settling in

This new life is getting more comfortable. Really hard to believe that it's a month since we moved in.

The people at work are nice. Quiet at first, perhaps. But then so am I. After spending some more time with them, I like them. They are nice nerds. Haha. My favorite kind of people :)

It is pretty here. It is warm and sunny much of the time. The trees and flowers and shrubs have been in bloom for awhile now; seeing the growth warms my soul. We are taking advantage of our new space and new climate. We planted herbs again, but this time also bought tomato and pepper seeds, and dug out a little patch in the ground in our "backyard" where we planted them. I am watering them every day. We have a view of woods from our deck, and the kitchen table. We sit and eat there and watch the birds flying around. Sunday morning we saw foxes! A little family, also eating their breakfast. I feel this sense of wonder at having nature so close. We were discussing our excitement with the outdoors, and how we don't see neighbors outside, and as an explantion I mentioned how novel it all is to us "city folks". Stephen laughed at that, pointing out that we both grew up in country settings. It's true. But man, 6.5 years in the city have changed me and I do not take the beauty of the natural landscape for granted. There are woods everywhere here, with trails running all around town. We've already explored some - gone for runs in the trails just down the street from our place; gone for walks around the woods next to the parking lot by my office; even went for a little hike detour in the big trail system next to the grocery store, before we went in to buy food for the week. I guess I am a hippy because I am seriously enjoying all this nature. Last week I was having one of those days where I was just frustrated by everything - didn't sleep well, and my computer code was giving me headaches and kept crashing, and some other things I don't really even remember now. After work I went exploring in the woods outside my office, as I mentioned above, and it was just so calming. Amazing how I could walk for 40 minutes and see only one other lady with her dog. Anyway. That's me getting in tune with the earth, or something. Whatever it is, it is nice, and I like it.

I am soaking up the warmth. And the flowers and the leaves on the trees. It's like May, a month early. So funny how a few hours' drive south can change the landscape so much. Spring and summer are my absolute favorite, so I am loving it all. Especially when I hear that Chicago got snow last week (sorry guys!). Truth be told I definitely still deal with feelings of loneliness and missing that community sense - you know, feeling like I *belong* - that I had in Chicago. But the warmth and woods help.

I am sorry I have not been taking more pictures. I hope to get to that soon, though.