Today we had our dance lesson, last one for now. We expect to live a long time, and we need something to do together as we age. We’re learning the waltz, the foxtrot, and the Lindy Swing—just the basics, but we’re getting smoother.
We’re making progress in the front room, hung the curtain rod, got the new baseboard made, and ordered the matching stain for it. Walked together through the furniture store and looked at colors, shapes and sizes.
Good thing we went swimming first, so we felt good all day. It is still hot here, we’re grateful for air conditioning.
Got word that the visa service received our documents–found out when school starts and ends. Next step tickets.

Saturday late afternoon we took our grandsons to visit their friends who live in our neighborhood. The blow up pool was in the front yard; wicker chairs on the front porch gave us a clear view of the kids splashing around, jumping in and out of the pool. The sun shone hot hot hot and the humidity was high. I stood in the pool with the kids for a while, and my shorts got wet, but it felt good. Popcorn was placed on a table in front of the porch. Our three, the host’s two, and two neighbor kids made up the party. After a while, my neighbor said, “We could grill some food.” I volunteered to “run” to the neighborhood grocery for a watermelon. We ate hamburgers, hotdogs, corn chips, grilled green beans, baked beans, grilled onions and portabella mushrooms, raw carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, (locally grown) lettuce, avocado,pomegranate (surprise this early in the year) and watermelon. Each child could choose what to eat. And what seemed like a huge banquet, disappeared in about half an hour. It wasn’t a planned party, just a spontaneous sharing of life and love. The next day we shared another meal with some other friends, a sip of wine, a taste of bread, a song of joy. Sharing food, sharing love, life at its simplest and best.

I am making a brick path between my garden beds. The brick comes from a neighbor, and is very old and uneven. The result will be that the path will look like it has been there a long time. The space is not quite 3 feet wide, because we started at 3 feet, but the edges of the beds take up a few inches. The size of the bricks doesn’t match the size of the space. So they have to be farther apart, thus making space for weeds to grow. Not having grass or weeds was the first reason for making a path. So, now, I’ll be looking for some ground cover plants to put in those spaces. I want corsican mint, but so far I have not found it here. Something else will have to do. It’s a lot of work, but I will like the result.

My husband sold the house in a cash sale. Time to close that chapter of my life. The world situation is such that we must count it a great blessing to complete the transaction so quickly. We sold for a low price, but now we have no work to do, no worries, and a little money in the bank. That is, if everything is completed on schedule next week. You never know how things will go, until they’ve gone.

The time has come to sell a house we have in Indiana, my birthplace.  The house was my home from the time I was 10 years old.  It is the place we held our wedding reception.  Just a small cape cod style house, nothing much as the world sees it, but the fixed point in my memory–the place to which I took my children to visit their grandparents, the place I went to “get my bearings” during turmoil.  It’s been a rental for several years, and — it isn’t what it used to be.  I do hope we can recover something of our investment.

Yesterday my neighbor gave me some rhubarb. Today, early in the morning, I made a pie. First, I thought I could remember my crust recipe, but I put in too much oil, so I had to add more flour. When I rolled it out, there was a lot extra, but not enough for another whole crust. So I rolled that out too and put it on a baking sheet. When I completed the filling and read through the recipe again, it said “top with lattice crust” a detail I had missed before. But, there was the extra so I cut it into strips and made the top for my rhubarb custard pie. I love how things work out like that.

I love the light — the long days of spring —the hope it brings— everything seems possible in spring. Bright flowers after the long winter. Summer is almost upon us now, going by the calendar, but by the weather it is already here.