bulldoze rose

It's moving day!  I wisely prepared by eating 2 pints of light ice cream before bed, tossing and turning with nightmares all night, and waking up with a queasy stomach and heavy head.

It's anxiety, people!

Todd is frankly baffled at my reluctance to make the transition to the new house.  "Let's just stay in the apartment four more days," I urged.  "We can move everything but the couch.  That way, we can gradually make our way to the property."  Todd noted, quite reasonably, that by spending only the afternoon hours at the property and driving 20 minutes to and from it daily greatly limits the amount of time we can spend working there.  Also, that we're hurrying to get in before excavators level our driveway and put in a retaining wall along the side of the house, which will temporarily limit our driveway use - a pretty major issue when you rent a moving truck.  He's absolutely right...but we have such a cozy little nest at our apartment, even though it was always meant to be temporary - and the house is quite unfinished and crowded with boxes.  I feel fairly panicked about transitioning to a new place that, for all its potential, is really quite strange to me - no cozy spots and happy memories, just narrow pathways between box piles.  I'm excited about our little farm - the space, the natural beauty, the quiet, the big gardens, the animals, and a nice amount of personal workspace for the two of us. I just have to get through this little adjustment period.

Breathe in, breathe out, and continue to work toward property completion.  Planning is soothing, and of course, I'm still trying to find that perfect kitchen wallpaper.  I'm still in love with the Swedish style and have found some great contenders.

This is a Swedish pattern from 1890 and PERFECTLY matches the kitchen trim.

Samples have been ordered and I'm really hopeful that I can find something that will work for us!

Our furniture is slowly starting to fill in the empty rooms.  It will be so nice to get this house put together, finally!

I certainly haven't had time to scout around with my camera, but I've noticed lots of wildflowers edging the fences.  An Indiana native, white aster, in big clumps as far as the eye can see:

And a favorite from my childhood, buttercups.

Have you ever wondered why buttercup petals are so waxy and shiny?  I read a fascinating article about it this week.  Buttercups have a thin layer of cells on the petal surface, which act as a light reflector.  This makes them very visible to pollinating insects.  Pretty clever!

I also saw a series of strange trees that run perpendicular to the road, right along our fence line.

There are at least five of them, and they are dripping with white flower bunches.  I was sure that they were wisteria, but I'd never heard of a wisteria tree.  The white flower bunches are beautiful and smell delightful.

After doing some research, I learned that they were yellowwood trees, a relatively rare hardwood that exists in a little pocket here in south-central Indiana.  Once you leave this area, you'd have to drive over 100 miles - to another state! - to find another one. 

We have lots of multiflora rose along the fence lines, too.

They're pretty, but terribly invasive.  They spread and choke out native plants, and their thorny branches are a horror to behold.  Like kudzu, multiflora rose was originally planted in the 30s to halt erosion.  Farmers were encouraged to use them as "living fences" for livestock.  Unfortunately, the thorns were so plentiful that livestock was frequently injured, and the roses didn't stay in tidy fences, but spread to take over the fields themselves.  I'm afraid we're going to have to eradicate them, but this year we'll have to be content with snipping the canes in an effort to keep the roses from going to seed.  Next year, when we have more time, we'll deal with rooting them up. 

Our fields have become quite meadow-like!  Next year, our sheep and goats will have a jolly time with all the grasses.  This year, we are hiring out the mowing. 

So many exciting plans, but actually living and working at the property will expedite their completion.  I will just be taking this adjustment period day by day.  Hopefully our old 'nest' will be a distant memory in a few weeks! 

it's like a heat wave...

Another 95 degree day, and with frequent cloudbursts, everything is growing like you wouldn't believe.  We have a vine on our outside deck railing that grows inches every day.  Inches!  I want everything to be caught up for the new homeowners, so I spent most of Saturday working in the yard, weeding.  With some good company.

It's exhausting to keep moving preparations going on within the house and also deal with a very needy yard, but I would be ashamed to leave a mess behind for new people.  I learned a painful and valuable lesson when we bought this house.  Under South Carolina law, water cannot be transferred into your name until you have the house deed...i.e. after closing.  Despite grudgingly agreeing to leave the water on for a day to give me time to make the transfer in person at the downtown office, the former homeowner called the water department first thing the next day and told them to shut off the water immediately.  I will never forget how that felt:  being in a new state and new house, surrounded by contractors and stacks of boxes, and NO WATER.  I felt so unwelcome and I couldn't believe the insensitivity and meanness behind it.  But it really brought home the value of the Golden Rule to me, and I'm determined to never be like that woman.

So, 95 degree yard work.

I did find some interesting insects while I worked.  This red-sided flat millipede was happy to pose for pictures, since he was long deceased.  These are also known as almond millipedes, since they secrete benzaldehye, which is a chemical note in the scent of cherries and almonds. 

I also saw one of my favorite leafhoppers.  They're all pretty, but this one has red eyes!  It's also one  of the larger leafhoppers.

The finch babies are growing quickly, but so is the cowbird.  It's hard to see from this photo, but the cowbird (on the right) is much larger than the other two.  I see that he has smothered the third finch.  I definitely detected an odor, which is unusual for these nests.  Or could they all be finches?? Only time will tell!

Here's the father, bringing a meal.  I love hearing them sing on the front porch!

Day in the yard aside, most work is being done indoors.  Moving prep is tough, especially since we have so much business inventory!  The good news is that a contractor was able to saw the wooden grids off of both the broken and unbroken doors...

...and the whole glass unit was able to be removed.  Our repair will be under $2000, instead of $8000 or so.  Huge relief! 

It's hard to believe that we're moving in 11 days.  It just doesn't feel real.  Still, I'm going through the motions of this move is really happening, even if it feels like each day will be much like the prior day, just like it has for the past six years.  Part of going through the motions is planning for things that we're excited about doing, and one thing we're both excited to do is to buy bicycles and start riding.  There are lots of bike shops and trails in Bloomington (home of the "Little 500" bike race), and I regularly ride 50 miles a week...in a gym, anyway.  So I had to buy these shirts to commemorate our inaugural ride:

I found a dance studio and a gym.  Different knitting clubs that meet three or four days a week.  Book clubs. Quilting.  Gardening.  Bird watching. FOUR farmers markets. A massive continuing education program at Indiana University, just down the street from our temporary apartment.  Opportunities for all the hiking and kayaking we can handle, just minutes away, and of course we have lots of friends in the city.  Maybe it doesn't feel real is really I'm afraid this is too good to be true!  I believe in preparing for the worst while hoping for the best, so I suppose I won't give in to excitement until we're pulling in our new driveway.  I've definitely got plenty to keep me distracted until then! 

Have a great week!

park larks and pack stacks

We've had nearly nonstop rain for the past two weeks, and another week of rain is forecast.  It's been great for flowers...

...pretty spiderwebs...

...and especially fungus.  I believe this is called Witch's Butter, but I think it looks like an image of magnified mold!

We've got the usual slime molds...

...and dog vomit fungus.

The rain is relaxing, especially after the hectic spring we've had.  Our lives have had a little bit of this lately...

(waiting out a showing with the pets in the park)

...because of this!

Yes, we've put our house up for sale and are leaving South Carolina.  We have been talking about what's important to us - a network of good friends, proximity to great hiking and kayaking, four seasons, a town that's progressive and inclusive, somewhere with a lot going on and many ways to get involved.  South Carolina doesn't really check any of those boxes for us, but Bloomington, Indiana hits them all.  Todd lived there for a decade while attending Indiana University and we loved it.  Now that we're in our 40s and looking to improve our quality of life for the long term, settling there just makes sense. 

So back in March, we started packing up the house.

We filled two storage units...

...and are living in a fairly empty house now!  The empty house isn't so bad, but we've had several "Murphy's Law" events.  First, the improperly-installed back living room windows were bowing out more and more, so we had to have the entire wall of windows removed and rebuilt.

Next, an interior pane of glass in one of the guest bedroom doors experienced "spontaneous breakage" from, most likely, improper installation...fifteen years ago.  It's the door on the far left...

...which, close up, looks like this.

Eight glass-repair companies later, we've discovered that since these four doors were installed as a single unit, it may be impossible to separate them.  Meaning that this entire wall would have to be removed, trashed, and replaced with a new wall unit of doors.  It's a multi-thousand dollar repair and we're still hoping to find a contractor that can replace just one section of door. 

Besides these (and many, many other) professional repair jobs, we've also rolled up our sleeves and:  scrubbed and painted the trim and bookshelves throughout the entire upstairs, scrubbed and spot-painted walls, repainted interior and exterior kitchen cabinets, refinished the gas fireplace, did wall and floor repair in the basement, and a whole host of other jobs that just blur together for me now.  March, April, and May have been pack and clean, pack and clean, pack and clean.  The house was listed a little over 2 weeks ago...we've had some great showings...and just waiting for an offer. 

The cats miss the boxes...

...but they'll have an opportunity to frolic in them again once we sell the house and pack up our remaining things! 

Have a great week!

it's here, my dear!

I had so much to tell you this week...about how the zinnias, which languished all summer, are beautiful and vibrant now...

...and how the cosmos are all going to seed...

 

...and how the cleomes have formed long, green seed pods, ripening slowly...

 

I also wanted to mention some of the little creatures I'd seen hiding outside, like this earwig:

 

 Or how beautiful the hydrangea blossoms are as their color deepens in the cooler weather:

I wanted to tell you those things and more, but while I've been slowly packing, and the cats napping...

...the days were flying by more quickly than I realized.  But it hit home today...in ONE WEEK, I'll be en route to South Carolina with Todd and the pets. 

One week!

Suddenly, I have a thousand things to do.  Mocking stacks of flattened cardboard boxes are leaning against the wall, and they need to be filled.  Things have to be transferred...bank accounts, IRAs, magazine subscriptions, insurance...and I have to find a place to live for a week or so before we close on the South Carolina house. 

At least I remembered to file for an absentee ballot.  Everyone, PLEASE vote!

So, unless I'm stuck in a hotel room in a strange city with a suitcase, two cats, a dog, and my laptop for a week (gulp), I probably won't be posting until we're officially relocated. 

But I'll eventually be back.  Until then!

a pie battle cry!

Whoever listed 'moving' on the list of most stressful life experiences, right next to 'death' and 'divorce', was right on the money.  Taking care of 3 pets, running a home business, dealing with late inspectors and churlish buyers and mounds of paperwork, plus keeping track of all the bills and packing up the house and does the dog need to go out again?!?...oh my. 

Thankfully, my stress level is much lower than expected.  Really low, in fact.  I contribute that to God's grace, and...to chocolate.

And...to homemade pie.  Lots of pie.  Apple pie, bursting at the seams with spicy goodness...

Smooth and creamy pumpkin pie...

...which rose to new heights, since I started making my own sweetened condensed milk, which contains a bit of baking powder.

Juicy peaches stewed in sugar and spices...

 ...and topped with a sweet, butter biscuit crumble:

Did you know about blanching peaches?  Just cut an 'X' in the bottom of the peach, toss it in boiling water for 1 minute, and then roll it into a container of cold water.  The skin peels right off!

 There's just something so soothing and satisfying about burying my hands into a floury dough, or listening to my KitchenAid whirr to life and turn butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and vanilla into something magical.  Stress?  What stress?

Of course, all this pie is no good without my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, which takes a dangerously short amount of time to whip up.

My stress level is low, but now all of my clothes are getting too tight.  Ten pounds up?  Check!  I joined Weight Watchers again, but after this weekend's sugar free-for-all, I don't know if I'll be going back for a few weeks.  I'm not ready to take the walk of shame to the public scale.  However, I truly am looking forward to getting back to a healthier lifestyle once Todd and I get settled.  I've scoped out the local YMCA and healthier-food stores and I'll be ready to put a plan into action.  Best of all, I can bake all day long, but just send the baked goods with Todd when he leaves for work!

I love it when a plan comes together!

Hope you have a great - and stress free - week.  Enjoy fall baking! 

the season, it is a' changin'

Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday.  I love everything about fall, and Halloween is right in the thick of it.  Black cats, dancing skeletons, and scary movies!  Chilly mornings, stormy nights, and cuddling by the bonfire! 

You only have to look at my craft stash to see where my holiday love lies.  I've got personalized Halloween stationary, post-it notes, countless rubber and acrylic stamps depicting various aspects of the holiday, skeleton candy sprinkles, Halloween cupcake liners, candy molds, treat bags, scrapbook paper, ribbons, stickers, vellum and chipboard shapes, cookie cutters, cake pans, and paper punches.  Now, I can add Halloween stencils to the list.

Now it's easy to use powdered sugar or cocoa to decorate holiday pies.  Way to go, Martha!

Unfortunately, this year all of my holiday paraphernalia is packed away in moving boxes...much like the rest of the house.  Empty bookcases...

...empty cabinets...empty shelves.  Hopefully we'll be closing on our new house one month from now!  And, while I can't enjoy my own Halloween goodies, I can at least try to appreciate what's around me...like this spooky neighborhood cat with positively glowing green eyes.  A perfect Halloween cat, you might say!

Meanwhile, I've been getting into the fall spirit around here with my usual seasonal bouquets.

I love spider mums, and they seem to last so much longer than 'regular' mums.  I've also been buying lilies.  I didn't use to like the smell...but it's been growing on me.

 

I just haven't had time to get outside with my camera, but I couldn't help but notice this small butterfly perched on our back screen door.

 

 Beautiful large, patterned eyes!

He only perched for a moment before taking off again. 

That's like my blog entry today, too...a brief perch, and now back to packing!

Have a great week!