Farmers’ Market…

…still trying to function.

Dandelions know how to prosper, but they were not on the menu at the farmer’s market, although they are a delicacy in some places.

I should have taken photos of the market, but I was too preoccupied with mask, gloves, deposit boxes and the like to think clearly. Anyway, I picked up a dozen local eggs, a big bag of local spinach, a bunch of yellow carrots, a bag of bok choy, and a lemon-poppyseed cake. All items are resting quietly in the trunk of the car, decontaminating (as if they ever were). Sometimes careful can seem extreme.

Garden Work…

…on a much cooler day.

Hosta la vista, or rather, hola hosta

Without geometry life is pointless.

It begins well before dawn, sill darkest night out my window, which looks west. 

But there must be some glimmering in the east, because shortly after 4 a.m. the flock of sparrows (I’m quite sure it’s them), who reside in the front hedge, erupt in song. Loud. It’s hard to tell the number of participants in this chorus, but it sounds like many, and they all sing full voice.

With the storm window now replaced by screen, the song is so immediate it almost makes me want to jump right out of bed and start the day.

Apparently there’s a lot to sing about; the music lasts for about an hour. Towards five, the volume diminishes, as if the birds are moving away. And, eventually the performance fades to the point that other birds—cardinals, robins, jays, crows (and others I can’t identify) can be heard contributing to the morning welcome.

I wonder if I should try singing before sunrise.

Rhubarb

Compote for breakfast, pie after dinner.
Rhubarb believes in the original instructions, and every spring offers its sour pungency and array of vitamins to the people, who in days gone by, after a long winter, desperately needed it. The people, in return, follow the instructions by helping rhubarb find new places to live, and offering it fertilizer, and thanks.

Rhubarb compote on genuine plain yoghurt also deserves a great many thanks. Photo of the pie to follow.

Pax Amongst The Flowers

When you have a nice bed it makes sense to lie in it.

Photo by Sue

Summery day. Serviceberry (amelanchier, saskatoon, shad bush) in full bloom. Storm windows off, screens on. Here’s hoping this arrangement will last a good long while (before air conditioning becomes required). Bike rides increasing in length: this morning 12 miles at an average speed of 14 mph.

Bunch of Yerkes

Outing with (spaced out) friends.

Met the Habes at Yerkes Observatory, for a walk around the expansive property. We were stopped by the lawnmower man, who It turned out, has been taking care of the property for 30 some years. He invited us inside for a private tour of the largest “refractive” telescope in the world.

Spread out picnic lunch at Williams Bay, and then a walk along a short stretch of the lakeside trail from George Williams college towards Wm. Bay. Pax went swimming, of course, and, after that, and all the other exercise, is now pooped.

Drive-by Birthday Party

We were part of a multiple car parade, honking and waving, with signs and balloons, in what now passes for a 10-year-old birthday party. Unlike the other participants, however, we made a second pass and then stopped. Slight break in the rules, but worth it.

Drenched, Soaked, and Flooded

Much more water than necessary. Ground saturated, causing worry that recent plantings will be drowned. Whitewater creek out of its banks. And, now, extreme wind gusts, bending sturdy trees and dislodging branches belonging to the weaker ones.

Birthday bug boxes completed—one a toter, the other a two-chambered stationary edifice.

Watching Grass Grow…

…and moss too.

It’s possible to sit on the back patio and listen to the grass growing, all the while watching it inch upwards. Two days in a row now of warm (almost hot) and humid weather with afternoon (and evening) downpours.

Seeing Things

The exceptionally clean atmosphere, provided by Covid, makes many things clear. Last night Sue called me out to marvel at the brightness of Venus as it shone in the dark sky right near sister moon. And then, a moment later, after I had gone back in, she called me back out. “Come quick! Aliens! UFOs! Something weird!” And she was right. A string of bright beads, in a straight line evenly spaced, sliding swiftly but silently across the sky, just south of the moon. Fortunately for both of us I had a suspicion the phenomenon was something put up there by SpaceX. And yes it is—50 or 60 satellites, following each other in a straight line (like kindergarteners on a field trip), part of Elon Musk’s Starlink endeavor. A very strange, and rather unnatural, sight. Watch for it tonight; you will think an advanced civilization has come to Earth. (And we could use a little advancement.)

A Walk to the Woods,

and pond.

Bullfrogs captured, but no snakes. All at a respectful distance.
Back in Whitewater, some garden work (peas, chard, and radishes planted) and a bath for Pax. Normally the spring garden is planted in Kagawong, and beets and squash (with a few tomatoes) occupy the Whitewater plot. But this year is different.

Ignore The Forecast

Sunny and hot? Warm and dry? Thunderstorms and tornadoes. Forget all that. Whatever the prediction, chilly, gray, and damp is what we get.

Where there are kids, there are hearts.

Rotation of the compost bins begun, and the collinear hoe sharpened. Tomorrow some planting, in spite of the weather. At least radishes.

Humdrum, Routine, Repetitive?

Hardly—especially now that we have a number of new cocktails to try—the Javex Julip, Lysol Sour, Draino Mojito, Clorox Old Fashioned, etc.

Stonecrop

In addition to new recipes, we’ve had some humor, in fact one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. Whoever wrote the script must be a comic genius:

Gray Day

Cool and cloudy, though with little wind.

A little project work. Sue did our first ever online grocery shop (from the nearby Festival store). It will go quickly next time. I got in an 8.5 mile bike ride (35 minutes)(headwind and up hill both ways), and a few shorter dog walks.
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I’ve changed my mind about Bill Gates. I used to think he stole CP/M and turned it into MS-Dos, and eventually, Windows, all of which were horrible, and got horribly rich in the process. Now, he’s my hero. The health work of his foundation, and his current involvement in solving the Corona crisis, puts him up there with Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk, IMHO.
In a recent Op-ed he reiterated the four things that need to be done to reopen and get back to buisness:

1) Testing—wide-spread; including self testing/home testing, and a national testing plan,
2) Contact tracing, including human tracers and digital tracing tools,
3) Effective treatment (therapeutic) drug or drugs,
4) A vaccine.

If we only had a government capable of doing these things!

I Need An Impossibly Long Headline

How do you fit Katy’s birthday, Earth Day, a furniture exchange, a plein air birthday party, and a walk in a park into the same slug?

Impossible to write, but fun to do.

Set In Stone

The beauty of concrete, in lots of unexpected places.

Masquerade

To the ophthalmologist for final eye check, wearing mask and gloves. Only one person in the facility at a time, and a temperature check prior to admittance. The doctor is difficult to understand at the best of times, but almost indecipherable behind an n95 and face shield. On the up side, I got a prescription for glasses. On the down side, the optical department is closed. But then, somewhere in the middle, I was able to order cheap glasses online. Hard to imagine a pandemic without internet.

Inside the bark of the felled ash, showing the artwork of emerald ash borer

All’s Quiet in Noisy Village

Little traffic noise, no carousing, no robocalls, and nary a siren. There are some some upsides to carona.

Mask making and bug box building. (Of course the bug box could be called a turtle tote, snake satchel, grasshopper grip, toad toter, or frog hopper.)
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Hold That Thought

In the midst of writing
something quite profound,
the jarring chirp, repeated,
of the texting sound,
then timer on the oven gives a buzz,
incoming email dings,
the dog bangs on his empty water bowl
and, of course, the phone begins to ring.

Is that the neighbor knocking on the door?
Yes—and thought profound now’s gone forevermore.
—JBN

Big Warmup…

… bigger wind. Loud roar from the southwest.

Nonetheless, a 7.5 mile bike ride with Becca, Ellie, and Bri on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. Almost got blown off the trail a few times, but still good.

Morning Snow

…but a little afternoon sun.

Make yourself to home, why don’t you, after eating my hazelnuts

Spring postponed until tomorrow.

We ran a few errands to Oconomowoc, and, along the way, stopped in to see Bri’s new office (distancing all the while). Very nice—bright, breezy if need be, with lots of memorabilia, and a big aquarium full of fish (in addition to all the computer stuff).

Chill, Still…

…and a wind that won’t unwind.

A few dandelions are braving the cold, and maybe some of the incarcerated kids desperately in need of recess, but otherwise not at all the kind of day you’d hope for on the 16 of April (in the midst of a pandemic).

Lacking any other pressing business, I spent a big chunk of time on two wheels, gloved and hatted and inured to the cold.