Moving Along

Sorry that I've been so lax on posting anything new, but we've been quite busy around here.  Somehow, an innocent conversation back in January has snowballed into an entire new chapter in our lives.  A weekend road trip looking at vacant lots, lead to talking to our realtor, which lead to talking to a builder, which lead to a kind of temporary insanity that has yet to subside.

After Alex finished up school, we spent three months laboring feverishly to finish every project around our Jewell House that we'd intended to get to over the past 8 years.  No small feat, let me tell you.  When we were satisfied (not really - but at some point you have to know when to quit) we put it on the market, and VOILA! eight days later it was sold.  We have every indication that the couple buying our home is in love with it, and that is how it should be.  We've loved it, and it is an exceptional house.  But...I'm still suffering with a bit of PTSD from last November when my car was stolen right in front of me at home, leading to a disenchantment with the direction the neighborhood is heading.

We closed on our new lot yesterday afternoon, and let me tell you how excited I am about our new neighborhood.  We'll have a bigger yard, much quieter streets that are safe for Anna to learn how to ride a bike on, sidewalks everywhere, a screened porch that looks out the back yard onto tall trees, more nature -- the first time we ever drove past this lot there were wild turkeys on it, a nice guest room with its own bathroom (we'll leave the light on for you, Hugh & Pat!), and a floor plan that is designed well to keep us both tight-knit AND give us more space where we need it.  The house plan is called "The Skelly".  You can Google it.  So... barring any catastrophes, we move in with our good friend Liz in a few weeks (The Gogolski Boarding House for Wayward Souls), close on the Jewell House on August 28th and break ground on the Bent Tree Lane house the first part of September.

One of the best things about making this move now is knowing this will be the house that Anna grows up in.  This will be the space where she has sleepovers, learns to cook (she tells everyone that she wants to grow up to be a chef), plants a vegetable garden, camps in the back yard, and makes wonky arts and crafts for me to hang on the walls.  While we could do these things pretty much anywhere, there's something about this space in the world that we're moving to that feels a little more perfect to my mind.  A little more hopeful.  A little more peaceful.  A little...more.

One Independent Girl

Happy Independence Day!  

One of the wonderful things about the neighborhoods surrounding us is that come July 4th, it turns into a little piece of Americana around here.  Our own neighborhood puts on a parade that goes right past our house.  Yes, we only need grab a cup of coffee and step out to the curbside to enjoy it.  Fire trucks, bagpipers, floats, a hodgepodge neighborhood band, and kids on every type of wheeled contraption will decorate and join in on the fun (along with a few politicians ready to shake hands and kiss babies.)

Last year we did just that -- decorated the wagon and trod the 11-block parade route.  This year, I was ready to just watch again.  Following the parade, they have turtle races and ice cream sandwiches down at the park.

In the evening, families congregate down at the park to set off loads of fireworks...simultaneously.  Spectate at your own risk, however.  These people are not exactly professionals, no matter what they might think.

Due to the holiday falling on a Sunday, our parade took place a day early.  But that was alright, as it afforded us to head about 8 blocks west to enjoy another neighborhood parade.  We have friends that live along Collins Park and they hold a brunch every year.  Usually we are sprinting from our parade onto this one which typically begins one hour after ours begins, but it was a leisurely year since they were held on separate days.

Though our parade continues to grow every year, theirs is even bigger and grander than ours - an entire neighborhood community coming together in celebration this one day of the year in a way that we don't typically find these days.  In fact, you could almost see the spectral vision of Norman Rockwell as the Grand Marshal leading the scores of families in all their red, white and blue glory.

Anna said, "The bagpipes make me smile."

Of course, it wouldn't be a holiday without candy (groan).  Anna now has two buckets full of sweets.
I'll have to covertly throw away pieces here and there so she doesn't eat ALL of it.

After the parade, the skies opened up and dumped rain all afternoon.  We stayed home and watched a movie, but at bedtime we heard a lot of explosive commotion going on outside.

The rain had subsided and the sky was lit up with a combination of fireflies and fireworks.  We walked down to the edge of the park so Anna could watch a bit of the show.  She was so tired, though, it was only a couple of minutes before she asked to go back home to bed.  On the way back she said, "When I grow up I'll be able to set off those firework bombs."

It was actually quite relaxing, walking home in the dark with just the flurry of booms, pops, crackles and whistles surrounding us audibly from every direction, and the smell of gunpowder and earth intensified by the earlier rain.  Amazing how the noisiest night of the year can still be so peaceful.

Happy July 4th, everyone.