cool, clear Saturday morning

                 "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want."
                                     Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes

goodbye, dear little house on Merrill St.

On Tuesday of this week, we handed the keys to our little brick Georgian, our home of 37 years, to Ricky and Amy who is great with their first child. Their truck was already packed. They couldn't wait to move in.

painted and given by our good neighbor, Fran

My RAV4 was also packed, with the last bits we had gathered that morning before our drive to our lawyer's office for the closing. Saying goodbye was harder than I expected.
It's not the bricks and mortar, though surely there isn't an inch of that little house or garden we hadn't put our hearts and labor into. No, it is the precious living that we did at that address. Our children, our youth, our love.
Thank you, little Georgian. May you be blessed to keep this new young family as safe and happy as we have been in your care.

we're settling in

Our move from the city house of 37 years to our farm took place the 29th of June. Heavy downpours made the drive a challenge for each of the drivers, a truck and 3 cars. Unloading what took a full day to pack was managed within a few short hours but only with the combined strength and determination of our son and his good friend. God bless them both. A few "exciting" moments, but all accomplished well.
We've been unpacking, sorting, setting things aside for our nephew and niece who are looking to move into apartments, for donations to Good Will, to store in the garage or basement or closets, for the recycling, for the trash. It's getting easier to let go of things that suddenly don't seem so important to hold onto anymore.
Weather has all of a sudden become ideal, allowing the waterlogged ground to breathe once more. Weeds and grasses have thrived and after hours and hours of weeding we are making some progress getting seeds planted in the vegetable beds at last.
Jerome has set up his SW Wisconsin Diapason office and is off to a great start. All the calls to his IL office are being forwarded to the farm phone, so you never know who will be on the line when you pick up the phone. I've been talking to people from all over the country and Jerome's already gotten calls from Canada.
I've been setting up a studio in the littlest bedroom and hope to be able to spend some time there soon. But my priorities have had to be the house and garden. I try to check on all of you at the end of each day and see none of us are posting quite as often as we do at other times of the year. I think that's a good thing, but I miss each of you.
The photo above is my day lily Big Smile, which I've transplanted here to the farm garden and it seems to have settled in nicely. Spotting her rejoicing in her new environment never fails to bring a smile to this face.