Wednesday Goes Like This

When A goes away suddenly I get all night owl-ish and want to stay up late every night, usually blinking wide-eyed at the computer screen while I dream and write and sketch and research. I am on a travel bender right now and keep digging up new obscure facts about Morocco and places to stay for a pittance in Finland. I usually stay awake until the first kid has a nightmare or has to go to the bathroom and stumbles down the hallway to the office squinting.

Once that kid is tucked in again I put myself to bed, resisting the urge to read a nip or two from a bedside novel in the midnight stillness. I just pat the book stack and tip A's alarm clock over on its face so the neon green numbers can't stare at me all night and drift off. The only catch with this habit is that I find it harder and harder as the week goes on to get up at my scheduled time and have my early riser solo hour in the quiet dawn.

This morning I was a positive stone, sleeping leadenly the recycling truck collection and the school bus arriving for the neighbor kids. When I pulled the curtains I saw that it was a dove grey morning with mist rolling up the hill. What light there was was muted and cloudy. The boys and I had tea at breakfast (green and mint!) and ate slowly, passing the bowl of blueberries around several times. It is a luxury to just eat. To breathe and realize that we can go as slowly as we like since there is no train to run after, trying to make sure Daddy makes his connection for his commute.

A luxury until the smalls start taking their time, eating one blueberry every 10 minutes, putting their feet on the table and giggling uncontrollably about it and asking for fourths and fifths of tea. So then breakfast was over and we were off on errands and read-alouds and Picasso lessons. The good news is, the car has nothing wrong, the brakes are great + the oil is changed, the girls in our book started a new adventure and it does look like Michael will marry their favorite auntie after all and the pressing has been all dropped off at the cleaners. Now on to kid's club, registering for chess, signing up for a mommy yoga class, and a quick early dinner before a friend drops by! Whew.

I'd say we're a go...time for a Thursday. 

Dahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New CSA

We're a good bit of the way through the harvesting season with our new CSA and I have to say that I like it. It is just as handy as I imagined to have our pick-up location down the street, instead of 45 minutes away, and kind of fun to meet neighbors there who also happen to have a share. I didn't count on the community interaction bit, kind of a fun bonus.

 I do miss going up to an actual farm. It was a great built-in break that we had going and I feel like we've removed ourselves a little bit from the food-land connection. There was one scheduled members day when our new CSA invited everyone to come up for a picnic and help pull garlic and then go for a dip in the creek. Have to make sure to plan on going next year. I am an organization klutz and through a lot of fumbling we managed to miss it this time around. Am still kicking myself and trying to let it go.

Since there's no actual farm connection to speak of via our CSA this year, I find that I'm seeking out chances to go to drive out to the country for other things: caterpillar hunting, listening to the frogs sing, rural estate sales, buying farm milk, picking up local meat...etc. Kind of fun to mix it up anyhow.

 So, the time savings is great, the produce is great, the community connection is fun and over-all I think we made a fine trade. You never quite know when you make this kind of a gamble and switch everything up, but this time it worked out.

Here is a test.

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