cozy times

We had a lovely power outage tonight: what a nice interval to find ourselves unable to watch the final episode of whatever scary reality television competition Avery's got attached to since we got back to America... absolutely wonderful to have no recourse but to light every candle we could find, including this lovely lamp that I light (and its twin on the next chest of drawers) every night, and watch its rays reflect on the dormer ceiling of our little farmhouse. How cozy is that?

That plus lighting the candles in the four front windows (two in the parlor, one in the entry hall, and one in the guest room) for the across-the-road benefit of Anne and David... I adore that tradition, every evening. I often walk through the rooms downstairs in the evening, after my early-bird child and husband have gone to sleep, and think what a peaceful place it is to be: no worries, no bad memories, only good feelings and a prevailing sense that a lot has happened here in the past 200+ years that puts most of our experiences into perspective.

We finished the fence and gate today! I painted the gate in between "Days of Our Lives" and "General Hospital," and Avery kindly kept me company by reading her Nancy Drews from the library on the front step, between the geraniums and the begonias, while John napped upstairs. Then, while we were at the pool, John painted the last four feet of the fence. So when we returned, EVERYTHING was perfect, and finished. So lovely.

Tomorrow will see us scraping and painting the teeter-totter! How exciting is our life here... Exactly what the doctor ordered for the August before school starts up again in London, and everyone's blood pressure goes straight back up. My mother, father and brother will be here on Friday, and I can bask in the fun of family, summer, and fun.