The kindness of strangers...

One big thing we didn't like about our old house was our neighbor. We lived next door to an inconsiderate renter, who played his music at all hours of the night (which we could hear on the far side of the house...with all the windows closed). As well as a trashy, cluttered yard. And...well, that's enough about him. On to the kindness of strangers. The first week we moved in, I came home one day to find this beauty on my front porch.

Several of my new neighbors had left this plant, along with a nice card welcoming us to the neighborhood.  And they weren't even my next door neighbors. I still haven't had a chance to meet any of the gift givers. But as a person who normally likes to keep to herself, it made me want to go out and have a neighborhood bbq or something. What I especially love is that it perfectly matches my orange umbrella. Remember this??

I love this view when the umbrella is open and I'm sitting in the family room. It makes me happy. Now, if I could only get the darn plant to bloom again!!!

But I digress. Back to the hood...we did get a chance to meet the neighbor on one side of us one day in the yard. And then one day while I was on the phone with Comcast for the umpteen millionth time, a knock at our door brought this...

The neighbor on the other side brought this beautiful bouquet from her yard. After talking with both the neighbors, there seems to be a theme that I'm not too happy with..."good luck." That's good luck getting anything much to grow in the garden. Yes, even though these gorgeous blooms came from her yard, it seems it's going to be an uphill struggle.

I'm a bit discouraged...ok, a lot discouraged. But I have some ideas and with all the heat, I can't say I'm missing watering all the time. Oh well...I'll complain about the garden later (and often). For now, I'm just happy to be home, surrounded by the kindness of strangers.

Back in business

I've been gone way too long...don't judge. It's been a busy time. And add to that a hard drive that crashed and 3 visits and countless phone calls to Comcast to get my new internet up and running. But I'm back in business. New laptop. A wireless connection. And while there's still another scheduled visit from Comcast for the phone this Saturday, well, hopefully it'll go ok. There's a LOT to catch you up on. So I'll start with the move. We went from this

in the old kitchen to this

Of course, that created chaos in the new place.

And while it doesn't look all that bad, it's only because I forgot to take pictures in the middle of it. A chronic problem. Needless to say, all the boxes have been unpacked and now it's on to projects. Oh, the glorious projects. I have a lot to catch you up on.  And if I can figure out what I'm doing, I might even have a new blog site to make it easier to upload pictures. A big if.  Stay tuned!