On Saturday we had guests!  Dave’s boss, wife and three kiddo’s stopped by for a little house tour, socializing & dinner.  There is truly nothing I love more than a houseful of people.  When there are kids to spare, my day is complete.  It was one of those perfect afternoons where all the kids, ages 2 to 15, meshed.  Belly shaking laughter could be heard at any one moment, with screams of joy, loud little footsteps and the clatter of toys tossed in.  It’s not for everyone, but for me, it is everything.

Annie, the wife, the mom, and I tried to go get fresh milk from the farm.  That’s right, tried.  Tess called ahead of time, to make sure I had the times right and to make sure help was available.  We’d wanted to go in daylight (by we, I mean me). Finding milk in the dark was not an adventure I wanted twice. Nor was finding milk in a storm.  It turns out though, that fresh milk was available after 6 pm, after the cows had been milked.  Of course.  Then it is really fresh.

We went just after 6 pm, in the dark, and in a storm.  A storm that could rightfully be called a blizzard.  We put on coats, boots, gloves, hats, scarves and still snow made it’s way down my neck between front door and car.  Thankfully the farm is .8 kilometers from my house and I could drive super slow.  The sea of flakes swirling in front of my headlights was unnerving.  The reflection amplying the magnituted of the storm.  But I was determined to get fresh milk. From a cow.

I had understood that we bring clean, 1-liter bottles, and €0.50 cent each. We could also buy half a liter, but that would be €0.30 each.  However, there were tokens to buy because the “money” was put into a machine that dispenses the fresh milk into our clean bottles.  It was okay if you didn’t have a €0.50, then you just reach into the basket and take one & bring it next time.  What I didn’t know was where the machine was.  I rang the doorbell, last week I’d observed other customers doing the same, plus, Tess had called ahead.  No answer. I waited patiently with wind & snow howling through my hat & scarf.  I klingled again.  No answer.

And again I left the farm, in the dark, in a storm, with no fresh milk.  I’m determined to figure this out and have a glass of fresh milk!  I consoled myself the next morning (everyone had stayed the night, and off the roads) with gorgeous sunlight on a fresh pack of snow.  The inside of my house was lit up with perfect light and I rolled around on the floor trying to get a perfect shot of any kid that would sit still.