North Woods Easter
At the Janowiec cottage again. Brought the dinghy up for maiden voyage, but still far more ice than open water.
Photo Shoot & First Grade Musical
Helping Ab with her current book, but taking time out to see Will’s performance in “Pajama Game.” He sang well in spite of a missing tooth.
Turning The Compost
From bin 2 to bin 3, and then the contents of bin 1 to bin 2. Heaps and piles in—garden residue, leaves, kitchen scraps—and surprisingly little out.
It takes three years for the voluminous material thrown into bin 1 to end up as a wee pile of black gold in bin three, and all I have to do is shovel, once a year, from one bin to another.
Summer Is Icumen In
Warm and sunny. Let’s just hope some of it gets up Manitoulin way, where according to Environment Canada the ice in the North Channel is still thick and solid.
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
…from Inversnaid by Gerard Manly Hopkins
Pax Day
Tax day is Pax day. His actual date of birth and birthday are unknown, so he was, long ago, assigned April 15 as his anniversaire, and 2009 as his inaugural year.
And that means that today is his birthday, and that he is 10 years old! Happy birthday Pax. We should have clapped for you along with the other celebrants at Saturday’s big party.
When people ask me what kind of dog Pax is I like to answer that “he is a good dog,” It’s an accurate description. I would have loved to have met his parents and any siblings.
Today quite different from yesterday. Very pleasant sitting out on the back patio, late morning, in the sun, listening to snow melting.
Not Again?
Yes, more snow.
White is the new green
Snow boat
Above, Serendipity Lane, photo taken this afternoon, looking beyond #166 towards the supposed two-week-from-now destination.
And here is Mudge bay (photo also shot this afternoon) from right about the water filtration plant ,looking toward Gooseberry.
Thanks to Therese for the (wintery) Kagawong shots.
Big Party
Lots of fun. Thanks to Renee and Ab for photos.
Green Manure...
...beginning to show its face. Plenty of moisture and perhaps just enough warmth. (Continued below the photo.)
This manure is a mix of field peas, oats, and hairy vetch, mostly legumes, which fix nitrogen in the soil. Also, supposedly good for “weed suppression.”
The idea here is to grow this cover crop until it is somewhere between “knee high to a grasshopper” and “almost as high as an elephant’s eye.“ Then mow and till into the soil, probably in mid June. Then plant beets (we are down to our last pickled jar) and squash—crops that can do without tending. This approach is the latest in recent thinking about the galinsoga weed problem, which for the past several years has negated the possibility of growing beets.
No Coffee?
Yes, no coffee. You can’t cook coffee without electricity (unless you have gas), and electricity is what we didn’t, at reveille, have. Too much wind from the east (and an east wind seldom blows good). So, going with the flow, and adapting rapidly to changing circumstances, we went to Milton for breakfast. Either by plan or chance, hydro was back when we got home.
Once home, preparations for Saturday’s Easter gathering commenced, with Mimi in maximum planning mode. Eight baskets, each with exactly the same number of eggs, inside of which various things of interest, exactly and precisely apportioned. (And some for the adults too. ) This Easter egg hunt will have precise equality down to the third decimal. (And, it will be fun.)
Robins In The Road
Some snow in Whitewater, but quite a lot in Oconomowoc, where I went to take Becca to dance. Streets in that town crowded with robins apparently seeking heat or shunning depth.
Becca looked great as she and her cohorts rehearsed a tap number set to “The Good Ship Lollipop.”
Pax To The Vet
For his annual checkup.
The vet is in Janesville, on the far south side, so the ride there takes a minute or two—(continued below the photo).
About a mile from the office Pax began acting squirrely, and started panting and shaking. Then, when I pulled up to the building and opened the door to get out, Pax slipped past and lit out for the territories (actually across a big field). That’s when things became difficult for him—my shouts of “wait” met up with his experience of “vet.”
Noble being that he is, my wishes eventually superseded his wishes, and we came together. But from there back to the vet’s office I pretty much had to carry the poor guy. And that was not all that easy on this old guy.
Still and all, Pax is in fine fettle—sound of mind and body—with excellent ears, eyes, and teeth (and everything else), and almost right at his target weight.
All afternoon he as been demonstrably contrite for his attempted escape.
I do love that dog.
June-like April Day
T.S.Eliot was wrong about April being the cruelest month, at least on days like this one. Sunny, windy, and warm. Even a t-shirt a bit much when wielding shovel, rake, and barrow. Large numbers of robins and college students out on the quickly greening grass.
The Robin
—Witter Bynner
Except within poetic pale
I have not found a nightingale,
Nor hearkened in a dusky vale
To song and silence blending;
No stock-dove have I ever heard,
Nor listened to a cuckoo-bird,
Nor seen a lark ascending.
But I have felt a pulse-beat start
Because a robin, spending
The utmost of his simple art
Some of his pleasure to impart
While twilight came descending,
Has found an answer in my heart,
A sudden comprehending.
O, Western Wind...
...when wilt thou blow, that the small rain down shall rain?
Working on mulch
Little wind today, actually, but still the small rain down did rain. And that, added to the warmth, will be the kickstarter to spring growth. The grass seed spread yesterday will now imbibe, and the established grass will wake from dormancy. Taken all together, there’s going to be some greening.
Working on mulch
Suddenly Summer?
Shorts and t-shirt weather. Almost hot in the sun.
Quick Change Artist...
ol’ Mother Nature. Cold and gray with snow-like drizzle this morning, but sunny, warm and pleasant by afternoon.
Spring is trying.
Home, But Still Thinking of Chicago
Fun trip to the big city, including a large number of adventures (not to mention the previously mentioned gypsy jazz)—free bread and soup at a charity kitchen, scrounging around the Brown Elephant, crab cakes and a flight of various French toasts at Batter and Berries, and a stop in at CDB/Kratom Chicago where I bought a few cannabis treats for Pax (in case of thunderstorm or fireworks).
City Livin’
In Chicago with the Habes. Walking, dining, going out for gypsy jazz.
Gypsy jazz at the Green Mill. Alfonoso Ponticelli on (incredible) lead guitar.
Home Alone
Sue still helping out in Oconomowoc, and Pax visiting in Fox Point (since we have to go to Chicago tomorrow).
“The day was perfect—well not really, but close enough.”
—Beverly Cleary
Blog Surpasses Quarter-million Subscriber Milestone
Advertisers begging, but facing continued rejection in the interest of non-commercialism. NSF calling blog, “locus of original thought central to our understanding of the modern world.” Pulitzer Prize rumored.
Stay tuned for further updates.
In other news, yesterday’s roaring north wind has been replaced by today’s roaring south wind. In scientific language that is known as an “improvement.”
All Around La Belle
Ellie and me, by velocipede, circum-pedaling Lac La Belle. Over seven miles, in a chilly wind. But no matter to us. Ellie, on her new bike, is a force to be reckoned with.
