One Week In

Remember how I thought we'd have time to write more once we moved? Wrong. There is so much more to do than I anticipated, although I think I had an inkling or two. We've been here for just over a week now, and the house still looks like a hurricane blew through. To be fair, with a toddler in the house that is it's natural state, but this is much worse. Picture moving your fully furnished house into a similarly sized fully furnished house, add a handful of toddler, four acres of wild berries, two cats, some poison oak, and you might get the idea.

I have had time to make two batches of sourdough bread, all from memory because I can't find my bread book. If I took the time to list all the things I can't find, I'd spend more time that it would actually take to locate, unpack, and put away the things I'm listing. It suffices to say that today I uncovered the bra I'd been looking for, but we have yet to locate dental floss or Q-tips. But, as a very good friend recently reminded me, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time, so I consider it a small miracle each time we get one thing unpacked, cut down, thrown out, cleaned, or some otherwise taken care of. It is feeling more and more like home.

Jay's birthday was on Sunday, and I managed to find enough ripe berries to make our first pie in honor of the occasion. We took the day off and went to Eureka to buy an air compressor. What fun! Jay has been spending his time putting together a nice little garden plot (pictures will follow as soon as we find the data cable...notice a theme?), cleaning the truck barn, and cutting down brush and trees. We were absolutely thrilled to find a place we can dump yard waste, including whole trees and unpainted wood, for free, so he has been doing his darndest to clear space in anticipation of hosting 80 people for our wedding celebration in a couple of weeks. I, on the other hand, have been focusing on cleaning and settling the kitchen, along with dealing with a clingy 21 month old who had a very scary fever last night.

Mostly, we're happy and very well occupied, but I am starting to be a little worried about finding our own society, and making sure Alma has ample time and encouragement to play. Right now, she most frequently pretends to clean, paint, weed, etc., and I am reminded of the real and frightening fact that neither Jay nor I know how to play easily. I think tomorrow we are going to go into Fortuna and sit at the park and let Alma explore on her own, if we can crowbar ourselves off the property. Really, there is so much to do that I finally understand why my grandmother never felt the need to leave.

It is definitely beautiful here. I hear more birdsongs, see more variety of plant life, and smell fresh, clean air unlike anywhere else I've ever lived. I love the darkness of night uninhibited by street lights; not having a clock in our bedroom; letting Alma run around naked most of the day. Right now the almost full moon is just peeking over the tops of the trees to the southwest, in a purplelilacblush sky. There is no smog to dilute the shine, it is still light enough outside to not need lights, and the birds are calling the eve. Paradise. (once we find our stuff...)