Tangerines

Our tangerine tree is positively groaning with fruit. This bagful that I picked this afternoon barely made a dent. In fact these are just the ones from the branches that were so loaded that they were on the ground. We seem to have the perfect exposure for citrus. The only problem is we don't know what to do with all the fruit. I donate money to an organization called Food for Thought that provides meals and dietary guidance for people with health problems. I was talking to one of their volunteers this morning. I should have asked her if they could use them.

The beeping continued today in new and different ways...a dump truck  and the two excavators we are all too familiar with arrived, and we had high hopes that they were there to start  there to start moving the enormous rock and dirt piles, but no, the truck was there to dump more gravel, and both excavators were needed to transport it down the steep hill to someplace behind the house. The ever changing paint job is another source of both beeping as a platform is needed to raise the painters up from the driveway to the level of the house, and speculation as to what color it is going to end up is ongoing. It has taken several weeks to achieve three different colors. We always have the feeling that they are figuring things out as they go along, but it is probably partly a function of the difficulty of accessing the site that things take so long.

I needed an escape so Dana and I went downtown to a lovely shop which sells beautifully scented candles, soaps and lotions and other very nice home decor items. It is tempting to buy one of everything, but as Dana said, 'If I buy something I will have to get rid of something'. We did stock up on lovely smelling things and enjoyed chatting with the pleasant women who work there. It was a beautiful warm afternoon with the trees on the waning side of fall color, the pavements littered with falling leaves. It was a good escape. I probably need to get out more often.

David came by this afternoon and installed the long awaited slide bar for the shower in the guest bathroom. Now you don't have to be 6 1/2 feet tall to enjoy a shower there. I gave him a bagful of tangerines....