November 29, 2009
We moved into a new place in August. For a while there we were almost camping because we had the kitchen ripped out…it didn’t feel exceptionally homey.
Our fabulous Ann Arbor construction crew gave us a working kitchen in our bump out just before Thanksgiving. We moved our plates, spices, glasses, and cookware into the kitchen [...]
July 26, 2009
It’s sobering how much stuff we have, stuff we don’t need, stuff, stuff, stuff. Never more sobering than at moving time, when it is time to sort and pack and move all of it.
We got into our new place on my Birthday last week, and in the last days we have been moving things over [...]
July 3, 2009
Goodness is its own reward, but now and then there are actual, physical rewards for doing the right thing.
We’re moving, so I’m trying to rid myself of items that are not in use. No sense moving them. The other week, I went on a Wednesday morning to pick up some flowers at the Ann Arbor [...]
November 29, 2008
The holidays is a time for family gatherings. We hosted my in-laws this weekend. Originally from Michigan, they love living in Massachusetts. Next weekend, I’m going to visit my sister in Tennessee. Born and raised in Michigan, my sister is happily now a southerner.
But, I think that no matter how happy they are in their [...]
October 19, 2008
Today was a day of fall chores: sweeping out the garage, tidying it and getting it ready to store the table and chairs for the winter, raking leaves from the back yard, and pulling in all of the “tender” bulbs (voodoo lily and calla lily) that I had planted in pots on the deck and [...]
October 9, 2008
You might think I’m reaching the dregs in the gratitude barrel, but no, this is actually one of the things for which I’m actually, sincerely, really-really grateful.
I’m not someone who stockpiles; I’m an under-buyer. Normally, I tend to run out and go run an errand to refill my supply of (important item here). But, along [...]
September 22, 2008
It’s that time of year, the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market is a study in abundance, and my summer reading, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, has inspired me to can.
So, I took a perfectly good Saturday and Sunday and made two trips to the Farmer’s Market, a trip to the [...]
September 6, 2008
So, today I got a 1/4 peck of peaches at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. I wanted to make something with them, wasn’t sure what. A year or so ago, my brother-in-law put a tiny bottle of bourbon into my husband’s Christmas stocking, and it’s been sitting in our liquor cabinet ever since. I decided [...]
July 31, 2008
So, I had a 1-4PM meeting today turn into a 1-6:30PM one with an hourlong trip on each side, and although it was a great meeting, I’m an introvert and was sorely in need of downtime afterwards. So, when I got home at 7:45, I was hungry and tired and would have very happily reached [...]
June 12, 2008
So, I’ve been contemplating doing some landscape work on the backyard. The grass is dying (grubs, I think), the deck is too small for the table and the grill we have on it, and the random plantings (my fault) and the bi-level deck and backyard (inherited from the previous owners) feels like there’s too much [...]
not particularly objective musings on odds and ends – Dunrie Greiling, Ann Arbor, MI 48103