Good morning! I hope that you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Our weekend was spent working, and unpacking. As I mentioned last, we are moving back into our house. That means unpacking tons of boxes as if we are moving in for the first time. After having been without a lot of my/our things for the last few months I realize I do not need them. Just to clarify, we packed up a lot of our valuables and other extraneous stuff to stage the house and then packed up a fair amount of books, clothes, and more when we received an offer and a closing date of 28 days. Consequently, I am taking my time unpacking and getting rid of a lot. Books, kitchen gadgets, clothes, and various other household items and decor are all being donated to thrift shops, shelters and a few other places. It is funny because I feel lighter. I am happy for my stuff to go off to new homes and for other people to enjoy it. At the same time, I am redecorating the house; moving furniture, art, and accessories to different rooms, adding a few new pieces and starting anew after 11 years here. We have 2 unfinished projects left and they are already underway; we redoing our deck and fencing in the yard for the pups.
Speaking of the pups, yesterday we had a little scare with Pisa. She is very sensitive to medication, in fact about 2 years ago she had a terrible reaction to ear meds and her nose and ear are permanently scared. Yesterday, Pisa and Paris had their shots and all seemed well until a couple of house later Pisa started gaging and throwing up at which point I noticed her nose was twice its normal size and she was covered in welts. After a trip to the emergency vet, a dose of Benadryl and steroids she is doing a bit better. She is a little lethargic but the swelling is going down. There is never a dull moment with these two.
On the up side, my new neighbors are French and on Sunday they brought over a scrumptious lemon tart decorated with fresh strawberries. I felt as if I was transported back to France with each bite.
Now that summer has unofficially started I am ready to slow down, enjoy weekends at the beach, taking road trips, reading and relaxing. My husband is a workaholic so it is a little bit of a struggle to get him to slow down, I will keep you posted if I am off on my adventures with or without him.
What are your plans for this summer? Do you have any adventure or trips planned? Will you be enjoying time in the garden, soaking up the sun or spending time with family and friends?
I would love to hear what you have been up to lately.
Have a great day!

I think it was Mark Bittman who said all you need to cook are a couple of sharp knives (a big and a small) and a couple of wooden spoons. It's true that's all my grandma had, and she was the best cook I ever met–everything (even pasta) made from scratch. It is so much easier to not sift through a bunch of stuff in kitchen drawers to find the tool you want. And the marginal ease gadgets provide is often pretty small.
Elizabeth….tell your dear husband to enjoy his days with you….Summer is a time as you said, to slow things down and relax a bit…if possible….I hope Summer is a great gift to us all this year….wish we could visit!
Poor Pisa.
No real plans for me. Sorry about your dog's reaction. That is scary! For some reason I didn't think you'd moved out.
Brenda