Saturday - 85th

Early, late, what does it matter. Don't look at the clock. Ask yourself -- am I too tired to get up? If yes, rest some more. But if a spark of energy surges -- get up and get going. There's a lot to do!

Of course, the minutia of everyday tasks, chores, fix-it requirements (my, how things break!), cleanups, scrubbings -- none of this is interesting to write/read about and yet, at the end of the day, so many minutes are devoted to them that it boggles the mind. Where did all that time go to? Farmette and daily life management, that's where. You may be efficient, spry and focused. You still need the time for it all.

(Good morning, cats! Dance stretches, Dark Blue Indigo Tuxedo -- everyone calls her something else -- waits.)






But the day is not defined by this stuff. When I think back to this brilliantly sunny Saturday, what stands out is this (and I write chronologically):

The garden. Looking at it, making mental notes on what needs to be done. Loving the emerging blossoms and the sound of bees and the silent speed flutter of the hummingbirds.






Breakfast. On the porch. Peonies, everywhere peonies. And the fantastically fragrant lilac.






A quick stop at my daughter's home (some kids are still in their pj's; of course they are -- it's a day without the usual boundaries).






(Others are dressed and ready to go!)






(Okay, bathed and set to face the day!)






I pick up my younger girl and Primrose and we head for the farmette. (With a stop for the CSA veggie box, which has something even Ed will let me toss to the compost pile -- cilantro! On the upside, it also has salad greens, spinach, asparagus, broccoli, radishes, arugula and other greens that are secondary in my book, but still fun to incorporate, even if it is very hard to fit everything in the fridge in these days when I'm cooking for nine and produce is so abundant.)

Lunch: cheeper eggs, broccoli, toast and mango with berries. Primrose loves it all!






Sandbox time. Just for a little while. I don't supply the kids with many toys in it -- usually I'm not anxious to have them play there for long. If the sun hits that spot it's too hot, too bright and if the welcome shade moves in, then the bugs come out of hiding. Still, for some fifteen minutes, it's great fun.






Later: her mom is working. Primrose is napping. Grandma is washing groceries, watering parched flowers, feeding the returning little kitten -- Cutie! So happy to see her again (she'd been gone for days)! Last night's howling coyotes and the sound of gunfire had us worried.

And soon after all those kid naps, the Madison family comes over.


It's amazing, really: the wading pool that I had picked up when Snowdrop was just a one year old is so tiny! And yet these three manage to squeeze in and entertain each other with water play for a long long time.






Kids play, I fix dinner. Tacos. I know, I know -- they've become such a staple here.  But I got my corn tortillas! We're on!






(Three of my four best girls!)






(Waiting for dessert)






(Yogurt bars and cherries: worth waiting for!)






(Pretty funny!)






Meanwhile, for some inexplicable reason, the robot vacuum cleaner left its home and began its vacuuming work. Ed and Snowdrop are trying to send it back to its base.






Later, much much later, when the moon is bright and beautiful (we had the Strawberry Full Moon yesterday; did you know that?), after the last dish is clean and drying off, I plomp down on the couch and pour myself a glass of Bergerac white. A frugal person's Burgundy! I smell popcorn. With the best images from the day crammed into my head (and into my flickr folder), I can exhale.

I had been thinking during dinner, as the kids were singing and the grownups were clapping, how this scene plays itself out the world over, again and again: the older guys hooting for the next generation. Proud, crazily in love with the little ones' drive, talent, sweetness. It's what we all want: evenings around the table with people we love.

Sigh... 

 Turn on our British crime drama show, Ed. I hope our inspector's love interest comes around again and they live happily ever after! I mean, why watch a movie if it can't have a movie ending?!
 

And now it's almost midnight and the next day is about to begin.

Friday - 84th

I've come to the conclusion that on busy days, no matter how early you get up, you never get everything done anyway, so you may as well sleep in. I wish I had followed that advice today, but in a naive effort to get ahead of myself, I gave up on sleep at 5:30 and began my day then.

I had no choice, really. I needed tortillas. But they seem to go like hotcakes because every time I put them in "my cart," they disappear. Sold out by the time of delivery. At midnight, I spot them  on the virtual shelves of my grocery store. So I quickly put in an updated grocery list, for delivery at 6 a.m. I figure it would not be possible for them to sell out, given that the store's closed for the night. Click. Order in.

Unfortunately, there is to be a confluence of events at that early hour: the grocery delivery, a drive-by drop off by our local farmer Aggie (she is selling us her prize sweet slicer cucumbers) requiring us to leave her a check, and finally -- a storm. All three at the same time. I had to be up and about to juggle it all. And as long as I am up, I should feed the animals and oh, that tiger lily -- aka ditch lily -- is invading my true day lily bed again, so I must dig it up and transplant it to some remote corner of the farmette lands (Ed does not like it when I ditch the ditch lilies).

In other words, it is a hellaciously busy morning.

Not so busy that I would ignore the garden!

(A Big Bed view...)






(You cannot forget about our second lilac -- the late bloomer. Its position is to the side, but its fragrance is nonetheless fantastic!)






(Perhaps our most floriferous peony -- right in front of the lily bed.)






(A pretty sight as you come up the driveway...)







Foods washed, cucumbers delivered, animals fed, lilies transplanted, storm never made it our way. Ed and I eat a quick breakfast on the porch. We briefly discuss the value of a liberal arts college education (it's always interesting to hear the perspective on this of a mechanical engineer) and then I note that it's late, except I have one more detail (mom related) to take care of and now I'm really late.

But, never mind: all's forgiven. I show up at my daughter's house for a day of play with Primrose and her two cousins.






This is what we did today:

(Always the frolic!)






(A walk to Stricker's Pond)











(With a run and a chase out on a big field...)











(Deck play)











And in the later afternoon?

(Primrose with aunt...)






(A tower, built mainly by Primrose, with Sparrow's experimental assistance...)






(So... how do we play baseball? Like this?...





... or is it more like this??)






I stay for a dinner of grilled foods. There is a beautiful selection of burgers, brats, and hotdogs, along with beyond burgers for the diehard no-red-meat-ever people. For a minute I am tempted to jump ship. Ed and I no longer grill stuff and of course, we're not red meat eaters but that doesn't mean that on that rare occasion that someone offers it I am not tempted.

Still, there is a cultural grip on us all that we too often fail to acknowledge, let alone understand. Having, myself, rejected the idea of (red) meat, it's hard to not feel weird eating it. With a sigh, I settle for the beyond-meat burger (a plant based burger for those who haven't been following this stuff).



Pulling into the driveway of the farmette, I take in the majesty of this weeks blooms.


 


And then I come inside. I tell myself I really have to do better in the sleep department. This simply means that I should go to sleep before midnight, but that really is not possible because, well, the evening is the time to catch up with the news, to put my feet up, to eat popcorn with Ed.

But no more predawn wake ups. Really, no more! (A promise I'm not likely to keep.)

Thursday - 83rd

Hot, summer weather is with us still. I'm up early. Peonies: it's all about the emerging peonies out there...






And irises. Don't forget about the irises.






Lots to fix, organize, get ready. Primrose will be spending the day at the farmette. It's a perfect time for it, though I could do without the emerging summer bugs. Buzz, zap! I move many of the day's planned activities onto the porch. The cats are very unhappy about having their access blocked for the day. Sorry guys, make do!






Snip irises, start fixing breakfast, oh! She's here!






She has eaten already, but she joins Ed and me for the morning meal.





And then we plunge into play.

Like all the kids who pass this way, Primrose is drawn to the toy foods -- cakes, veggies, fruits, pastas, pizzas -- over the years they've all been added to the stash.






And like all the little ones, she is so very happy when I offer her the wading pool.






Each child plays differently in water. She is into the mechanics of transport. And food delivery.





As she plays, she, like Snowdrop, hears the amplified sound of birds. And like Snowdrop, she asks -- what's that?
It's the birds, talking to each other: want some food? want some food? Yes please, yes please! Yummy yum yum! Chiiiiiirp!
And like Sparrow, she is concerned when a loud construction truck rumbles by. Sometimes I think we who live here stop listening to the sounds all around us. But when you're weeding, snipping spent flowers, or sitting in a wading pool, you hear it all.

And from here, it's a short stroll to the sandbox!






(Hold on, I need to get you a sun bonnet!)


 



Oh, but it's hot! It feels like a beach day, where you've slobbered on the sun screen and now you're all sandy and it's all sticking to you. Well, we have the tools for sand removal. No kid objects to being showered off with a hose.

Inside again, cooled off, ready for more play all the way until lunchtime. Her mom comes down from her sequestered work space (a bed in the lemon guest room) and I whip up a frittata.






Primrose loves veggies: you tell her there's spinach inside and she positively sparkles!







Naps, books, more play... Hey, is someone climbing on my back??


 



(picking peonies for the dinner table...)






And then the older family comes here for a farmhouse dinner.






(Dessert: yogurt bars and watermelon. Which would you eat first?)











The kids have less space to cavort in the farmhouse, but they manage. Oh, but who can doubt that these three are best friends!






They leave soon after dinner. The bedtimes are always late during these visits and the kids are tired. But a wonderful, beautiful tired after a day well spent. The kind of day each and every one of us deserves to have. No fuss, no clamor or great to-do. Just sharing a day, a meal, with the people you love.

(Evening peonies)