Are you still there?

Just over a month ago we pulled up outside our strawbale home in the woods, after a 2.5 year hiatus in Utah. The months leading up to leaving Utah seem like a whirlwind now, and we've spent the last month in a long, slow exhale it feels like.

There has been plenty on our plates, the unpacking, the organizing, the decluttering, the donating. And plenty of discoveries; new faces in the valley and old recipe books to reunite with. Being back in my kitchen here at home is both inspiring and comforting. I had forgotten about that peculiar squirrel that lives in the tree just outside the kitchen window (still there). I had forgotten about the lack of storage and my deep wish to have a kitchen with proper cupboards (still there). I had forgotten about some of the loveliest of pots that we own - like old friends patiently waiting our return (still there).

Our transition back to country-living has been most wonderful, except that is, the part about dialup internet services.

But yesterday was a most triumphant and monumental day, when I gleefully signed a cheque worth every penny to a local wireless internet provider that persevered with three visits to our backwoods home and eventually helped us find a line of sight to a distant tower.

I hope that you are still out there, having come this far with us in our story. As any good story does, it comes out with a sequel....and so begins the next book. I hope you'll join me.