It's that old vacation feeling

Not much happening around here. We're both still sleeping really late and needing the rest. The weather has turned gorgeous, sunny and bright, almost warm, so we're taking little walks during the day. And we've finally caught up on the laundry (if not the ironing)! Where did all those dirty clothes come from?

We've begun assembling some shelving and starting to unpack boxes. Nothing is in its final place, but it does help to reduce the clutter and mess.

Lydia is coping with her new surroundings, barely. On Monday evening she ventured out of the bedroom onto the mezzanine, which is completely empty because the floor has just been refinished. She started crying and we think she may have gotten lost. Kaye sat on the stairs and talked to her, till she went back to the bedroom. Later we found she had pooped smack in the middle of the big empty floor. Cat-weird. The next evening she ventured out upstairs again. Ed happened to notice and sat on the stairs to encourage her. Meanwhile, Kaye was downstairs installing shelves. And dropped one -- crash! A big noise in a still-echo-y house. Lydia literally did a somersault turning around to get back to her bedroom hidey-hole. And only this morning has she thought about coming out again. (Of course, she could be exploring the house while we sleep, but somehow that seems doubtful.)

The pair of poplar trees in the yard have died. Some of Ed's favorites, they were looking bad even last fall, as we remember, and in the spring only one had even a few leaves. They will have to come out soon. We started a climbing rose up one of them, the same kind we had in Amstelveen, that is covered with small white flowers in early summer. This weekend, we'll try to move it over near the shed, where it can climb up and into a nearby tree. Then we'll need to find someone to take down the poplars.

We saw a notice in the paper for a really nice piano festival going on in and around Angoulême for several weeks in October and November. There are a lot of interesting programs, so we will try to choose a couple and get tickets. And, on the way to the grocery store, we saw a sign for a John Mayall concert coming soon. All this, out here in the country!

The closing for our Amstelveen house is planned for today. We'll be glad when that's done and the money's in the bank. Then we can try to figure out how to pay off this house.