I’ve been taking pictures of a robin’s nest next to the house in one of our Lilac bushes, the Robin made a lot of noise when I came near and I looked into the next and saw at least three new babies.

Their mouths were wide open and she was feeding them and was unhappy to see me there, so I retreated quickly. I love the fuzz on these little birds.

The swallows showed up last week also, so there will soon be more bird babies in the barn rafters and we will get buzzed by the angry moms when we go in with the hay.

I’m always amazed at the bravery of animal mothers, they will do anything to protect their offspring, no matter the danger.

Tomorrow, Maria and I have planned a date day, I have a doctor’s appointment in Saratoga Springs, and we are thinking of going in early to get another pedicure together.

Maria has a wonderful new idea for a quilt or hanging piece, and I’m encouraging her to skip the date and get to work.

We can move our date day to another day.

I’m thinking of having the sun painted on my big toes if I go alone. I think I need a pedicure. I’ve come to value them.

Then we’ll head to the new fish story Moby Fish, where I hope to get some crab meat and some cod and shrimp, maybe some scallops. I am very much into cooking these days.

I got some Pearl couscous from Morrocco this morning and cooked it with some oat milk and vegetable broth.

I love the taste of it. Maria has a friend coming Saturday to join her on a Wild Flower Nature Walk, and I’m cooking lunch for them – crabmeat with rice noodles and stir-fry vegetables; I might throw in some cooked chickpeas.

I’ve been practicing on that also.

I am grateful for our farm, I took some landscape photos of it over the weekend. (above.)

The Supreme Court leak has stunned me and the country, I had trouble getting it out of my head last night. I resolved to stay calm, be strong and make up my own mind about things.

I’m on a personal anti-hate campaign.

It’s been raining for a couple of days, so I’ve backed off the cloud and sky photos and work with the Leica.

I did take it out this afternoon. On the 15th, I’m going to Boston for the day to study at the Leica Akademie there with my teacher, Donald Peppes.

It’s about three and a half hours to Boston, so I expect to make it there and back in one day. Maria might come along if there’s a museum show she wants to see.

Zinnia is all Lab; she plunges into every mud puddle, swamp, and pond she can find, coming home smelly, happy, and filthy. She would love it at the ocean; I’ll try to get her there one day.

She is a very happy dog in her life. Covered with mud almost every day.

But I can’t say I missed having dogs on our vacation. We had such a relaxing and peaceful time. And I did appreciate sleeping late with a beautiful woman in bed next to me and no dog hovering over us.