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We had a quiet Independence Day weekend. On July 4, Sarah shucked corn while Daisy enjoyed a post-prandial stick.

Sarah has been feeling rather independent herself, after the initial surprise of her graduation present.

She has named it Stella.

It’s high season for Jen’s ever-expanding collection of peonies.

These are the most fragrant of all.

A surprising contribution to the beauty of spring flowers: fava beans, whose flowers look like irises.

Jen looks after them all.

Today we watched Rhinebeck’s quintessential Memorial Day parade from the Lawsons’ front porch.

We had Jen’s parents, Erica and Geoff visiting for the weekend, and the Scherrs happened to have rented a house for the weekend about fifteen minutes from us.

We felt slightly sheepish about inviting ourselves over to the Lawsons and bringing eleven people with us. Geoff and I brought a strawberry rhubarb tart we had made with rhubarb from Jen’s garden, and Jen made a fine fruit salad in a hollowed out pineapple, as well as banana muffins. We also brought croissants from Bread Alone. You can tell we were a little embarrassed.

The parade did not disappoint. Children scrambled to pick up candy thrown from the vast armada of Rhinebeck Fire Department vehicles.

The firefighters themselves marched somberly.

As a special treat, Sarah rode Cisco on behalf of Southlands. For obvious reasons, the horses come last.

I returned to the farm after two weekends away: the first to attend a work conference, and the second to recover from the Covid I got at the work conference. I was feeling a lot better today, especially when I was greeted by this Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing his heart out over our driveway.

Daisy and I spent the week at the farm while Sarah recuperated from Covid. Saturday we had a visit from our neighbor Karen Belove and her 11 month-old Golden Retriever, Farley. Treats were dispensed equitably, and Farley got mud on my pants.

Jen is her own harbinger of spring, braving a wet, 40 degree day to get the beans started.

This weekend we saw Ring-necked Ducks (f/k/a Lesser Scaups) diving in the pond, Herman the bachelor muskrat giving himself a bath nearby, a coyote skulking around the backyard, and a raccoon in the Hoeners’ driveway.

During a cold, sunny Saturday afternoon, our cell phones alerted us to an impending squall, which in fact arrived within the half hour. It cleared up almost as fast.

Our decision to stay in New York this weekend appears to have been justified.

Jen corageously determined that the pond was frozen solid, which made sense given the single-digit temperatures we’ve had over the past few days. While it might be a good day for skating, it’s also a good day for a fire.

We had a small but festive Christmas, with just Jen’s folks visiting. Sarah presented Daisy with her stocking, stuffed with a bully stick and a dried fish skin. It’s hard to say which smelled worse.

As is her custom, Sarah made crafts for everyone. She embroider these flowers for Rinda, crocheted coasters for Lew and trivets for Jen, and painted a beautiful blue jay for me.

Here is Sarah presenting Lew with his coasters.

And here is Jen with one of her trivets.

To celebrate her admission to my alma mater, I gave Sarah my old Colgate sweatshirt, with the reminder that what happens in the Colgate sweatshirt stays in the Colgate sweatshirt (literally, I’m afraid).