Wow! The world looks so much more promising and cooperative to me when I feel rested and fed. Within 24 hours of arriving at our new home I got internet(!!!!! can you believe it??? I love America. This is the photo of the modem)…
…cherry-walnut-sourdough bread from my favorite bakery…
…a super-clean top-to-bottom house (including walls, ceilings, concrete floors in basement, tops of doors, you name it)…
…a new mailbox…
…four jars of Mrs. Renfro’s Hot Green Salsa (our whole family is completely addicted to this salsa; Alex brought a case with him to the West Indies when he moved there)…
…and, shelf paper installed in the bathrooms, two appointments for people to come give estimates for building a barn by October 1, and a next-day service air duct/furnace cleaner coming today.
Getting the internet service so quickly is especially a miracle to me. I called about five vendors Friday morning and none had service in our area, too rural. Then, the housecleaner (who completely redeemed herself by cleaning exactly how I wanted it done and where I wanted it done) mentioned that she used Verizon, and that all it entailed was buying a little modem box and plugging it in. At that moment our real estate agent’s wife called and she told me there was a new Verizon store ten minutes from us, so off I went and within an hour I had plug and play internet service (and it is $120/month cheaper than what we had in Africa). Wow! I love America.
Just when the day couldn’t get any better a dear friend from my writer’s group called and said she and her boyfriend were in Frankfort and did I want to meet for dinner. I was feeling pretty loopy from disrupted/no sleep but I went anyways. They came over afterwards to tour the homestead. Here is a photo of Elizabeth and Lexi, our first visitors.
I have a short story to tell about Elizabeth. My first year in Peninsula Writer’s group I roomed with her and another long-term member, Robyn, at the annual Glen Lake summer retreat (this retreat is what introduced me to Glen Lake). There were vertical blinds on our sliding glass door overlooking the lake. Apparently (and completely subconsciously), when the blinds were closed and not falling straight and even, I would straighten up each one as I passed. To play with my mind, she and Robyn used to mess them up on purpose and giggle watching me straighten them out. Evil writer twins! Who would have thought I was that compulsive??? (Don’t answer that please…:) )
Fantastic news! Happy to hear things are working much better. BTW, we’ve rented a condo in Estes Park for Mark & Jo, Blake and Glenn & I. So that’s finally set.