Just before the birds...

Do you know what the morning sounds like, just before the birds begin to sing? It's quiet. Real quiet.  I know, because Anika woke up at 4 this morning, because she was hungry after a day of being sick, and wanted some cereal.  So we came downstairs, lit some candles, and she ate cereal while we listened for the first robin of the morning start to sing (it was about 4:25).  I taught a game at coop a few weeks ago - the Songbird Clock Chorus, I think it is called, from Hands-On Nature - where the kids all get cards with a bird song on it and a time, and then as I turned the hands on a clock, they started and stopped their songs.  It was very cool...This was sort of like that, except I was tired, much much more tired...

Ah, Sunday night. Moon rose during our evening walk to the garden to string up "Mr. Stripey" and put in some leeks.  The air was soaked with the scent of honeysuckle. We ate pizza topped with garlic scapes (the greens of spring garlic) , green onions, and spinach from the market. YUM. But I'm working backwards...Friday evening was spent harvesting, as is now the routine.  Lettuce, spinach, green onions.  I upset a huge wolf spider while cutting lettuce - kept my adrenaline up for a while, as I searched the jeweled leaves for signs of her hiding from me.  I noticed that when I cleaned the tub full of leaves from the mixed lettuce bed, I picked out countless weeds and grasses.  But when cleaning the leaves I decided to add from a "volunteer" bed, just to boost my amount - harvesting the "weed" lettuce, as it were, there were NO WEEDS.  Hmmmmm...Up early on Saturday to harvest the cilantro and drive to market in my friend's ancient Cutlass Sierra (this car is serious JUNK!) (he is aware of it:  Deb, I was cleaning out my car (ha!!!) and took a  good look at it, and if I didn't know it was mine, I'd think it belonged to a crazy person!).  I suffered the guffaws and rolled eyes of my market neighbors who have commented numerous times on what an improvement our car is over this one...oh well! Dan needed our car to take the girls out to the L's farm for the morning, as he was conducting auditions for Oliver all day! Market was slow, but steady, and I just love the people.  I got to make one of those "you need to know this person" connections for two friends of mine, and it was electric! It was so much fun to watch, and I can't wait to see what comes of their collaboration.  They were talking environmental, place-based education, so I am bound to enjoy the fruits of their connection down the road.

I ran home with some leftover lettuce to share with neighbors, and all my market treasures (asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb, garlic scapes, spinach, bread, eggs) and called my friend M to tell her I was on my way, and she told me Ani had been throwing up (strawberries) all morning. BAD MOM! Oh, bad mom. I zoomed out there, just cursing my morning, and found that she had been sleeping, was comfortable, and felt well-taken-care of.  I am so very grateful for this friend. In fact, aside from wanting to be held and snuggled, all Ani wanted to talk about were the new kittens, and the new rooster.

So, the rest of yesterday was all about being quiet and resting, snuggling, comforting. She went to bed early, and 9:30 rolled around with Dan, Eliza and I sitting at the kitchen table, playing Set, laughing, talking...it was really lovely.  Today was E's turn to audition for the chorus of Oliver - she was beside herself excited and had a great time.  Come on, singing, dancing, spending all that time with outgoing, friendly people...she will have a blast.  I'm a little worried - I told Dan with a wry smile that I was afraid this was going to be it - she'll have the bug and we'll be lost to the world of theater.  I mean, it's what I would have wanted at her age - the opportunity to pursue theater, whenever and wherever it arose? Yowza. Of course she may surprise us - she wants to be an ornithologist after all.

Just when I thought I couldn't gracefully handle another 5 minutes of trying to make dinner while Ani wanted to be realllllly close to me, Dan called to say he really wanted to come home before plunging back into the fray for the night...Sigh. So, everyone is asleep and - do you have that special button on your computer that allows you to receive aromas from other places? Well, turn it on...I just took a strawberry rhubarb crisp out of the oven. I told Dan we're celebrating the better parts of being a grown-up (you know - aside from being the ones to worry about x,y,and z, enforce all the rules, and do most of the cleaning up) - like staying up late to eat amazing food with lots of sugar in it.  Of course he's working through a presentation for tomorrow, but hopefully this will get those synapses firing...Here's to the end of a beautiful month, and the beginning of the new...