Summer's Arrived

We're all moved into our new house—the TV and everything else came out from Athens on Saturday (although there's still a lump of goat cheese from our visit to Split Creek Farm in the fridge that I want to pick up). I would very much like to post some pictures of the place, and the crazy old furniture I bought, but the camera is effectively out of commission for the time being (thanks, Wagner).

In the meantime, imagine high tangles of blackberry bushes, the ones close to the road coated in a fine layer of dust. The Super and the bug and I (and Wagner, who managed to escape the confines of the famously painstakingly erected fence to come join us) walked up the hill to check out the ripening progress, and sure enough the blackberries are in. It's summer in Georgia! You have to get the super-ripe ones, though, or they're very astringent. Otherwise, they're small but sweet-tart, which is how I like them—with a little bite. If I can figure out the logistics of it, I'll take the bug up there today to get a bunch of them for pie or cobbler. (The Björn won't work in this case because of the thorns and the poison ivy protecting the berries. I might have to carry her swing up with us, and park her in a clearing while I pick. Or wait till evening when her dad gets home.)

Other projects for today, which you won't mind not having pictures of, include cleaning the toilet that had been turned off (and used) for six or eight months, disposing of another dead bird in the house, dealing somehow with the trash problem (we won't get pickup for another two weeks, and we've been adding to the bin for about three weeks now) . . . stuff like that. Oh, and an editing job I have to send back tomorrow but haven't started except to bring it from the car to the house and open the envelope it was in.

Projects for the near future include making pies, assembling and using the new rotisserie attachment for the grill/smoker, knitting some quick and easy throw pillows to break up the vast expanse of bright-orange couch in our living room, finishing the curtains for the baby's room, painting said room, more Wagner-proofing, planting jasmine outside our bedroom windows for next spring, digging a hole in which to plant a fig tree, deciding what kinds of trees or bushes to plant in the side yard to block views of the good Christian neighbors' house, planning a secret garden in the little front yard opposite the magnolia, and practicing my badminton serve.