weekending

We woke to a world white washed. It's still snowing. It will snow most of the day. I love the first snow. I love the first snow when it doesn't fall in October. The bright spot is that instead of starting my day logging miles, I'm here to log words. It's something I intended to do all week and here we are on Thursday and well, it seems to be the story of this blog these days. Better late than never.

The same goes for Ted who came home this weekend for a visit (a long overdue haircut, a refreshing steam and a sleep in his own bed too). His first plan was to come home on the 6 a.m. Badger bus Saturday morning. I thought that was ambitious, but I knew he had a long list of things to do so I went with it. Before I left the house not long after sunrise to fetch him from the station, I decided to check on his whereabouts. That was wise as he was still cozy in bed in a dorm room in Madison. He caught a later bus and it was a bit of a fiasco to find him, but it's a story we laughed at all weekend. He came home and the first thing he did was get busy in the kitchen making a breakfast bagel. A breakfast bagel with a side of croissants. He eats well at school, but he misses home cooking and berries. We loaded him up on both. We scratched a hike at the Audubon because he really wanted to hit his gym.

 The other thing he really wanted to do was spend a night at Windmill Beach. What that means is that he wanted to be cooped up in the cabin with family. It means he misses us. And it was a great 24 hours of uninterrupted family time. We made calzones at T. Bone's request, played Wizard (Lily has bragging rights) and cozied up on the couch to watch The Hangover. Lily was the last woman standing. The rest of us were snoring. I shooed Ted to my bed because imo it's dark, quiet, most comfortable. I slept comfortably in the living room and woke up with the sunrise. I was good with that because it was an amen alleluia moment. And then I went back to sleep to the sound of waves until a more reasonable rising hour.

The boys went to golf another of Ted's requests. Ashley and I took a walk. Lily slept. We all came together for breakfast including Mike who was north at the Wege cabin working on projects with his brother. We cleared what's left of the beach of adirondacks and kayaks. The high water this year has reclaimed dunes leaving just a little shore.

I suggested that Ted change his return ticket for Monday morning so he could get a night in his own bed and a little more time with his dad who was late to arrive. He agreed and the 4th ticket for this short visit was procured. It was a good idea though. We made chicken fajitas at his request and crashed in the family room for the Packer game.

He woke Monday morning after a really great night's sleep and we sent him on his way with clean laundry, a breakfast burrito and a big fruit salad. Also a couple dozen cookies my aunt baked for him, I will say that Ted finally knows just how good he had it. College is serious, dorm living is very cozy, life on campus is loud and crowded. And yet he's adjusted to it all and life is good.

It was good to have him home. I've really missed him extra this week. I got a little used to him gone. Then I quickly got used to him here. In some ways it's like starting over again. I keep telling myself that Thanksgiving will be here soon. Too soon. I'm not wishing this time away. Fall is my favorite and we've had such a beautiful stretch of October days. Every morning I walk through a different, more resplendent landscape in awe, energized and grateful. I trust that the snow will melt and there will be more walks before we close in on solstice. The march to darkness makes me feel light and I like it to linger.