Photo Above: Zinnia loves almost every animal on the far; she is especially fond of Minnie, our 16-year-old cat with three legs. Minnie is skittish about being touched sometimes, but she is not afraid of Zinnia, who approaches her every morning when she gets outside and kisses her head. Minnie closes her eyes; she seems to love it.

This is ritual, the first thing Zinnia does when she goes outside.

Saturday mornings are laundry days on the farm; now that it’s warming up, we can get the clotheslines up again. It’s always a beautiful and comforting sight for me.

If it’s warm and dry, Maria will, at some point, be out on the back porch reading. The blue bird bath is up again, and there are not too many bugs yet. Maria is a voracious reader; seeing her outside reading is always a grounding and peaceful thing.

Every life is made up of familiar scenes and rituals. I think ours are beautiful and peaceful. Reading is a ritual here; it happens daily, especially on weekends. We talk and argue about all the books we read.