

We stay in.


Evening. Ed and I have Thai take out for dinner. Driving home, I look at the clouds and think-- beautiful, in a bleak and threatening sort of way.





The storms will pass. And from my perspective -- that's a good thing.

Tuesday

Sometimes, a day can be so sunny, so utterly perfect feeling. I thought today was quite like this.

We had a beautiful breakfast on a beautiful morning on the porch.






This isn't the time of year where you're going to rave about your flowers, and still, I thought the beds outside were looking good. There's much to admire!





I had another string of details to attend to -- most having to do with some issues that arose with the work on my Warsaw apartment. I barely made it on time to pick up Snowdrop at school.

Relieved that I have all the paper messes behind me, I take the little one back to the farmette.

I unbuckle the girl and set her free.

The cheepers rush to her, expecting bread. Here, she seems to be telling Butter -- I have nothing for you!






She sets out -- you guessed it -- toward the tomatoes. The cheepers, undeterred, follow.






Knowing how anxious the chickens are to share in her treats, Snowdrop takes her harvest inside the house.

Once all tomatoes are consumed and juice drippings are wiped (more or less) clean, Snowdrop goes to her play area. Ed comes in. Nothing pleases her more than having a bunch of people to play with.

Read book! -- she pleads.











These are her most tired minutes -- those just before her nap -- but I have no doubt that the girl is happy. Very happy.






After her nap, she eats. She has a new way of appreciating raspberries...






I'm agreeable. Anything to distract her from the presence of the cookies we had baked together yesterday.

In the afternoon, the sun is bright, the humidity isn't too high. I'm thinking -- this may be the last of the truly summer-like days. We ought to seize it and do something special.

I tell Snowdrop we'll be going to the local park. To climb towers and play in the playground.

We drive to our nearby Lake Farm County Park.

What a bust! Pulling in, I see immediately that the silo tower with the good views is closed. Why? I cannot tell you. The playground at the side seems poorly maintained and not geared for toddlers. I don't give up. I know that there are two more playgrounds further down the drive.

I come to the second one. Not much there. Plus, it is completely overrun with wild geese. You may find that charming. Not me. Geese in parks are a nuisance. I would not plop a toddler in their midst, no matter how desperate I was for outdoor playtime.

We drive to the third play area. Snowdrop is doubting my sincerity. Where are the towers? Why aren't we playing?

It's not great here either. There are swings, but none of them are suitable for a tiny one. There is a climbing structure. She rushes to it, but it's like a highway leading to nowhere: once she gets up, there's not much that she can do. I try to get her into the pipe tunnels and she looks at me amused and disinterested. 






Finally, she locates a slide that is rather steep but manageable.






She goes down again (and nearly lands on her butt on the ground, but I catch her)...





And again, and again and again. And I suppose I would have stayed with her there, letting her slide like this over and over again, but the mosquitoes were out and I could not subject her to their nasty presence.


Snowdrop is a girl who loves the promise of adventure and I felt that this didn't quite measure up to what anyone would call "grand." And so I tell her that once we return home, I'll dig out her little wading pool for one last summer splash.





She is happy. Very happy.

But once again, I have to lure her away from her fun. The mosquitoes, though not as fierce as in the park, are hovering.

Ed comes out, the little girl is delighted...





But I have to drag her away from it all.

I offer her a bath inside the house and she sweetly goes along.

I do not cut into that one. She sits in the tub and pours water from one cup to the next and I am so relieved that she can have her time of uninterrupted play. Only when her parents are about to show up do I wrap a towel around her. I am loathe to reward anything with a sweet treat, but I do think that Snowdrop deserves a piece of an oatmeal raisin cookie for all her interrupted play. A cookie that she herself baked the day before.