7-25-09

Welcome party at the neighbors' house.
Our super-nice new neighbors threw us a welcome party tonight and invited their friends and the folks up and down the streets around our house to meet and greet and eat! We had a great time and met such fantastic people with whom we could always find things in common. I made a big spinach salad- the kind the kids always love with bacon, almonds, red onions, strawberries, and baked a bazillion chocolate chip cookies. Everyone brought something yummy to share, and it was so much fun. What an honor...

7-24-09

Naked Lilies. Naked Ladies. Surprise Lilies! Whatever the name, they are beautiful and they are filling up my gardens today. What a surprise!

We have lots of Lilies... one of my favorite flowers.

Today Dan and I got our Kentucky drivers licenses. We are officially Kentucky drivers. Had to turn in my Virginia one. Symbolic, that was...

7-23-09

Worked most of the day on the NARST proposal and finished second
draft. Oh how I hope it gets accepted. We had a wonderful delicious
dinner at a restaurant called ..... can't remember. Oh, Dan says it
is called Rossi. Afterwards we walked in the arboretum where I took
this picture of the UK watertower and our shadows.

7-22-09

I guess today was productive. Dan and I hung this tobacco drying thing on our wall. We had used it as a pot rack in the old house, and we mounted it with plumbing hardware to use as a coat rack in the "mud room" hallway. Opposite the tobacco thing are windows and a counter and cabinets. I used curtains from the old kitchen and hung them on plumbing hardware too: copper tubing, fittings, and brass fittings in the wall. Also hung one over the sink in the new kitchen.

This morning I felt really angry and anxious because a company that licensed my curriculum has published it to look like their own creation. I spent the morning fuming and waiting for a reply to my direct and assertive/demanding email to them. So the day turned out OK in spite of my morning. Wrote the first draft of my NARST proposal.

7-21-09

Oh my. I start work in only three weeks. Well, at least my office
looks nice. Today I hung a drape over my window. It looks a little
funny to me, like the iron rings are spaced too far apart. Opinions
anyone? It feels very homey being surrounded by my own furniture and
stuff and I think I'll work well in this space. They gave me a brand
new four drawer lateral file cabinet. Sweet!

7-20-09

Today we had a landscape professional come out and teach us about our gardens. There were a few varieties of wildflowers she couldn't identify and this is one. That's my foot. Same Danskos I've been wearing for 10 years now.... So we went to Home Depot and bought soaker hoses because she said we had a lot of root competition and some of the plants were showing stress from lack of water. Not much else to report today. Spaghetti for dinner. Dove bar for dessert. Tomorrow I'll go hang out at my office for a while.

7-19-09

Today was the first day we had time to go exploring the countryside. We drove all the way to the southern tip of the county where there is a ferry across the Kentucky River. Reminds me of the Hatten Ferry across the James in southern Albemarle. It could fit three cars at a time. Pretty cool.

Next we went to a nature preserve called Raven's Run Nature Sanctuary where we went on a hike to the cliffs overlooking the river. There were lots of limestone outcroppings and I got to see these cephalopod fossils in one rock.

We went to dinner at a seafood restaurant. I know Mom, you don't get good seafood "inland" but it was pretty good. Only .8 miles from our house, so a nice walk. We had bourbon bread pudding for dessert. Yum! Tomorrow a landscape architect comes to help me with the yard. I drew a scale drawing of our plot with all the gardens and what plants/trees/wildflowers I know of. I hope to get lots of help.

7-18-09

Weedless at last. Dan and I did our first "gardening" by pulling all the weeds in the bricks between the house and the studio. We also went to the farmer's market, went Krogering, had a fabulous dinner with blackberry cobbler for dessert, and watched "Big Jake" on PBS.




With vanilla ice cream. Dontcha wish you were here to have some too?

7-17-09

Today was really strange. I woke up at 6am or earlier perhaps, and couldn't go back to sleep. So I sat up in bed and turned on the light and worked on the unfinished quilt at my feet. And finished. Here is a picture of the two now-matching quilts on the twin beds. Jes and Aza, come on home!

Yesterday I hung paintings, so I have a picture of those too. But what was strange was that after I finished the quilt, I went over to the studio and started to paint. I painted three watercolors. I was half asleep while doing this, you see- so afterwards I went back to bed. Woke up around noon. Yikes!

I went over to see the paintings and one turned our really cool. It's a gift for a friend so I won't post a picture of it because I don't want to give away the secret. I put it in the mail for her after I woke up at noon!

After lunch I biked to my office and worked all afternoon. It's really a nice space for working. But it doesn't have food. I'll have to carry some over there for munchies.

7-16-09

I almost didn't have a photo today. It was a busy day: coffee with
neighbor, walk to bank, wild race to UPS store to mail a textbook,
hanging pictures, dinner with new colleague and her family. I just got
home and crawled in bed with my sewing then remembered to take a
picture.

Happy 101st birthday, Nana. You helped me sew my life into the quilt
it is today. I wish you were still around.

7-15-09

Today I worked in my office unpacking about 10 boxes of books and
other stuff. It's nice and cozy! Rode my bike to and from, then walked
the dog for about 45 minutes. I'm tired.

7-14-09

Today I worked on the quilt I bought. I needed two twin quilts but
found what I wanted only in a twin and a king. I looked all over for
another twin then resigned to modify the king. It has been way more
work than I anticipated. I hope to finish it this week.

Also today I performed an ancient native American ritual of cleansing
the house. I opened two windows in each room, lit a bundle of dried
white sage, and asked for a blessing in each room from the basement
all the way to the attic as I waved the smoking sage. It was powerful,
and I felt different things in each space and especially near the
piano. Afterwards I lit a white candle, sat and meditated in the room
I felt needed the most cleansing, played prayerful songs on the piano,
then went outside leaving the candle in that space. After a time, I
came back in the house, carried the candle from room to room closing
windows- the last being the front door. What surprised me was how much
the rituals resembled those in the Catholic church. Incense, white
candles, prayer, music, and blessings. It felt good and I feel at
peace tonight knowing this space has been blessed in a special way.

Took Friz for a nice walk after dinner. Tomorrow I plan to bike to my
office and work a half day there.

7-13-09

This is our den. I should have posted it yesterday when we hung pictures in it. The windows were a challenge but we came up with a solution. Below is an indoor photo without flash of the phlox I picked and put in a vase on the front hall table. The light was coming in through the coffin window this morning and lighting up these flowers. I messed with the aperature and shutter speed and got a pretty cool photo.

My friend Robin, an artist in Cville said that I should just hang her painting first then the rest would fall in place. But we didn't know where to put this lamp, and when we did I just knew that her painting would look great next to it in our den. It's a print of a painting she did from Humpback Rocks back "home."

I got a lot of exercise today. First was vacuuming the whole house. It's a smaller house but it still took 1.5 hours with all the switching from hardwood floor to rugs and vacuuming the molding and one of the many dusty ceiling fans we have. Then after dinner (all food from the farmers market- best corn I ever had!) Dan and I rode up to my office and back so I could practice some more. It's 2.6 miles each way. Not bad without traffic at 7pm. I wonder how it will be during the school year.

We tried to get our Kentucky drivers licenses today but didn't have Social Security cards. We had passports, birth certificates, VA drivers licenses, credit cards, check books, car registrations- you name it. But we didn't have those little light blue cards with that special number on them. So no go. Everywhere we go in this state we are asked for our SS#. Out loud. In public. This state just doesn't get the whole identity theft thing. I wonder if my university ID will have my SS# on it.

Oh, one more thing. I bought a lithograph from an Russell Richards, an artist back "home" and it arrived today wrapped in bubble wrap and surrounded by peanuts. I love it. I got the "Innacurate Map of Cville" in a handmade frame.

7-12-09

We hung pictures today. The walls are plaster, so it's a challenge. Dan did a great job and didn't make a single crack.

I picked flowers from the garden for the front hall table

And Frisbee lounged around on the couch watching.

It was a quiet Sunday. We met more neighbors while on a walk after dinner (homemade pizza: tomato, basil, fresh mozzarella). Tomorrow will mark two weeks in our new house. It's still strange.

7-11-09

Farmers market, Lexington Kentucky. The Saturday edition. We scored
two tomatoes, two Chinese eggplant, an onion, six ears of corn picked
this morning at 6:30am, and a package of snausages.

But the big news of the day was the bike ride- my first in a decade.
Dan got my old 1984 Cannondale in shape and we took off, in the rain
at one point. A cyclist I will be.

7-11-09

First horse sighting in Lexington- at Keeneland. I had a lovely lunch
with Virginia-native friend of friend, with lots to be discovered in
common. She took me to see the horses- what a sight. They are MUCH
more beautiful than the statues and paintings I had been seeing for
two weeks.

7-9-09

Today I started to hang pictures. So- the house is getting that home feeling. After a day of household tasks Dan and I took Frisbee to a dog park, which he did not seem to care for particularly. There was another whippet there, but this other whippet was snippy and didn't want to play. I forgot to get a photo of the dog park- but afterwards we just HAD to go to the Culver's we passed on the way to the park. Who knew they had a Culver's outside of Milwaukee? OK, it's not Kopp's- but it's close. I had the campfire smores flavor and Dan had chocolate. Tomorrow I'm going out to lunch with the friend of a friend I met through Freecycling in Cville. She is taking me to the "Thoroughbred Club" which sounds fancy, so I need to figure out if I have to dress up. Can't wait! This friend of a friend is from Cville and both her sons went to the small college in Colorado that Squirt is going to. SMALL world.

Addendum: http://www.thethoroughbredclub.com/lunchmenu.html

I have to dress up!

7-8-09

What has a window and plenty of room for my desk, bookcases, and Ikea
chair and foot rest? My new office! My very first non-shared office
ever. Today I got the key and can't wait to get it all set up. I even
get to order a desk chair from a catalog. Pretty sweet. The diploma
was the first item put in place.

7-7-09

We are sitting in the grass on an old red blanket with 600 or so other
bluegrass fans, here at the weekly Southland Jamboree. It's just a
few blocks from our house so we walked. Next week we'll bring Friz.
And food.

Today we got a Kentucky license plate for the car. We really live here
now.

7-6-09

Re-purposed curtains from my dining room in Cville, now bedroom curtains. So my colors are gold and -what is that color- brick? Now to find which paintings to hang and add some decorative touches.

We went out to dinner with our neighbors this evening. We walked to a mexican restaurant and it was really fun. We had a lot in common and a lot to talk about. Even though the wife is only two months younger than me, she has twin six year olds. What a difference in life stages! Great neighbors. Frisbee even likes their dog.

Nice walk in the arboretum after dinner. It's supposed to get hot tomorrow- we've had such nice weather we have hardly used the AC since moving in.

7-5-09 The Garden

Happy Birthday Jes. I miss you and love you and hope you are having a wonderful day.

Today I took tons of photos of plants in my new botanical garden. This is just a small sample of the species. Now I need to match up the four pages of notes I took while the previous owner walked me around with these photos and make a 'guide book' so I know how to take care of the plants, and can tell visitors what they are!

I hung curtains in my bedroom today. Now I will sleep even better. Just a rainy, quiet, lonely day putzing around the new house missing my kids.

7-4-09 The House

I walked around this evening taking photos of the house in the state it is in. Just the house, not the studio which is a separate dwelling. Click on the picture to see it bigger.

Starting from the top left and going across:
Our nice front yard
Find Frisbee and Dan walking in this picture of the den
View from my front porch
Sun room looking toward patio
Sun room looking toward chair
The office upstairs I'm currently typing in
Den
Twin bedroom showing one of the two twin beds.
Sun room with view of more windows
Living room
Dining room (Remember this one, I have a question about it...)
Kitchen!

Question: The corner cabinet does not fit in the corner because of the bookcases. We are going to remove the book cases. In the meantime we are stashing all our objects we don't know what to do with, which gets me thinking that I kindof like the book cases. I'm thinking of only taking down the ones on the left- perhaps the two left columns. Whaddya think? See all the artwork in the lower right hand corner of the dining room? We haven't hung a single picture yet.

7-4-09 The Ants

They are gone but I thought they deserved a spot on the blog anyway. See all that yellow stuff? That's the ant larvae they carried in through the crack in the floor. As soon as Dan finds the cement patch stuff he's going to seal it. I thought they were eggs until I blew up the picture and noticed each "egg" has two tiny eyes. Ewww!!! Science!!!! In the meantime, all ants and larvae are gone. It sure is nice how they take care of their siblings. A queen ant can lay up to 100 eggs a day.....

7-3-09

I know I promised you Ants today but I've been too busy to get the photos off my "real" camera. Rest assured the ants went away. They were building a nest of eggs on Dan's computer power supply on the floor of the studio. It was warm and dry! Well, he unplugged the power supply and dropped it. Ants and eggs scattered. When we re-visited the scene of the crime, not an ant nor an egg was to be found.

Anyhow... today was more unpacking. We FOUND the pots and pans! But that doesn't mean I'm ready for serious cooking yet. So we had dinner at Ramsey's Diner, a local favorite. We had fried catfish, fried green tomatoes, corn fritters, okra, mmmm... was it good. Here's a photo I got off Google Street Views because I forgot to take one when we were there.

We met more neighbors today too. All is well. But we miss the kids. It's just not the same.

7-2-09

Today we unpacked more boxes and got the kitchen looking really nice. The living and dining room too. We ran errands after dinner and managed to get 8 foot long pieces of lumber and 12 foot long pieces of conduit in the Honda Fit. Oh, we had dinner at a wood stove pizza place and ran into my future coworker and her husband. After we got home we took Friz for a run and met three bluegrass musicians picking and strumming on the front porch. Way cool. Tomorrow I will report on the ants. Yes, you read that right. Ants.

7-1-09

Overwhelming. I liked it better when stuff was in boxes. Got a
migraine today, got rid of it and cleaned the fridge, now it's coming
back. Time for a nap.

6-30-09

I am sooo tired. We got up at 7 this morning and started unpacking
boxes. The house is looking really good. I love the floor in the sun
room (see photo) and the breezes and the light. I got my office key
today and look forward to moving into my office. Wow. So much going on.

6-29-09

Frisbee at home in the jungle. Movers still hard at work, we are all tired and would like to lie down somewhere. We met two of the neighbors today and they were so kind. It still seems unreal but so far we love it here. The only things missing are Jes, Aza, and Squirt.

Happy birthday to my DAD. For the second year in a row, I failed to send him good wishes. I guess I need to get organized quickly and find my stationary and stamps.