It's been a busy weekend. Starting early Saturday morning, we headed out to find a pair of bald eagles I had spotted earlier in the week on my drive to work. With a bagged breakfast of bagels, OJ, and bananas, the happy little crew of kiddos and parents headed out towards Indian State Lake with high hopes of spotting the birds. Unfortunately, it was windy and they were shy. No go on the eagles. We did, however, find a wood duck, geese a plenty, song birds, and a pair of red-tailed hawks. I could not help but smile as I watched my kiddos eagerly sporting their binoculars in hopes of catching a sight of the bald eagles. Even Squeaks, staring with the binoculars backwards, was mimicking what she saw the older kiddos do and would eagerly say "biwd, biwd" any time she saw a creature take flight. On the way home, there was eager talks about a scouting expedition for next weekend, maybe even earlier in the morning.
Before 8:30 a.m. even hit, we were back home. Beans and I headed out with our neighbors to do some fabric shopping and some lunching. Our neighbor's daughter has the same sort of passion for fabric stores that Beans and I do - ooh the colors, prints and patterns! The zippers, binding, ribbons, egad! It just makes me excited typing about it! Beans and I then spent the rest of the day sitting at the kitchen table sewing and making a mess of thread and fabric scraps. We were a frenzy of sewing production. I turned out new summer pj pants for all kiddos, finished a few projects that have been lying around for awhile, and got closer to finishing a few project that have been lying around for much too long. Saturday ended early in preparation for Daylight Savings and all the kiddos were asleep by 7 p.m., with the big daddy and I close behind.
Then came today. Oh today, what a day it was! For starters, I am starting to get Smoosh's cold or whatever gunk he has had sitting in his chest this past week, but we trudged forward with the day nonetheless. We started out with church and, I hate to admit it, I got a good nap in on my gorgeous husband's shoulder. AGH! I often wonder how people can fall asleep in church and today I got my answer; be sick, very sick, and lean toward the man you love and PRESTO. Sleep comes!
After church, we went looking at a farm. Yes, a farm. I feel like a farm has been a normal part of my dreams and conversation since I was old enough to realize that anyone could own a farm, not just farmers who were born on farms. I just recently connected with my super good friend from high school and told her about wanting a farm. To her, no big surprise "you've always wanted a farm." Ahhh yes, I forgot how repetitive my dreaming out loud has been for years. At times, the farm bug bites me really hard. Typically, its during this time frame of the year; Smoosh and I have sown seeds in the basement "grow room" for our garden, our chickens have started lying a few more eggs because of the sunlight, and the book list from the library starts to include more and more titles such as "The Hobby Farm Guide," "How to Turn Your Farm into Profit," and "You Can Farm." My backyard looks awfully small in comparison to such big dreams. Ahhh...a farm. So, we have been looking for one, off and on over the past few years. Sometimes we get as far as we did today; we actually find one that we think we could live on. We think we can make it work. And the price makes it just right to load up the family and go look at it. And, oh my goodness, the land was beautiful. The barn was old, full of holes, and in need of lots of elbow grease, but we could just
hear the tree swallows in the rafters, the barn owl at night, and more importantly the happy sounds of animals living inside. Same for the one-car garage and remains of the chicken coop, lots of potential with a lot of work. And Joe and I kept thinking, we could fix that, we could do that, that's not a deal breaker. But then we learned its not zoned for animals. What is a farm without animals? Not a farm. That is what it is. Dealbreaker #1. Dealbreaker #2 was the house itself; small and unwisely planned out, we could not imagine how we would all fit in there, dogs, fish, lizard, toads, rabbits, and oh yes, I guess the children would need to be squeezed in there as well. Even if we did build on additions, the house had less workable potential than the buildings. Oh well, dear little not-farm, I hope you make some other family with less children and no animals happy.
Our next stop was the St. Patrick's Day Parade around Capitol Square in Madison (after a quick dash to Wal-Mart to get white-bottomed shoes for the little parade lady, a.k.a. Beans). With wig on top of the her head, she pranced off and joined the other little Irish dancers. The other kiddos did a good job of warming the curb and grabbing candy waiting for Bean's appearance.
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| Before... |
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| ...after! Poof! |
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| Little flock of blond-feathered bluebirds |
An unfortunate accident with Squeaks had both her and I rushing towards Walgreens for diapers, mens' socks, and an upside down T-shirt for impromptu leg coverings and warmth after a very, very wet and soggy diaper. The timing was horrid as I watched on tiptoe near the counter, eagerly trying to peer out the store window while keeping Squeaks from opening all the candy in the aisle, as the flock of bouncing curls doned in blue sweatshirts pranced their way past us. Sigh. At least the big daddy and brothers got to see her!
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| Its not a parade until a pink bunny comes around singing Irish diddies. |
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| Professional curb warmers. Note the upside down T on the Squeaks and men socks. I think she is styling. |
And, wait, there was still more to our day! We headed to Monona Terrace for the CSA open house. I am all about the CSA and supporting local agriculture, having been a happy customer of a local farm for a year or so. My passion about soulful, healthy eating is helping out the above-mentioned desire to own a farm. With the motivation of "scouting the competition," we headed to the open house to see what other farms were out there and if indeed there was enough need that I could make a profit from a hobby farm. Teresa, the Egg and Poultry farmer, I like the ring of it. But, alas, that dang chest cold and fever got the best of me and I looked with weary eyes at the big guy to give the signal it was time to go. I did not get to ask all the questions I wanted or look at all the farms, but, that's OK. All in good time.
On our way home, the best part of the day (so hard to pick from such a fantastic day!) happened. We were about to cross the street when we ran into a bagpiper. What?!?!? Yes, I do love Madison. Where else does a bagpiper still linger around the streets of the capitol hours after the parade? Even better than running into him was the little wigged, smiley girl next to us who charmed a crowd of passerbys when the bagpiper asked if she would dance while he played. "Jig or reel?" "Jig please." Oh how I love me some Beans. And - yes - I got video of it:)
In the background, you can hear someone honking at Beans (of course it was at Beans, I mean - duh!) but then you get to hear the honking of the chant "This is What Democracy Looks Like" as a few cars just drove around the capitol. For the most part, protesting took a quiet back seat to the parade so all could enjoy a family time. No matter what side of the issue one stands on, it is incredibly moving to see people freely speaking their minds about their government. I felt very fortunate to be living through such a piece of history and have my kids there to witness it as well. I can only hope it leaves some sort of impression on them with how free we really are here. I had some spirited discussions with Otter about politics but once home, he disappeared to play Zombie hunt with a friend. Apparently, mom and politics is not quite as cool as Zombie hunting in the backyard. I did need some sleep and curled up with Smoosh for a little schnappers. The day ended with big daddy grilling a delicious meal, sharing a fine glass of wine with the neighbor (because alcohol will help kill those germs invading my chest), and early bed times for everyone for the second night running. Life is good.
