After our all-too-short trip to the Outer Banks, all of the members of our household are home. Dave and I got in this morning around ten, but Juno & Jupiter just arrived home about an hour ago. We weren't able to pick them up earlier because their hosts actually have to work for a living, poor souls. (Oh, wait. I'd like to do that. Note to self: Find job.) Our rabbits were apparently good house guests and are welcome back anytime, which is nice to hear, not that we're going anywhere anytime soon. Juno's snout, as expected, is healing quite nicely, though we do need to continue giving her meds through Thursday. They were both thrilled to be home, hopping around like mad to make sure everything was just as they'd left it. After about half an hour though, they had found their usual spots and were quite relaxed. They don't seem to be bearing us any ill will for ditching them for a week, forgiving little critters.
We returned to a note from our former upstairs neighbors, asking would we mind collecting any mail that they received and sending it on to them (in the thoughtfully provided addressed and stamped envelope, of course), and inviting us to come see them any time we happened to be on that side of the world. I know that they will be happy to be home in Ireland, but I'm quite sorry to lose them as neighbors. Aside from my suspicion that her son was actually a small elephant in disguise (or perhaps he simply had more than his fair share of gravity), Karen was a wonderful person to have in the building, always a kind word and a friendly face. The tenants I like never stay. The ones I don't... another story all together. Fortunately, they did come in once more before heading to the airport, so we did get to say goodbye to them properly. (And they were kind enough to give us a great fan!) I wish them all the best, and I'm glad for them to be going home.
I remembered today why it's always best to clean before you leave on a trip - getting out of the car after ten hours to a pigsty is quite disheartening! It's not much better now, but at least the floors are clean and the dishes are mostly done. I did a few hours of the scanning work today, though I was pretty tired and my heart wasn't in it. Or is that my brain? I threw stuff into the bread maker for a loaf of honey wheat as soon as we got home, so now I just need to make some turkey sandwiches for tomorrow so that we don't spend money eating out. Work is more precarious than ever, for both of us, I suspect, and we need to pinch our pennies harder. Make those pennies squeal!
To go with my turkey sandwich I have the most wonderful souvenir from Duck though. No t-shirts or coffee mugs for us, no sir. Before we left yesterday I made a point of going to the farm stand and buying a big bag of South Carolina peaches. What utter bliss. I intended to eat one on some cereal for breakfast in the morning, but I've just realized that we have no milk. Never mind, I'll just make oatmeal and eat the peach anyhow. They're like eating solidified, slightly tart sunshine. The firm but slightly yielding flesh, the rich colors, the smell! Why is the internet not scratch and sniff yet? Oh how I wish I could share this with you. There are peaches here, lots of them, but none of them measure up. The local ones, not through any fault of their own, are from New Jersey, which is simply not as warm or sunny as parts south so the trees haven't any chance to produce such wondrous fruit. The peaches imported (in the usual fashion, not tenderly in the side compartment of the Prius's trunk) from that same land of sun, were all pulled rudely from the tree well before it had time to impart all of that delicious sunlight it had been lapping up, in the interest of travel. You just can't get peaches like this here, and my taste buds will still be at the beach just as long as they last. (Not very, I expect.)
No comments:
Post a Comment