2012-08-11 - 2:01 p.m.

I am happy to be able to write from home, however it entails re-setting my security settings each time I access this site which is a bit cumbersome.

Ce la vie.

I just picked up "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" for .75 at a used bookstore in town to perch on the back of the bathroom toilet downstairs in the main parlor bathroom of the house.

I laugh at that description of "parlour bathroom" as I don't actually HAVE a parlour- but it still seems apt enough. It is not a bathroom in anyone's personal bedroom, and is in a hall off the space set up as study adjoined with the living room , yet near the kitchen in this small townhouse.

I have the same amount of shared living space as I had in the lovely Buffalo apartment. The difference is that instead of two bedrooms off the main living area, the bedrooms here are upstairs and larger and there are two more bathrooms upstairs which are nice.

I enjoyed a lovely morning strolling around the local farmers market where I found a cantelope that is ripe and now chilling in my fridge. After three cantelopes were grown but lost in our garden- one from bugs starting to eat it which prompted me to pick it prematurely for fear it would be gone soon, and two others that were left to rot BEFORE we discovered them hiding under the leaves of overgrown plants- made me thrilled to pay $3.00 for a farm fresh melon today.

I also picked up just a bit of corn as ours is not quite ready (very small and worrisome as there are stink bugs that seem to like those corn plants), as well as tomatoes. There are LOTS of small green tomatoes in our plot so I think that might be the next nice harvest for us. We did enjoy some sqauash and lovely basil thus far.

The peas were a disappointment to me, although the bugs seemed thrilled by them. I only picked a few and ate them fresh in the garden as there were not enough worth carrying. The beans looked to be doing well, but then were gone when I went back in hopes of harvest as they too were eaten clean.

Radish as always was both the first thing ready ,and therefore a delight, and pleantiful. I also had quite nice lettuce early on and enjoyed a number of pickings of that before I went to the garden one day to find it discovered by bugs and eaten to fragile, holy, thinned filagree that looked so delicate and lacy, but not appealing for eating (unless one is a bug!)

Gardening has been such a delight this summer.

I was thrilled after strolling through the farmers market to discover a book store/ coffee shop in town. Not sure why I never noticed it before! It was just lovely. I picked up a couple of clearance table books on herbs and herb gardening which are lovely. Full of great info and fantastic photos, including some 80s hair! The one has recipies as well which make it a find at .75.

I also picked up a Jodi Poucoult (not sure if I have her last name correctly spelled- but close enough) novel as one of my friend just loves her stories. He travels alot and I think she is a favorite for those airplane novels as I call them- a good solid story to pass time with enjoyment. Not fine literautre and too thought provoking, but entertaining and a good escape.

Off to clean house as the end of my two weeks with the little ones here was yesterday, upon which I ate dinner then crashed to sleep uninterrupted for a change until waking. The remnants of two weeks of experiments, potions and creations are here for me to clean. I look forward to the house being orderly once again, in preparation for the next round of "kid dom" which will be super fun as the big kids who have been off in summer programs and working summer jobs while living at Dad's are coming for a visit as well. It will be a blast to have all six of the kids here together. My plan is to enjoy this time at home going swimming in our pool right here which is part of our community, hiking the Appalacian Trail at Bear's Den which is only 20 minutes away, and generally enjoying things like strolling to the farmers market and bookstore and taking in the lovely things around us. We might borrow a canoe and hit Goose Creek one day, which the older kids and I all love to do (and I already have permission for use of that).

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