Weeks 23 and 24: What books are keeping me awake, socializing & more settling in

Every once in a while a book keeps me awake in a good way. I just want to keep reading! The first one that did that since our move is The Blackout Bookclub by Amy Lynn Green.

I was invited to lunch by a member of the AAUW (American Association of University Women) branch that I joined here. I enjoyed it very much.

Oops. My older son and DIL said they were visiting mid July when they meant June! Always happy to see them but glad they texted the night before🤪. We had our other son and family over for dinner the night they arrived and the next we went to their house for dinner. A short hike in the nearby Hillside Natural Area gave us a panoramic view of the bay, bridges and San Francisco skyline. We also hosted Father’s Day brunch and included my DIL’s mother so a really family filled lovely weekend.

We purchased an inexpensive small bamboo bench for the upstairs bathroom just in case anyone ever takes a shower up there and needs somewhere to put their things. It is a quite large bathroom, but the tiling and shower are from the mid 60's and not as appealing to use as the main remodeled bath downstairs. We fixed it up a bit but otherwise are treating it as a half bath.

Overgrown iris clumps under a nice bush in the front were removed by Hubby and it looks so much better. We discovered that the under the compost were two layers of weed barrier and then a layer of black plastic. It is amazing that the bush is thriving but the weeds certainly aren't!

The gardener/landscaper we just hired will start with plans for redoing the small front yard while we hire some cheaper labor to start preparing the back for its transformation. He referred to what had been done as “ selling the house plantings” which is apt. The mulch that is there is coconut fiber which does not decompose and gets all caught up in the dog’s fur making the yard unusable. 

The transformational design ideas we ended up with after a lengthy discussion sound good and his ability to start on the project soon albeit in stages over a long period of time is helpful. He also had ideas for reusing plants and stone already on the yard as much as possible.

We took a very nice walk to the neighborhood market, Giovanni’s Produce and Grocery. A great place to pick up some unusual items plus those few things you need between big shops.

Trying to get the last art hung or agreement to give away. Making decisions about a lot of small stuff that we probably won’t use. Storage remains a problem so trying different things to address that. Taking a hard look at my clothing as this is a different climate and I’ve put on some weight (stress eating perhaps?)

We are trying to remember that there are deer and wild turkeys on the roads here after almost hitting each! You do just come around a curve or over a hill and there they are standing in the road.