I wasn't sure when this place would start to feel like the old Park, but somewhere over the last week, the furry kids decided it was time for all the hijinks to resume at full power. There has been playing all day and night, even between former enemies. I hear galloping across the tile floor and scampering up and down the stairs, and I know the Pride has adjusted. The dogs adapt well to nearly any situation, but there seems to be an increased happy playfulness about them as well. Murray has been bounding, whether in wheels or not, and Elsa has discovered a new fruit to replace her beloved apples (which she used to eat until she popped in New Mexico). I had wondered why it was so hard to find any ripe tomatoes, and today when I took out garbage, I noticed that the volunteer plant that was growing on the back fence looked particularly abused. Later I saw Elsa chewing on something, and I stood at the window and watched her for a while. She disappeared behind the sunflowers and compost stack, butt sticking out and tail wagging, nosing through that tomato plant. After a minute (and some pictures), I called her out, and she came running, trying to pretend she wasn't carrying something small in her mouth. I scolded her, told her to drop it, but she just stood below me, drooling, like a teenager in a movie who was trying to hide a lit cigarette in her mouth. I knew she was lying to me, swearing there was nothing in her mouth, and then a car drove down the alley. She forgot to pretend anymore, and dropped a little green tomato on the patio to run off and bark. Next season there will be a fence to keep those naughty dogs out of the garden. And there will be a stockade privacy fence to hide all the traffic in the alley from the dogs. (Who am I kidding? There is a constant parade down that alley, and the dogs will just know. They're dogs.)
While I was outside today, there were a man and a woman in the back yard next door. The young glass artist and her family have moved out, and this couple are scheduled to move in this weekend. They're closer to us in age, and also have grown kids who live on their own. We chatted for several minutes, and I got a really good feeling from them. I have high hopes that they will be friends. We talked of fences and gardens, and when I learned that we both had lived in New Mexico, the idea of a chili cookoff was born. If I am lucky, that will come to pass. Any reason to make good green chile is welcome. While we spoke of vegetable gardening, the wife of this couple pointed out that one of the spaghetti squashes growing through the fence was ripe and ready to go. I picked it and brought it in, but it has been years since I tried to cook one of these things. I didn't do it well when the kids were little, and I have always assumed that I just didn't like them because it was cooked so poorly. The neighbor suggested just roasting it with butter and sugar, but as I'm trying to avoid sugar for a while, I may need other suggestions. I need ideas that won't make it taste watery and nasty like when I tried to make it as a substitute for pasta a million years ago. Anyone have a recipe or method to offer?
I have made it through all of my on-my-own projects save for one. I completed the costume, I unpacked a half dozen or more boxes and organized several rooms. I sorted out what goes in the china hutch, what goes in the liquor/entertaining armoire, and what fits in the kitchen cabinets. I even did something I have needed to do for a month, and cleaned all the crap off of my wobbly table. Until I have my carpenter back home, the microwave and coffeemaker will live on it. Now I can open the spice cabinet fully and cook bacon without covering the coffeepot in splatter. The microwave had a temporary home on the dining room table, and it made me feel like I was back in college and living in a dinky apartment. Now the only boxes in the kitchen are holding packing paper and painting supplies, and the whole space feels big and open again. The dining room table still has a layer of papers and junk, but overall the upstairs looks almost done. Tomorrow I will make the bedroom curtains and maybe look for a rug I can use to pull together the living room, and then I will take a break from moving in. I'm going to work on living in the house for a while.
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