the price we pay

As we basked in the sunshine on toasty autumnal days, week after week, all the way into November, I had this nagging thought that this is not right. It's a sugar high: artificial and definitely not good for us. Wisconsin needs the cold in the same way that your perishables need to be placed in the refrigerator. Last night I had proof of this.

I had known that something was wrong with my right arm, but you know, when you're 68, you tend to ignore most irritants unless they persist and intensify. Still, as I went upstairs to bed, I gave it a good look as I took off my shirt. Sure enough, I had a fully embedded tick. And man oh man, was it embedded. Ed and I both tried to work it out with tweezers. We got most of it. Who knows how long it had been there. The inner part of the upper arm is not exactly a spot I'd look at in the course of the day. 

What's remarkable is that I'd been fully clothed during the most vulnerable parts of the week, when we were hiking. Your best defense against ticks is to wear long pants, long sleeves, etc. And in November? Who ever heard of ticks in November? Oh, but wait: this November didn't have the killer frosts and cold temperatures. Instead, it had sunshine and temps straight out of late summer. And so the ticks live on.

We considered if it was in fact a Lyme bearing tick and decided that evidence (red halo, etc) was suggestive. Since time is of essence in terms of successful intervention, I spent the morning at my clinic showing off my remarkable puffed out arm (the conclusion? early stage Lyme disease), and picking up meds at my local pharmacy.

It's rather a mundane story, but it does add strength to that old saying -- be careful what you wish for. As I said before, we can't be too in love with weirdly warm weather. It doesn't belong here in November. Let's get down to the bracing cold stuff that is more in line with what we need to keep us and the flora and fauna healthy.

In other news -- the colors are still so very pretty! I know you're tired of seeing the farmhouse in my posts, but each morning, I look out on it, framed as it is in the gold of the front maples, and I think -- so pretty!

Breakfast. Waiting for Ed.

What else to add -- how about this tiny tidbit: I found a seasonal hand soap that I like.  Can you guess why? (Yes, it's named after my oldest granddaughter -- Snowdrop!)

And so my thoughts fall back to the November of cold temps, of forecasts that mention snow showers (remember those??), of the gentle hum of a furnace, and of long winter nights with many great books loaded onto my Kindle.

Tuesday

The trouble with November is not that it is chock-full of dreary and dark days, but that it is heading in the wrong direction. In January, where the days are equally short-lived, we're hoping for snow and eyeing perennial catalogues for spring planting. We're in an upswing! In November, each day grows shorter and there's rarely snow on the ground. Which perhaps is a good thing because snow is fun for about three months, and after that you are ready to move on! If it starts in November, you're done with it before it is done with you.

Nonetheless, this year, the slide toward cold, dark and dreary hasn't yet started. It will, in a day or two, but we've been given a whole week of lovely days to make up for what's to come. I mean, I've always said that November is the toughest month to get through in Wisconsin. This year it has yet to turn mean and nasty.

Still, Ed and I don't do much outside. I have a stack of catch up chores and Ed has a morning long Zoom meeting. Indeed, I don't even want to wait for him for breakfast. I bake up some muffins and eat alone.

In the afternoon, I pick up Snowdrop at school. 

 

 

 

Once again, I try to keep her outside as long as I can. I'm fighting an uphill battle with a girl who has already had plenty of time on the school playground. Still, the day is so pretty... The farmette is so pretty...

It's dark by the time I drive her home to her brothers.

 

 

 

Amazing how quickly a day goes by when daylight hours are short-lived. But, I come from northern Europe, where today the sun rose at 6:48 and set at 3:51. That's a whole lot worse than Madison's 6:44 and 4:39. And I'm not even going to bother giving you the times for Iceland, or Norway! It's easy to be bothered by November's peculiarities until you remind yourself that however irksome those are in your neck of the woods, someone else has it a whole lot worse, and complains about it a whole lot less.

 

(At home again, I have a chance to tell Primrose how very sorry I am that she was feeling under the weather this past weekend...)

 

Happy kids! They never care which month we're in and how short the days are. It's past sunset? Let's look at the moon shape and find the first star! Yep, they know where they can find the essential elements of a good day. A pile of golden leaves, a crescent moon, and maybe mac and cheese for dinner... That's all it takes.

up and down and all around

Even with our seasonal lazies, and coming off of a busy weekend, Ed and I could not, would not waste this remarkable day of sunshine and warmth. 66F (19C) is a November meteorological anomaly to be sure. Can't hope to see another day of its kind until spring.  Knowing it was coming, Ed and I actually discussed the possibilities all weekend long: where to go, given our dislike of long drives,  on a most beautiful November day?

Part of the problem is that November brings with it the hunting season. You're not likely to be shot, but you do have to dress in Halloween orange and, too, you're likely to come across people with dead animals and/or rifles. It just takes the thrill out of a forest walk. 

So I set (more like cajoled and begged) Ed to search out a no-hunting-nearby-and-not-too-well-known-to-us hiking destination. I thought it would be an empty set, but lo! He found one! 

It's fairly new -- acquired by Dane County Park System only in 2016. No wonder we'd never heard of it. It's called the Morton Forest and it's located in the Driftless Area -- to the south and west, so with lots of hills and vales. 

This was our day then: a quick morning walk for me...

Breakfast, with Ed still finishing up his research...

And soon after, a 38 minute drive to the Forest.

Even in this late season, where most of the trees are in their final stage of leaf shedding, it is stunningly beautiful. There are three peaks, and each one has a nifty bench for you to plop down on so that you can take in your setting. We'd read that the climb is stiff -- not one for seniors or young children. Meh. It was not a big deal.

Want to walk with us? Three summits and lovely forested paths to connect them all. There are prairie fields as well, but these, of course, don't show off as well now. Still, the entirety gets high marks from us!

On the final peak, as we sat back and looked out on the view rolling lazily before us, with the sun coming at us to the left, and the utter silence surrounding us from all sides, I murmured that the few minutes sitting absolutely still up there was truly bliss. Total relaxation. No spa treatment could feel this good!

We walked all the trails -- every loop, every up and down. It wasn't that long -- maybe a couple of hours. A wonderful new place to consider when you just want to be in the quiet of a forest, alone, at peace with the world.

It is true that you can shatter that peace by picking up the newspaper upon your return. For who knows what reason I read the very well written article in the Wash Po on human cruelty to animals. Specifically -- to dogs. Heartbreaking. I almost told Ed that we should adopt one of those sad neglected animals. Almost but not quite. I thought about the cats. There are many forms of animal torture in this world, one of them would be to sic our six wild cats on an unsuspecting hapless pooch. Sense prevailed. A donation to the Humane Society or PETA for their work on rescue interventions is a much better idea.

Evening. Thinking now of animals, and forests and of all the good people in this world (there are many)...

With love.

Sandpiper's Sunday

 Hi, I'm Sandpiper. My grandma, whom I will eventually call Gaga, is too tired to write here today so she's using her imagination to write how I might have taken in this day. I think she's spot on in some ways but a little off here and there. Anyway, this is how the day went, presumably from my point of view.

I woke up to a beautiful day. Here's a photo of the farmhouse in sunshine. Gaga took it. I was home.

 

Here's grandpa Ed eating his fruit in the morning. I think he always eats just fruit for breakfast, unless there are croissants nearby. Oh! I see a croissant!

I am being baptized today. At Grace Episcopal Church in Madison. There was a lot of talking and singing first. People wore masks and sat far apart. But I'm too little to wear a mask. 

The priest called up my family and my soon to be godparents. Here we all are! 

This is the actual baptism. There's water involved.

I have two cousins. (Soon I will have three!!)  My older cousin lives in Chicago and she was not feeling well so she could not come. I also have a younger cousin and she lives in Milwaukee. Here she is, with my brother and sister.

 

 

Oh, I bet you want to see me again! After the service, Gaga took some pictures. I'm here with my little brother Sparrow and my sister Snowdrop.

Gaga took a picture of all of us coming out of the church.

 

Here's another picture, also outside the church. This will be the only one where you will see Gaga. Usually, she's taking the photos. But here, someone else grabbed the camera.

I went home with mommy and daddy, but Sparrow and Snowdrop crossed the Capitol Square to go with Gaga. They're so much more grown up than me!

We all went back to my house for lunch on the deck! Close family friends were also invited. We ate soft shell tacos. Well, not me. I'm just starting to taste mush these days. I'm just about 6 months old.

(My brother is trying his first churro.)

Oh, and that's our baby sitter and her fiancee. Plus other kids.

I guess my mom and dad's friends are my friends too, right?

Here are my mom and dad raising a toast to me! I'm reminding them that I have yet to have a nap today!

Later, our out of town guests and my family all go to Gaga's for dinner. Time to relax, to exhale, to have a laugh.

See me there at dinner, at the head of the table?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

I was sooooo sleepy at the end of the evening. Maybe everyone was!

I had an excellent day. I did miss my Aunt and Uncle and cousin Primrose from Chicago. I'm sending love to you guys! And to all those who showed up. Kiss kiss! And hugs to all.

Saturday

Tomorrow morning, Sandpiper gains a godmother and a godfather. The ceremony of a baptism will take place before noon and a celebration of this and all the love family and friends provide for each other, will follow. It is terribly unfortunate that my younger girl and her family cannot come up for the weekend. Primrose caught the school bug and so this joins the legions of unfortunate holidays and/or celebrations where one of the kids is sick and the anticipated fun stuff has to take place without parent or child. Up there with the Christmas where Snowdrop threw up and spiked a high fever, and up there with the Thanksgiving night I spent in the ER room being rehydrated after a nasty stomach bug came crawling out of nowhere.  We all have such stories to tell, don't we...

The weekend is, weather-wise, stunning. There's no other word for it.

I'm up pretty early.

I know tomorrow we'll all get an extra hour of sleep, but today I have to zip along, to the bakery to pick up some pains au chocolat (the bakery with the beautiful breads!)...

... and to the farmers market to get a whole bunch of munching carrots for the week. There are two veggies that no grocery store does well here: winter spinach and whole carrots. If you can get those straight from the farm, go for it. It's an entirely different eating experience.

I take the chocolate croissants to my daughter's house, where I see that Snowdrop is still working on her yogurt parfait idea.

Finally, it's done.

(I'm thinking Sandpiper is going to be a croissant kind of guy...)

 

 

One by one, the out of town guests (all fully vaccinated) arrive. 

The kids coopt one to read to them, the baby gets passed around...

Life is good, so I return to the farmhouse for some outdoor work. After a breakfast with Ed. (Is it still breakfast if it's after noon?)

It takes a bit of motivational prodding to get me to actually go outside, despite the sunshine and warm temps. I recognize the "winter lazies" that have set in, where nothing is quite up there with an hour or two or three on the couch with good reading material. But, finally, I'm out there and Ed and I work on those tasks that aren't essential, but will help create a visually pleasing landscape come wintertime. 

And toward evening, we head back to my daughter's house for a pizza party for the out-of-towners. Minus, unfortunately, my younger girl.

 

 

 

The scene is lovely: lanterns, pillows, comfy spaces. And yes, there are heat lamps. Arguably we did not need them, what with temps rising to nearly 60F (nearly 16C) today, but once the sun sets, it does chill off quickly and no one objected to the extra warmth.

A November night, giving us an extra hour of sleep. A generous gift from a month that's rather stingy with those hours of daylight! 

Tomorrow, a celebration of this guy!

 

 

 With love...

Friday

Let's take a walk. Nothing ambitious, nothing to feel proud of, but a real walk in a woodsy area so we can listen to the wind and be dazzled by these last days of a visually beautiful fall.

I mean, it's the day for it.

(Also let's chase Dance away from our breakfast routines. She is pesty!)

Having not too much time for that walk pushes us to our local county park. Over by Lake Waubesa. And yes, it is lovely.

These are the last weeks with our visiting birds from the south. In another month they will have left Wisconsin. Hey, they must be enjoying their hiatus here because each year we see and hear more of them in the fields that surround the farmette.

When the year draws toward an end and the growing season is behind us, it's tough not to think always in terms of "lasts." Maybe we should switch our mindsets and talk, instead, in terms of firsts. First days of golden leaves out front. First days of a walk where a scarf feels really good wound tightly around the neck. First time I enter the classrooms of Snowdrop's school.

Hey, how did that happen? Isn't the school closed to outsiders? Well yes, but there was this (fundraiser) book fair and when the little one came out of her school (can you even recognize her? I can!)...

... all she could talk about was making granola parfaits (from a recipe she found in a kid cook book) and buying a book at the fair. 

The fair (held in the school library) was winding down and indeed, all kids had already done the purchasing earlier. Still, she was motivated and we went back into an almost empty school, where she showed me some important markers of her day.

And we bought a book and left.

Back at the farmette -- finally, a few minutes with the season's gold!

The weekend will be full, but there are still some unknowns. It's the way we proceed with everything these days, isn't it? The family will gather, though maybe not all of it because, well, there's this virus, no, not The Virus, but another one making the rounds. Friends will have flown in, a lot of rapid tests have been purchased. Heat lamps have gone up outside where some small gatherings will take place. Yes, it'll be a busy weekend. 

But tonight is quiet here at the farmhouse. Topped off with a shared, expensive chocolate and Grand Designs on the TV screen. Luxury, Ed and Nina style.