It's Becoming Home

Where are the pots
and pans?

Found--with the
book boxes!

Every day we unpack a few more boxes and make a few more purchases.  Today I found the vegetable prints for the kitchen.  I filled my mother's WWII vintage "hope chest" with photos and memorabilia and stuff--without much order but at least they are not in boxes any more.  We bought more cleaning supplies and basic food like pasta and rice and flour at McCaffrey's, our new go-to grocery store.   I ordered some dryer balls from Amazon and a quilt set for the queen sized bed from Bed Bath and Beyond.

One of these days we will not have to unpack any more boxes and purchase any more necessities.  Maybe then I'll get into more of a routine of exercise and reading and cooking meals.  But for now most of my energy has gone into getting settled.  Jim, however, has had joy in using his work computer again and getting into his projects more easily.

Every day the apartment looks more lived in.  We haven't hung anything on the walls yet but some books and photo frames are out and in place.

The best features of the apartment are its windows including two bay windows which bring in a lot of light.  Another great feature is the walk-in closet. Less desirable features are the bathroom and kitchen cupboards which are deep and high and do not make for easy storage.  I miss my kitchen and bathroom on Deerfield Loop which had the features I chose over the years.

With a second floor apartment and 95 degree days, the A/C just couldn't keep up.  We would set it at 72 and it would get to be 80 by suppertime.  It would cool off by the morning again.  However, that was an unusual heat wave and we hope that was the worst of it.  Ceiling fans helped a lot.

The best part of being here is that our goal of seeing our children and grandchildren more has really come true.   Since I last wrote, we had supper with Jeff and Susan twice.  We went to Jasper's performance of Guys and Dolls, an hour and a half ride away at rush hour and only 53 minutes on the way home.

 And we had all 15 of us here on Sunday afternoon for our "housewarming" party.  It was 99 degrees outside and we raised the temperature to 83 inside with all of us here.  A swim for many of us felt great.  I looked over the pool at everyone and felt like the "fruitful vine" from our wedding tape and I was so thankful.   Jim and Jeff picked up Olive Garden takeout, I made sangria and  we had a Friendly's ice cream cake.  Michael brought us a housewarming gift of a bottle of wine he was given on his Philadelphia Jazz Orchestra tour of Italy.  Laura and Michael brought Prosecco which we didn't notice and will save until later.  Susan brought us a peace lily on a stand--a gift that should last!


I had asked the younger ones to find the movers' green stickers on all the furniture and they jumped to the task with much enthusiasm putting them on a card I gave them.  R asked if they could take the card home with them!  And today they found another one on the piano that was moved from our garage to their house in Gladwyne.

We have plenty of boxes to unpack.  We need more bedding, a file cabinet, and more lighting.  The walls are very white and blank and sterile.  However, 508 Barclay Square is beginning to feel like home.