moving days

It's hard to believe that this day has finally come. This morning, the vans arrived.Much paper rustling, cardboard-boxing, taping and sharpie-pen-marking ensued. They were gone by noon. That's because I - queenie - packed up all my books, all by myself! ha!

We're still in dispute over whether or not the books will fill the bookshelves. This oughta be interesting.

Anyway, next stop - day after tomorrow - the greenwood.
I can hardly wait. Funny thing: one of the guys on the moving crew asked if we were moving to a bigger house. "Not really." I said. "It's actually a little smaller. Sort of. Well. . . it's one bedroom. On one level. But bigger rooms. So - sort of smaller, but bigger. Sort of."

He was done with the conversation a whole lot sooner than I was. We're moving to a strange house that's smaller - but somehow bigger. Sort of. It's hard to explain.

pretty close!

For the first time in three years we have a "land line." Cool phone, eh? The receiver is heavy enough to break your toe if you drop it. It could easily figure as a weapon in the boardgame, "Clue":

"Mr. Mustard did it in the Forest Room with the telephone."

One of my favorite places is the inner courtyard, seen above from the guesthouse. It looks like my brother - just back from Afghanistan - will be our first overnight guest, the first weekend we're in the place. He and his family.

That's a good start. We pack this weekend!

other first things

The first gift-plant to arrive, from girlfriend Cindy. It's a camelia, and has languished all summer in its nursery pot, on the front steps of our rental house. I've been afraid to trust it to the workboot-clad workers out at the greenwood, not to mention the ubiquitous little front-end loader & earth mover.

With the arrival of the gravel for the courtyard, however, it seems most of the tough work outside is done. Now my tough work begins: where to plant the thing?!

Several attempts to dent the ground in what will be the front garden failed. That soil is going to need serious rehabilitation!

Plan E: something's got to screen that ugly electrical transformer. . . .

The soil is rather nice.
It'll take him several years - no doubt - but the anticipated 6 foot height and 3 foot spread should nicely obscure that ugly box. Eventually.First plant in.*

woo hoo!

[p.s. - I just got notice that the second gift plant[s] - hundreds of daffodil bulbs from the queen-mum - have been shipped. The gift certificate arrived months ago, "to be shipped at the proper fall time for planting." It's been hard to wait. Harder - still - to imagine planting them all! I'm going to do a Tom Sawyer, though, and get all my friends to help me. . . . Should be fun! Especially since we'll be working in the edge of the forest line, where the soil should still be relatively unscathed from the construction debris and hardpack. I don't know how I'm going to make a dent in the soil that is to be my garden. ]
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*not counting the temporary holding garden Steve put in for me a couple of weeks ago, of course. . . . All those guys are going to need to go into their permanent spots at some point as well! (First, though, I'll have to figure out how to break up that garden soil, not to mention turn it into something I think a plant might have half a chance in. )

neither rain, nor snow. . . .

. . . nor dark of night. . . . but apparently construction mud & mire will stop the postal workers in their tracks. So! This is another big step: the mail box.I wonder what the first mail delivery will consist of?

Junk mail, no doubt. But hey. A girl can hope!

sigh.

hurry up and wait

Well, some things are moving along, I guess. . . .
The painters finally finished up inside, so Tom-builder's cleaning crew has started ridding the place of the construction grime. It's amazing to be able to look out of the windows!

The library shelves have been stained - still need a final coat of sealant - and really look cool. It's beginning to look like a library! Well, as soon as we get books in there, anyway. We have a running bet as to whether or not we'll even come close to filling these things. I think yes; the king thinks no. . . .

Next up: the kitchen. It's coming together.

. . . . and greener still!

It's beginning to look almost like a lawn.

eeeeek!!!

[that means "lawn mower". . . . better get some alternative lawn plants started, pronto.]

going green

If you look closely, you'll see the beginnings of a greening of the newly seeded and strawed front yard.

Very exciting!

I understand it's positively lush now, but I haven't seen it in a few days. I'm still trying to recuperate from more kitchen re-do's, plumbing mishaps ["No, there will be no plumber's advertisements on my drains!"], wrangles over towel racks ["What do you mean you just went ahead and ordered something?"], electrician pricing that supposedly forgot to include the light fixture itself, and cobbles put in [in concrete, no less] in complete disregard to pattern. . . .

But the library shelving is supposedly complete - and very cool - and appliances are expected, and the floor is mostly finished and carpeting shortly to be installed, so things are moving along.

And the grass is growing.

simple stuff

“Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.”

Albert Einstein
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still to come, a picture of a violation of this rule, involving cobbles
and pattern. . . . [or, shall I say, the lack of proper pattern?]