flowers

They waited for me, my dear, dear lilies. Most of them will have their field days this week and even into next week. This then is the moment for flowers. Glorious and beautiful, rich with the colors of summer. Expect Ocean to devote most of its time and space to them. It's just the way it is. (Besides, the grandkids -- all mostly healthy at this point -- are ensconced in family trips and programs, so that I keep them on my radar screen and I track their movements, but from afar.

Oh, hemerocallis lilies, you are magnificent (and especially when growing next to the phloxes, monardas, lilium, and clematis, because communities of flowers are like communities of people -- enriched by the presence of those not entirely like the other)!

I step out early and immediately I start in on the garden clean up. I'm not in peak season yet, but with my absence, the spent flowers have hung limply on the stalks and I quickly snip them off because it really, really looks better that way. Total amount snipped? 691. 

It's a stunning day, with plenty of sunshine and the morning is pretty as can be!

And here's a strange but pleasantly so surprise -- in the morning, the swallows are back. Did they forget something? Did they feel the air to be too warm and so they came north again? Are these distant relatives of the ones who were here before? A mystery! 

Breakfast, yes of course. On the porch, with the delicious fruits of the season -- peaches and blueberries.

Some more work, and tidying, of Ed too! (Meaning I trim his gorgeous gray hair and shave off his beard.) And then I ask him if he wants to tag along to Eugster's Farm with me. They're just under ten miles from our farmette and they have the first crop of corn for sale. Having tasted this year's corn in Chicago, I'm hungry for more and our guys just down the road aren't ready to harvest yet. 

It's not hard to convince me to hop on his motorbike with him. I mean, on a warm day, on rural roads -- it's just a heavenly ride. With views!

At Eugster's we are tempted!

Yes, by the corn. But also by their sunflower bunches. And watermelon. This is when you begin to regret taking a motorbike. Can we fit it? We have to! However, on the trip home we take a tiny detour to check out the Ortega family's small greenhouse. They sell flowers and we're curious what they're growing. And of course, I cannot resist picking up just a couple of pots, including one of a very very tall and unwieldy hollyhock. My seeds did not take this year, possibly because the cheepers were scratching in the place I put them.  This one would be just perfect for the Big Bed. 

Now how on earth am I going to manage this on the motorbike?

I do, but Ed is forced to go very slowly and by the end of the short ride, my arms are stiff!

So I plant and I transplant and I move some plants and the day passes very quickly!

(Cookie break: with cookies from Chicago's bakery -- a very sweet memory for me...)

Ed tells me -- it's a beautiful place we live in, isn't it...

Indeed it is.

leaving Chicago

When my youngest grandchild, Juniper, first came down with stuff, we assumed, well, I assumed that she caught it from her sister who had had something similar just days before. And maybe she did. But then, maybe, too, she added to the mix something from school. Why is this even significant? Because yesterday evening it was evident that Primrose was picking up symptoms of some of the stuff Juniper was now slowly getting over. Or maybe Primrose had gotten something altogether new from her school? (Because the symptoms track Juniper's, we can assume it's not Covid, but of course, we can't be sure. Time will tell!)

This is the way it is with young kids: they toss bugs between themselves as if it were a volley ball game, only sometimes there's more than one ball on the court. All this drives many parents, especially working parents, which is to say most parents, but particularly those working and living in the US where time off to actually parent is regarded as some kind of luxury rather than necessity -- all this leads them to say "I am physically incapable of adding more kids to the mix. We stop at two." 

My daughter hasn't had a night without multiple babe crying episodes sprinkled throughout for several days now and last night Primrose added her share of wake-ups to this, so that their mom was up and down and back and forth between the two kids, running on who knows what ounces of energy. (At night, though I never sleep through such stuff, I am of little help. The goal is to get the kids as quickly as possible back to sleep and the best person for that job is, unfortunately, the parent.) 

Going forward, Juniper is way better and one hopes this wont drag down Primrose, so that the household can eventually return to some level of normality in the week ahead. But it's been one interesting (challenging!) set of days. 

(not well)

It's a cool Sunday in Chicago. Again our plan for the morning has to be adjusted as Primrose has to see a doc to get the meds she needs. Still, we all find time to play and have a lovely breakfast and all in all, being home with these two silly-billy girls is always awesome. 

(while the big sister is attending to her health care needs, the little sister stays at home with me; I give her a bath then dress her in sunflower yellow, to cheer things up a bit!)

("hey, I'm plenty cheerful!")

(the last selfie...)

(Primrose is back! A little better, but she still has a stretch of recovery before her.)

(at lunch: that adoring gaze of the younger sib...)

I hate to leave my daughter alone with two only marginally well girls, but I no longer feel confident in driving long stretches at night, so I time my departure in the way that I can get home before I zonk out and certainly before sunset. In any case, the dad is on his way home. No flight delays for him, airline, you hear??!

And now I'm back at the farmhouse and I see that lilies have indeed exploded in the past couple of days! I almost want to avert my eyes. So many spent lilies to snip tomorrow! But that is in fact tomorrow's work. Today I'm thinking about grandkids: so much to work through, so many tough moments any young family must navigate! But of course, at the end of the day it's the tough stretches that open your eyes to the pleasure of having a more carefree set of minutes. And when those carefree minutes roll in, you sit back, maybe close your eyes, and think -- isn't life just grand! 

With so much love...

Chicago

The weekend: it is that break and rest that you get for working at your job (in most jobs) or going to school. You abandon someone else's imposed schedule and create your own.

Some of us are so programmed, so wedded to the weekday clock that we find this to be an insignificant change. We get up at nearly the same time, we eat meals that we're hungry for at the same hour. The older you get the more this is the case. So that even if you are retired and by definition not tied to that work ordering of your day, you do not do what you've longed all your tired adult work days to do -- you do not as a habit sleep in, you do not unravel your commitment to a set schedule.

So I am not surprised that this Chicago household, though looser at the edges, still gets up at close to a weekday hour and still aims to follow many of the routines of a weekday. It's just easier that way. Though the stress is nearly gone: no one will kill you if you slack off and get going later than you had wanted to.

Morning: breakfast, and a leisurely vibe. Us older guys eat granola. Juniper tries oatmeal with peanut butter to test her peanut tolerance.

(Juniper and Primrose: good with each other, good for each other)

My daughter has the idea that we could walk to the Green City Market in Lincoln Park. It's one of Chicago's nicest farmers markets and it's only a brisk 45 minute trudge from where we are. I'm tickled with this expedition. I love local markets, especially now, in July, and I very much want to see how different this one is from our own. A Chicago market gets lots of produce from Michigan so I'll be able to see what's growing in Illinois and its eastern neighbor.

We set out. My daughter comments later that she looks stern in the photo. I think she looks determined!

It really is a cool walk. Chicago's neighborhoods are architecturally and historically and commercially interesting. Perhaps it's not a great plan to meander through all of them, but today's walk certainly ranks as a really good one. 

And the market is also a winner. It's along a U-shaped space, with lots of green grasses and shady spots for a blanket if you want to linger. And we do!

We pick up some bakery items and, too, some fruits from Michigan... 

... and I do see that there are for more fruit stands than we have and perhaps somewhat fewer veggie and flower stands. But the vibe is great and the foods are delicious. And guess what! I find a stand with this year's first corn! Definitely worth adding to tonight's dinner.

In the afternoon, the kids rest (Juniper cut her first tooth and this brings her a great source of relief -- she has struggled through teething and a set of viruses during my time here and it's nice to see her finally exhale some). I prepare the foods for supper. And what may that be? You wont be surprised if I say a spinach and mushroom frittata! I mean, talk about making something that I know from every angle! Besides, they have lots of good CSA eggs in their fridge.

(dessert: vanilla ice cream with blackberries, just like one in her book; if you're a kid you'll likely know which book)

Evening. Hard to believe it's my last one. Too, it's not as if everything is cleared up and everyone is good to go. But, the kids are *mostly* good to go (for now) and their dad will be coming home tomorrow.

In the meantime, bugs, viruses and all, it's been thrilling to be with these three! Such great girls they are! 

With so much love...

Chicago

The summer morning has rain in it here in Chicago, though unfortunately only spotty showers up north. The farmette really needs more than just spotty shower. 

Juniper had another night low on sleep and high on tossing and turning, which means that her mom also had a night low on sleep. But we're hoping the little one has crested and is climbing down to a happier healthier plateau. The fever is still bouncing, as light fevers do, but she got up raring to go. Just not to school yet. It'll be another day with grandma while mom and big sister go off, one to work, the other to her own school adventures.

(ready!)

(definitely sweater weather)

(left with grandma and camera!)

(lots of morning smiles)

(working on her inner Chopin...)

While Juniper naps, I get dinner ready. Someday, when the grandkids write their own memoirs, they may well insert something like this into their text: "my grandmother Nina, called gaga by some, because, well, that was an easy word to pronounce at age one, loved family meals and she spent her grandma years trying to find foods and preparations that would please every single member of both young families. She struck gold with crunchy chicken. We all loved it and we're told that our mothers felt an equal pleasure eating it for dinner when they were young. Grandma said she did not invent it -- some dude named Pierre Farney put it in a cook book called the Sixty Minute Gourmet some eighty years ago. Well, maybe not eighty, but quite a while back. Still, she adjusted it to what was available and sometimes she used breadcrumbs and sometimes she used Panko, but it always tasted perfectly delicious and we would all have happy grins when she would tell us that tonight was crunchy chicken night!"

Of course, there is still Juniper. She could be her own person and choose tofu over crunchy chicken. Never assume. But for now, I fillet the chicken breasts and egg 'em and crumb them and put them aside for later pan frying.

When a break appears in the rain, I take Juniper out for a short walk. Nothing ambitious. Just enough to wipe off the dust in the mind and clear the senses. 

Evening: all the girls, young and older, are home.

(hey world, mom's home!)

There's time for play. Juniper watches, Primrose unwinds. Grandma hugs...

... then gets down to the business of cooking dinner.

(and Juniper joins us! not quite ready for crunchy chicken, but asparagus spears -- yes: easy to hold, easy to gnaw on)

Cross our fingers for a weekend where the babe continues to be on the upswing and the household returns to the usual lovely normal.

But really, it's been so good to have all these hours with Juniper (seven months old today!), indeed, with the both of them. With the three of them!

With so much love...

Chicago

Some time at a dawn-ish hour a text came in from my daughter telling me that Juniper was Covid negative. This is good news of course. I stayed in bed marveling at how the lab worked round the clock to get these results to parents. But this spot of good news didn't erase the sleepless night the little girl had, nor did it free her to go to school today. And so I pack my bag and go up to the empty hotel lobby (this hotel has its lobby on the upper level) and check out, casting one glance at the spectacular view they have of the Chicago skyline.

(I ignore the free breakfast which, as in most chain hotels, is really there to keep you from overeating. Absolutely nothing tempts you. My daughter's granola and fruit later in the morning will be way better.)

I tug my case and trudge up one commercial street...

... turning into the leafy residential area where my girl lives.

And now I truly can be helpful, though not in the way we had imagined it. With me here, my daughter can get some work done. I start off with taking Primrose to school...

(ready!)

... with Juniper along for the ride. I am trying to keep the babe awake so that I can nap her later. Primrose is a great help here.

Okay, school girl, have a great day and we'll see you at pickup!

Now Juniper, please stay awake!

She does.

At home I cycle through the routines: nap, feed, bathe, play, nap, feed, play, walk. A baby's life. Oh, sure, what you do in the waking hours changes. Juniper is playful, upright and raring to go.

Still, there is a schedule and it helps her and me if we more or less stick with it.

(quick post bath hug)

The day is beautiful -- really gorgeous. A walk is brilliant. In fact, I don't know many babes who do not relish outdoor time, even in less perfect weather. The stimulation of sounds and sights, the movement, the dappled sunlight -- it's all one great adventure. And Juniper is one who loves adventure.

And we have a terrific destination goal: just a couple of days ago, a new place opened in the neighborhood: Dolci Amori, with lots of fresh, beautiful, delicious Italian cookies.

Dessert for today and a big box of cookies for Ed!

Eventually I head out to pick up Primrose. Juniper is not up for another walk so it's just us two. 

And guess what! I spot a daylily!

It's been a full day and my daughter is going on far too little sleep so we call it quits early tonight. Still, there was time for lunch together and now there is time for a spritz of wine and just a little reflection. About all the good that the day has brought us. About the sweet moments and delightful smiles. Half full indeed!

With so much love...