Today was a great day. The weather was exhilarating; alternating hail, bright sunshine, and wind. After taking Nels to school Sophie and I came back and she thrilled me by choosing to set up her snack, reading, and sewing in the sewing room with me where we companionably spent some time mostly silent. When Nels got home from preschool the kids spent a few hours outside riding bikes and (in Nels’ case) scrumping for parts to make a leprechaun trap.
After alleyway shenanigans Sophie instructed me how to move the chicknz from their greenhouse to the pen outside. While moving them Bluster (the least intelligent one we still call a “he” for some reason) got away from my daughter and she chased him about the yard in that 3/4 stoop one reserves for pursuing things under two feet tall. Even though the situation could have become a bad one (chickn escaping into alley) I was laughing so hard it was difficult to experience worry. Sophie and the chicken had identical exclamation marks above their heads, cartoon-style. Of course my daughter prevailed. Later when it began hailing we rushed back out and put them back inside. I was proud of my daughter and how quickly she pulled on boots to rescue the animals, who were not at all hurt but very dismayed.
Last season’s coat of Nels’ is getting small; I’m sewing him a new one that is so much fun it’s hard to concentrate on anything else.
Taken in the kitchen this morning. The kids had just finished picking out today’s dinner menu – pasta with edamame, broccoli, and pinenuts; ratatouille – both from Moosewood Restaurant’s Simple Suppers. Lots of garlic and olive oil – good kids!