Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

No need to ask the obvious question: I know you all missed me. We can just move on to the trivial details of my life that are the reason you show up here.

First, a big round of applause for that miraculous child of mine. I would have bet money that a 12-hour day in the car would be impossible with a toddler. Impossible without a whole lot of shrieking and unpleasantness, that is. But that kid, man. Except for a few minutes of protest here and there, he just resigned himself to the misery. Of course, the misery was substantially reduced by the fact that one of us sat in the back with him the whole way and read books, plied him with food, sang many rounds of "Little Bunny Foo Foo" (it's a big hit with the under-two crowd), and generally did everything we could to keep him entertained and fed.

Despite the rockin' good times in the Subaru, however, we were all extremely glad to get home. We rolled up the driveway at 8 p.m. yesterday. Cubby's face straight lit up at the sight of the dogs, and he practically lunged out of my arms to his grandma when he saw her, so that was nice. Then I put him to bed, with much praise for his fortitude and good nature. He was asleep before he hit his crib mattress.

Then, A. and I ate the delicious dinner the MiL had prepared before we collapsed into our own bed. The bed on which there were clean sheets, because the MiL had washed them and put them back on for us while we were gone. I highly recommend having the MiL on hand to welcome you home from a long trip.

Before we got into bed, though, I of course went out to inspect the garden. There hasn't been a drop of rain while we were gone, so the MiL was kept busy hauling water for the poor plants (and the animals, who are all very much alive, by the way--good job, MiL). Despite that, everything grew like crazy in the last week. Some of the cabbages are ready; the green beans are producing abundantly; I can start eating beets anytime now (yay! love beets); and the chard has recovered from the severe pruning I gave it before we left.

The weeds, of course, have also been growing nicely. I will address them as soon as I unload the car, make laundry mucous and wash our many filthy clothes, put everything away, make some yogurt, and generally re-establish myself at Blackrock.

It's good to be home.