Getting Settled

I love this place.

Camera tricks make the bowling lane look like it stretches waaaaay far into the miniature kitchen. See the microwave all the way down there above the stove? It's one of the little things that make a big difference. Live without one for a while and you'll see what I mean.

Each room still needs refining, but the master suite is coming along nicely. The happy rainbow bookshelves are nifty, and the chest of drawers at the foot of the bed works pretty well. We are determined to keep it uncluttered. Wish us luck.

It's not so easy to keep the bathroom counter free of clutter, but at least our mouthwash bottles and Kleenex box are color-coordinated.

Inside is lovely. But outside is lovely also. The bench under this tree faces the spot where boxes for the vegetable garden will be located. There were still some clusters of grapes on the trellised vines when we moved in. And at night the arch becomes a magical gateway lit by solar-powered fairy lights. The sun's energy is collected all day until the sensor detects nighttime and turns on the lights!

The wire fence confines the White Dog when we are not at home. He does not have complete freedom to roam, but he has a good chunk of real estate to explore.

In the potting shed up against the house there is a wooden workbench on a lovely brick floor and a roof of twining wisteria vines. This is what it looks like in November. Spring promises to be glorious!

This bench (or a glider like it) will soon have a brass plaque in memory of my father, and the pepper tree behind it will be replaced by a young maple tree Dad not long ago coaxed from the seed of the tree he and my mother planted when I was a girl.

I love this place.

 We say that to one another all the time.

I think we are settling into this home hard and fast.

Hiding My Own Easter Eggs

Amongst the many boxes of goodness that have been packed away for months, I found a smallish box of delight and piece by piece I unwrapped my blue glass collection. I had packed them away carefully and deliberately almost a year ago and then forgotten all about them. It was such a pleasure to rediscover those silly bottles and I think I love them now more than ever before.

The collection began with the blown glass vase on the right that Firstborn Daughter brought for me from Italy back at the turn of the century. She and DaughterInLaw traveled there ten years ago to sing Verdi's Requiem with a special choir at St. Peter's Basilica.

Roses from the garden look lovely in the blue glass, don't you think?

Mr. Last says that the increasing frequency of our inability to quickly recall some detail or another just means that soon we will have lots of fun hiding our own Easter eggs. Based on my recent experience, I think the man is on to something.

I may just start packing up random treasures in unmarked boxes just for the fun of opening them again months or years from now.

Fall is Falling

Temperatures have dropped. Vegetation is changing colors. It rained three different days last week.

Sweaters, jackets, and long-sleeved shirts have all been unpacked from the last of the big closet boxes in the garage.

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies were baked and we ate them all in 48 hours.

Also, I baked a loaf of whole wheat bread, but it was an epic fail because I was distracted and added dark corn syrup instead of molasses for the sweetener. The dough was weird, but I didn't figure out mistake until the molasses bottle on the counter triggered the realization that it was NOT the one I used when I was mixing the dough. Discarded the whole wheat brick I chipped out of the pan after baking it and bought a soft loaf at the store. It doesn't have the desired effect of filling the house with the smell of baking bread, but at least now there is some decent toast for breakfast.

The kitchen is in disarray (again) (some more). My plan was to shift things to their proper places now that I know where the silverware and plates and cups really should go. I have looked for them enough times in the WRONG cupboard that I have determined it is really the RIGHT cupboard so they must be moved. However, my best laid plans have been interrupted by an ant invasion in pantry. So every flat surface is covered with stuff that can't be put away until ant eradication is complete.

So I guess it's a good thing we ate all the cookies before the ants moved in.

Speaking of treats, we hope Owlbert is eating the gophers in our backyard. Mr. Last spotted him/her swooping around from tree to tree a few nights ago, and we are very happy to have him/her in the neighborhood. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Barn_Owl.JPG

We think s/he's a barn owl who lives in the tall eucalytus tree in the back of the lot, but we haven't been able to spot her/his hidey-hole just yet.

This weekend we got three loads of laundry washed, dried, and put away. Another stretch of the back forty was cleared for future landscaping and planting. Two liters of pomegranate juice was squeezed in preparation for jelly-making.


The White Dog got a cushy extra-large chew-resistant doggy bed. We noticed he gets stiff and rises slowly lately, just like the rest of us, and thought perhaps a little cushioning for his old bones might be comfy. No attempts to chew it to pieces have been made yet, so perhaps it is indeed appreciated.

So. That's the update from here. What's up in your neck of the woods?

Spooky Empty Nesters

What do you call a two-foot tall vampire?


I'll answer that one in a minute, but first you should know that the Empty Nesters got out of The Home again and they are roaming the neighborhood with empty pillowcases.


So if they knock on your door and shout, "Trick or treat! Smell my feet..." just tell them, kindly but firmly, to go home and put the pillowcases back on the pillows and take a nap. Do not give them candy. Or apples. Or nuts. Or medication. Well, maybe medication. 


But under NO circumstances should you say, "OK. Trick!"

SomeONE will held responsible for the results if you invite these two to do something silly, and it can't possibly end well.


A pain in the knee.


That's what you call a two-foot tall vampire.


Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?


Because he didn't have any guts.


Knock, knock.


Who's there?


Boo.


Boo who?


Don't cry. It'll be all right....

Hey, October's Almost Over!

Have you missed me? I know I've missed you. 


Our local AT&T techs, Mikey and Rodney, are my true heroes.
Every other service person I talked to (seven different people and about a dozen different phone calls over eleven days - not counting the original agent I talked to almost a month ago) should be ashamed of their "work". Phone service transferred easy peasy in the move, but Internet was like getting a man on the moon.


Oh, wait. Getting a man on the moon was probably easier.

Well, so here we are getting moved in. A three-car garage full of everything we own. Except cars.

Guest bedroom. Before...

...and after!

The view through the french doors in living room:

The view from the dinner table of The Park:

 It looks like this when we open the front door:

And look who's home to greet you at the doorstep!

There's still plenty of moving-in to do, but we are truly at home now, and it feels good. Come see us some time.

Friends & Books

I have some of both. 


Friends.


Books.


Friends who share books. Friends with whom I share books. 


About half a year ago I celebrated a milestone birthday (and in about a half a year I'll have another one -- every birthday is a milestone. Really. That's why we celebrate.). At that time I received a gift card from some dear friends and since then I have spent several sweet hours browsing online to select just the right title.  


When I pulled up to Our Home with the first truckload of Our Stuff yesterday evening UPS had left a box to welcome me at the front door and it contained my birthday books. One book of poetry and one book of history. 


I can't think of a better way for a microwave-with-a-house attached to say "Welcome" than with books from friends. I'm looking forward to sharing Our Home with them.


Friends & books.

Oh, Hey, It's October!

So August and September just kinda swamped me and I did a lot of faking-it and just-getting-by, but we've had a lovely cool spell this week and even some rain the last 48 hours that has snapped me to attention. 


I love Fall. Or Autumn. Or OctoberNovemberDecember.


Baked potatoes. Soup and bread. Hmmm. We had both last week and I'm pretty sure it's soup for dinner tonight when I finish this post in a few minutes.


But I won't be warming it in the microwave. 


Until tomorrow or the next day.


See, this crappy lovely rental house doesn't come with a microwave, so I've learned to warm things in a pan on the stove or in aluminum foil in the oven. 


Until tomorrow or the next day.


Because we bought a gently-used microwave oven.


It happens to come with a house attached. 


And we begin moving in to our microwave-with-house-attached tomorrow or the next day!


Last night Bob and Jenny, who have lived in the house for it's entire life, treated us to a delightful dinner at the best Mexican place in town. They were tired and sore from so much packing and moving. I guess it's our turn next. We all had a grand time teasing Marcos (our server) and swapping little life stories. 


Later Mr. Last and I turned on and off all the lights in the empty house and sat on all the benches in the back park. It's really not a yard because Jenny has brown knees and she created a lovely park that fills my soul with peace. One bench is strategically placed to watch the Western sky and the sunset. We lingered there for a few minutes then moved to another and admired the rising moon casting its glow on the clouds in the darkening Southern sky. Of course the moon made me cry because I think Daddy would have appreciated the view and the peace in my back park, too.


I know Number One Grand Son appreciates the features on the opposite side of the lot because he called and told me so. He said, "Oma! I'm excited about the dirt track in your back yard!" 


Can't wait for dirt track races, and lizard-hunting, and frog-catching, and bird-watching, and running through the sprinklers, and picnics and tea parties in the park with all the Grands.


But right now it's time for soup.