Artichokes, and Melting Hearts

An all-over-the-place post. Beg your pardon.    :

Pretending to be asleep amidst too many patterns.

Blogger won't let me rotate this self-portrait, but oh well: look at those lips!

Aunt Wendy and Uncle Johnny told us about how they boil artichokes only after stuffing whole slices of lemon and garlic cloves just right up in there. Now that I've done it, I am hooked. 

In the new house now, which is good, although also overwhelming. Cockroaches wave hello- from their water-saturated corpses in the dishes in the sink each morning- but also, beautiful wood floors pave my exit to work each day. For a double shot-gun especially, the light is beautiful when we pull back the shades (although, when I pull up the shades- the wide windows + the skill or laziness of whoever installed said blinds = me trying not to yell and curse when they often just plan fall down on the ground in a pile of bending white plastic).

Aeli is transitioning alright, as much as I expect someone of his age to do. (We are starting to encourage him to say "2 and 3/4" instead of the "2 and a half" he's grown accustomed to, and people think it's cute and confusing when he says, "3 and 3/4" when they ask him his age.) He calls this "our pink house" and the old one "our black house" even though our old one is mostly red, but he points out- the Charleston green of our doors looks pretty much like black.

We will miss this.

We've got a huge to-do list here at the new place: central air (or something more environmentally friendly?), repairing some of the foundation piers, chimneys, and adding the possibility of SHOWERS to our present deep-clawfoot-tub-bathing-only situation, insulating the 100-year-old walls... but in the meantime, I am enjoying a relaxing afternoon, with some peach schnapps + champagne, Aeli, fancy cheese, in a place that we can really make ours. Feeling really lucky.