So.
Fall is upon us. School has been in session for weeks and mornings we dash out the door grabbing sweaters as well as backpacks and book bags. The days are still sunny and warm but the evenings wonderfully crisp. Chile roasting season has come and gone but the lovely burnt smell lingers just a bit. In the mornings hot air balloons are appearing, ready for the big fiesta.
We are finally really getting settled in the new house. It felt like home right away but we are mostly unpacked now and a few major projects are completed. We also have filled the house with feline-life. A couple weeks ago we adopted a cat from the pound. Little Bear (and, I gave the kids a chance to re-name her because as I explained, she is a cat so will either come when you want her to or not so it doesn’t matter what you call her) was picked up as a pregnant stray in June with an eye infection and a bad cold. She is tiny and charcoal (A calls her a shadow), gets along well with the dog, hates to wear a collar, has yet to bite anyone and is just plain great to have around. Since she is only about a year old, it is like having a kitten but one that is litter-boxed train and very independent.
The two biggest accomplishments are the new bookshelves are finally installed. I will spare you the details of the frustration I dealt with for weeks and weeks about getting these damn things finally built and installed and just say that they are here now and perfect. Well, almost perfect. Though beautiful, they provide a lot less shelf space than we had in the old house. As I was packing to move I gave away a ton of books. It felt good to purge. Then, unpacking I gave away a bunch more. Still there was not enough room. So, within the past week or I brought a few more boxes to Goodwill. I was ruthless. And, honestly there is at least a whole other box of books in the garage ready to be unpacked. To that end we are repainting an old bookshelf left by the previous owners and that will be it! Any books that don’t fit on the shelves cannot stay. And, despite the fact that there are about 12 or 16 books on my bedside table right now and I get about a new book every week in the mail to review I will continue to be RUTHLESS! I will have no ruth for these cluttersome books. Except the ones I love very much…or use for work…or have some sort-of hoarder-esque emotional attachment to…Anyhoo.
Also to that end, I bought a Kindle. I am not sure why this felt like selling out. Like a betrayal of bookworm credibility but it did. But, you know what? I like the Kindle. I quickly downloaded Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children which was short and interesting. Then I read a few in-the-hand books and so it wasn’t until last night that I downloaded two more books on the Kindle. Two of those recent reads were really good. First I read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and totally loved it. This is such a huge book but it never lags at all, never gets bogged down; the pace is quick despite the vastness of the story. I thought it was such an interesting take on love and lust, marriage and partnership, parenting and suburbia. And, I thought Franzen’s manipulation of perspective was brilliant. Because Freedom was so long and meaty and enjoyable, I was worried that any follow-up book would seem dull by comparison. But a friend lent me The History of Love by Nicole Krauss and though it was a very short novel it also packed an emotional punch. The story of the eccentric and compelling elderly Leo Gursky and the teenage girl named for a character in his book, Alma, this novel is so emotional and beautiful! It is about loneliness and identity and true love and creativity. It is already one of my favorite stories and it is going to be hard to give it back. I want my own copy so I can read it again! Hence the bookshelf problem really. Both of these books are just filled with the kind of observations and statements that make you pause in your reading to really digest what is being said. I highly recommend both.
The other big project is that the new chicken coop is done. This is something D worked on whenever he had spare time for like months! It looks amazing! And, a friend of ours plasma cut this sign for us. Like the old coop this one is made of a lot of re-used material. The metal roof is from a shed that was in the back yard that we didn’t want. A lot of the wood was scrap wood. And, the blue paint was left over from when we painted a wooden shed at the old house. Now that there is a roomier, more permanent chicken structure we plan on getting a few more laying hens. Our three old biddies aren’t laying like they used to.
Today a new fridge was supposed to be delivered. As our dishwasher is stainless steel and the stove and range are the original 70’s avocado green and the cabinets are dark brown stain with black hardware we decided a huge black appliance would complete the look (neo-insanity I’ll call it) we are going for. I am already calling it Darth Vader. It was supposed to be delivered today but of course the truck broke down and so until as late as Sunday we may be without a fridge sans the small white one we have already moved into the garage (R2-D2). School lunches were super fun to make running between the kitchen and garage this morning! But no delivery means a few hours unscheduled….since I had planned to be waiting for the delivery (between 8 am and 1 pm was the estimated arrival) all morning I didn’t plan to do anything else. Here I am now with free time on my hands. That never happens. It is hard to decide whether I should clean the house (okay, let’s quickly rule that one out), read, go drool over antiques and crap at the shops I used to walk to before we moved…or….maybe just stare into space. Staring into space is highly underrated. Seems like a good choice for a nice fall day.
