all that's past is prologue...

Normally, I get my finds off the free boards on Facebook. But when someone was selling this lamp the other day, I knew it would be perfect for Summit, and would be a good investment too. So I got it, and I love how it makes the front chair area look. That allowed me to move the lamp and table that had been there to the side of the room. And why would I want to do that, you may ask? Because it balances out the light in the living room, and FINALLY we have enough light there at night. But it does not hide the mural too much. Then, we cleaned out the bookshelves in the den (sorry to my mom's old 1950s textbooks that we finally got rid of, or the many other copies of books I pored over for hours when I was young. Yes, even The Last of the Mohicans .) We loved in my friend C's books, in case he wants them in the future, and an old chair of his as well. Three new cozy spots at Summit — just as we get ready to move out until next summer... Someone else looks cozy here too:

This picture honestly does not look like much. A "before" picture would have horrified you. When you consider how bad the laundry area gets after a full year of rentals, the "after" is a miracle. Patrick re-did the dryer pipe and took the rug out to be cleaned (by the storm!). I cleaned out the insides of the machines — including bleaching, cleaning up liberal gallons of lint and dust from behind/between the machines, putting up some plastic tile, and generally organized.  It's so much better!

We called the NY trip the "Sleep No More Tour," not only because we (finally) saw Sleep No More, but because we didn't get a lot of sleep.... We hit the ground running on Tuesday by arriving, getting our car, and driving down the edge of Manhattan to reach our friend Julie's place in Brooklyn.  After a nice lunch with her at Hamilton's , we headed into the city and wandered around Rockefeller Plaza, where Beatrix bought the Kate Spade ring of her dreams: Then dinner at Gayle's Broadway Rose , where Beatrix got to meet someone she has followed on TikTok for years (so cute!). The show that night was Water for Elephants, which was very good and nicely integrated circus well. I did not exactly go home with the soundtrack as an ear worm, but I was glad to see it. And we got to stay after at stage door and meet the actors and get autographs. The next night, after a day of college visiting, was dinner at the Mermaid Inn — so good, and the Happy Hour is alive and we...

Though we have had a lot of fun and spent time with friends this trip (more on that later), the main reason was COLLEGE VISITING and we hit that out of the park! We started bright and early Wednesday with Sarah Lawrence, which is where we learned not to trust how long Maps says it takes to get somewhere because east coast traffic suddenly gets a lot longer while you are driving (I had kind of forgotten about that). We arrived late, but still within the info session. When we started on the tour we realized how magical this lovely little campus is (perhaps right around the time we turned the corner to see the deer grazing on the hillside). We loved the thoughtful way the school goes about scheduling and the great social sense. It was a wonderful way to start college visits! After a delicious sushi lunch, we headed over to Hofstra, which was quite a contrast. I know many refer to it as a hidden gem, but after our guide had never heard of Minnesota and had trouble subtracting 5 from 7 when...

The other day, I came home to see a crew removing the big tree from the Green Mill parking lot behind us. Our alley looks so odd without it. I've been worried about our neighbor's trees for awhile (especially the one that hangs over our pool), and they are looking especially sparse this year. Oak wilt sucks!

I've been doing a lot of complaining lately, and I have an awesome new day planner that — besides a to-do list, an appointment list, a fitness list, and a "pick-up today" list has a section to write what I am grateful for (I have given up on the "meals" and H2O" parts. So, since I have started using it, I have been grateful for: Jangala not being in the hard place a friend is in pool parties Insight Brewing SOS theater VIP night at CJ the Conrod-Wovchas pool party friends Em Que Viet the person who caused so many issues leaving our house Harris/Walz 825 Arts and people who ask how I'm doing All in all, I think that's a lot to be grateful for, and I have barely started the planner! ETA: I've had a few people ask me about the planner — it's this one !   

Warning - somewhat cranky post ahead. So if you would rather revel in Harris/Walz joy (yay!), then you should skip it! We love having artists stay with us short-term and have had dozens of them come and stay over the years (on top of the "regular rentals" at the Summit house). From touring casts for shows to designers in for pre-show meetings to visual artists on residency to oh-so-many Fringe artists, we've gotten to know so many wonderful people and made lifelong friendships! Sometimes they stay with us here, or if one or the other of the houses is empty we can offer them a whole house. It's part of our mantra of doing good whenever we can. So I guess it's maybe just luck that, until now, we've escaped any damage (besides one broken pane of glass in a cabinet 14 years ago that they replaced within 12 hours of mentioning it). We probably got off on a little bit of the wrong foot with the most recent person. We left a key for them to get settled, and set up a ...

I'm doing the final report on the native garden at my father-in-law's place on Wanter Street, and I am amazed at how far we've come. In 2022, I applied for and received a watershed grant to redo the yard with native plants. My idea was to make it a much nicer place for him to hand out in and to invite friends over to. I liked the idea of native plants for sustainability, because it would be easier for him to care for, because it was a fun challenge and (let's be real here) because I got a grant. This is the yard in the "before" state: Similar to Summit, a lot of the plants did not take with the drought last year, but I was able to get some other ones and get the garden going. Here's where it is now! The front garden, with a little redbud tree, a goatsbeard, some spiderwort, cardinal flowers, phlox, cardinal flowers, and more. The side garden along the fence, with some lion's foot, chokecherry, milkweed, and more. The back garden, which is more shaded. ...