Welcome to the Road

Geo And I took our first intentional road trip today, a not-long journey to the north to a funeral home. We met up with some not-so-distant relatives that we hadn’t seen in ages. Paperwork was completed and signed. Hugs and phone numbers exchanged. 

On the way home, Geo asked about family history and lore. Stories were told, songs were sung, and we barely noticed the heat. Stories continued along with dinner while we played cards, and into the dark hours, after watching Spirit yet again. 

Welcome to the Road, Beauty.

This is the Way.

Outing: Layman Farm

Wow.

The morning at Layman Farm was really delightful, filled with an easy good time together. Vivian and I both feel most at home walking around the Land, so it's no surprise that she seemed her "old self." 

We walked the farm, rode on the hay bale truck, and navigated the corn maze. She bought a stuffed llama and a tee shirt, and made sure I took home a stuffed sheep. She made me promise to bring the sheep to our next visit so that they could play together.

She told me about wanting a ranch when she grows up, so she can have horses. Her favorite horse is a morgan, just like mine, and she wants to learn barrel racing. I said I'd take her to the rodeo the next time it's in town.

We talked about my new apartment and I showed her pictures. She loves the meditation room and said she wants to start meditating with me again. As if to prove she still knows how,  she climbed up I to the huge rocker near the hay wagon and sat in lotus. God, I love her so much.

She asked about Ian, Chris and Francie's son who is three weeks younger than she is, who usually visits at Christmastime. I told her I wasn't sure if they were going to visit this year, but that I'd find out. 

From the tetherball to the cow ride, the zip line to the bouncy mat, a good time was had by all. She said she wanted to come back again soon, and was a little sad that this was the last weekend of Fall activities. Next year we can get a season pass, I told her. We were both tired and ready for a lunch break as we walked towards the parking lot. She leaned into my hug as we parted and called, "Love you! Bye!" and climbed into the back of her dad's car.

Life is good.

Reading Log: The Demography of Families

Reading The Demography of Families today and thinking about not just how we define family but why we bother to do it.

Gullible

I had a massive dictionary when I was in high school. I used to put a mark next to every word I looked up, and star my favorites, but what's important is that I taped a picture of my brother next to the word "Gullible" and I think about this a lot.

Reading Log: Only Orange

Day 3 of TMWW20, and we're reading Camille Bordas' "Only Orange." 

The narrator is so unlikeable as to be a horror, yet her family seem to take that in stride, doing what family, ideally, always do, loving her without condition of her pleasantness.

New Year Jubilee

We had a great time at the New Year Jubilee this afternoon.
The theme was resilience, and after 2017, it's a word to keep close at heart.
Happy New Year!

A Week of Happy

Saturday in the park

Saturday movie at the Grandin Theatre in the Village and then a tour through the furniture store where we found a super cool tic tac toe set. We dropped by Linda's used bookstore and then went to a puzzle room put on by the library. 

A good time was had by all.

It's a party

We had a lovely weekend, despite me having heart issues on Saturday after I started moving the mulch around. It was bad enough that it sat me down and I couldn't catch my breath for about an hour or so, and even after, the heart kept right on pounding all through the day, leaving me capable of no more than sitting on a stool or a chair.

I called in reinforcements, and my long-time friend Jax showed up to make the cake while I sent Harvey out to do battle, armed with shopping lists for the fresh fruit and vegetables.

Vivian was of supreme use in determining the kind of cake she wanted (chocolate) and the texture (moist) and the flavor of frosting (chocolate again). It was layered with a berry compote that was just delicious and we all felt like royalty by the time it was said and done.

Vivian and I read books and supervised, as befits our station. While it was in progress, Vivian helped clean up by making herself useful cleaning the batter from the beater. I'm certain that she was able to get Every.Last.Drop.

Once the cake was in the oven, Harvey whipped up a batch of egg noodle dough for the beef stroganoff to go over, and it was absolutely delicious, with sounds of enjoyment all around. I confess that I am a real fan of the pasta press, and am unlikely ever to go back to dried noodles, but there was a moment, while watching the minutes melt away, that we were all wondering if we needed to break out a bag of pasta from the pantry.



The cake was delicious, of course, and beautiful to boot. We enjoyed the company of family and a good time was had by all.



On Sunday we went on a trail ride on horses, and Vivian loved every minute of it, as you might expect. She did amazingly well, but even more importantly she had a great time. It was so nice to be able to have the afternoon to work with instead of having to drop her off at 4 without any flexibility whatsoever. This is a much better schedule for Vivian, and it showed. We went to Barnes & Noble after the ride and she chose two big books of horse breeds with pictures, and then proceeded to carry them with her everywhere all evening and into the ride to school.