It's been a long time since I posted last. I really thought I had put up a post in September and another in October, but it looks like those never got beyond the "composed in my head" stage. So. Here we are in December. Everyone is fine and fat and feisty here, but this fall is full of painful memories of the last, of Mom's suffering and our helplessness, and of the fact that she's gone. Sad stuff.
Still, Mom didn't approve of moping or carrying on over what couldn't be fixed, and, aside from mourning Mom, we are truly fortunate! Our new home is all we dreamed of, the kids have adjusted well to their new schools, and my dad has brought his new partner to North Carolina and she is a lovely person.
I took this a couple days ago when they dropped by our house on their way out to dinner to celebrate Ann's birthday. She is a restaurant aficionado, an Anglophile, and a (retired) biologist (some sort of neurobiology), and she and my dad get along beautifully together. They met through a dating site this summer and are now engaged. They are negotiating to buy a house a few miles away from us, as a new "winter place," so we're especially glad she is both intelligent and charming. I hadn't expected to see my dad so happy again, and, while the swiftness of their romance was startling, I'm delighted and grateful that he's found such a lively, agreeable companion.
Looking back a bit...
here is a picture I took late summer at a book festival. This place has so much to Do! The bookstore that organized this festival has Loads of events, book clubs, and so on. I've only made it to one book discussion so far, but I hope to manage more now that we're settled.
And we've been going to plays! There are several theatre companies, and Ed and I have found that we both love going!
Our garden is all frozen now, but before it got cold it looked well on its way to being really satisfactory! I hope most of my little plants survive the winter.
And here's a silly picture of Finn looking longingly in at the window from the sun room. He was out there because it was my birthday and he eats wrapping paper, silly thing.
And here I am wearing the beautiful rubber boots Ed got me. They are Perfect for pulling on and going out in the cold and damp to fill bird feeders.
And here is our yard looking very soggy when a hurricane passed through. We still have what looks like a sandbar in the back, where sand from the creek washed up into our back yard.
This one is from Halloween. Katie and I filled treat bags for trick-or-treaters. Not Nearly enough, though. We made seventy-five bags and I think we got around a hundred and twenty-five kids. Fortunately we had some back-up candy, but by the time we turned out the lights we'd given away all our packaged snack foods too!
This werewolf was Travis's project, and lots of our neighbors admired it.
Here's Billy Bones. He was my favorite.
Katie and her friends helped give out candy.
After Halloween, Billy (and his bird sidekick, on the shelf) came inside. Billy seems to have gotten comfortable in the library.
And Finn, of course!
Also the cats. Here they are watching television, though they are pretending not to be interested.
Dad and Ann came over for Thanksgiving, which was really nice. Katie made her specialty pies -- chocolate and coconut cream. They were the first to go.
(My cheesecake wasn't bad either.)
Finn and Kali were devoted kitchen assistants.
And today we had a tree taken down! I love big trees, but this one was bowing up the driveway and dropping hickory nuts all over and leaning somewhat precariously. I'd have left it, but Ed, who is more cautious about such things, hired someone to remove it. I got to watch, and it was Astonishing the way they did it. Tied a rope around the top, cut it off in one cut at the bottom, lifted it right up in the air, rotated it around to the street, and chipped it all up. Not a scrap of log or branch left, and the azalea bushes right on either side were completely undisturbed!
It was the sort of thing that some of the little boys I've know would have gone wild over, and I was a bit sorry that I was the only audience.
So, that's what we've been up to. I hope you've been enjoying a nice fall too, and that your December is off to a good start!
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