we are on the map.

It’s a big day in our little household o’ domestic bliss. We have removed some obstacles to our devoted public locating us. And on more than one level.

The snafu of the mis-delivered running shoes finally got me off my butt and over to the neighbor’s house – not only to pick up the package – but to get my hands on this beautiful little directional sign she’d painted ages ago.

Kev assembled a post out of scrap wood and sank it into the ground. No more excuses, UPS delivery guy! No more awkward turning-around-in-a-hairpin-turn, O Septic Tank People! Yes, we finally have our house number up.

And that reminded us to deal with a Christmas gift from last year.

That’s right – we even have a doorbell now. Before we added on to the house, there was no need for one – the house was so small, you could easily hear someone walking up the front steps.

AND, last but not least, my shiny new business cards arrived in the mail. So exciting!

That’s right. I have a business card. See, in a few weeks, assuming I pass the criminal background check (cough, cough), I’ll be volunteering at a nearby hospital, giving Reiki to patients. Now, I won’t be allowed to promote my services to folks – a) that would be rude and b) it’s not allowed, but I am allowed to give out my contact info if asked. As a former Girl Scout, I say, “be prepared”, so I had business cards printed up.

They’re p-u-r-p-l-e!

What else. My first batch of pie dough is in the fridge. I’ll roll it out tomorrow. I followed the instructions exactly and I still think I screwed it up – it doesn’t look like it’s supposed to look. I’ll bet it tastes fine, anyway. Oh, I’ve made pie dough before – but only the kind where you mix the ingredients by hand in the pie dish (what a Southerner friend of mine calls “white trash crust”, but since she’s a Southerner, she’s apparently allowed to say that.)

On the nature front, we have…

Some false Solomon’s seal berries. The virtues of having paid attention all along – I recognized this by the shape and color of one of the dessicated leaves still clinging to the stalk.

Little spots of colors really are jumping out, as everything else fades into late fall’s palette. Even the fields are beginning to go yellow…

 

Here’s this mysterious ferny grass stuff that is changing colors right around now and hence suddenly begging for attention:

 

No more stealing the neighbor’s Concord grapes…

 

I got an ID on that little guy I found blooming last week!

It’s yarrow, aka milfoil. Achillea millefolium. Whew, that’s a relief.