Palate Cleansing

Ok, I've vented and that is enough of that. Time to cleanse the palate and swish out the self-induced venom.

~ I need to catch up on so many things in this blog: my pantry book for one! Lots of updates on that front (that deserve their own entry).

~ The official end of an extended summer after 10 days of rain and unprecedented flooding in New Hampshire.

~ The 20th anniversary of my move to Boston in August 1985 with my best friend Di, who stayed on there and is soon to be married.

~ Our crazy house renovations in the midst of my husband being back in the hospital! (He will be fine but the recuperation this time will be long...)

Every day brings another exciting change.

Right now our three children are sleeping, the wind is blowing steadily outside, and fall seems to have settled around us after a very balmy late summer--still no killing frost! But a clearing wind and that has made all of the difference.

Tomorrow will be a full moon--I can see the glow cast now on the Main Street of our village and the white houses in a spectral light.

Tomorrow, with the floor refinished and dried in the kitchen--with everything removed from counters and cupboards--I will start again with a less cluttered approach and better use of counter space! I have too many collections of kitchen-related items and have decided to warehouse and rotate them. It is the only way--that or I start selling on eBay. Some day...

But I'm looking forward to a good week of fall cleaning, to getting my husband home to a long winter of recovery (what better time to appreciate DirectTV and a warm fireplace in a newly opened living space?). We just had the wall knocked down between the two west parlors and the space is incredible. The wall had been removed before and is easily returned. We were all tired of being crammed into four 15x15 boxes in the main house, one used more than others off the kitchen.

My friends, Steve Gross and Sue Daley, who shot the photography for my pantry book want me to write copy for their next book project. I couldn't be more pleased or excited. We have known each other for 16 years and have worked together on many articles in the past (we met on the shoot for my first published article in VICTORIA Magazine). It will be an honor and privilege for me to write for them, just as I was honored that they'd want to help me with my pantry book. There are no finer interior photographers working in the United States today. Period.

Several weeks ago I wrote an article for the next NEW ENGLAND HOME (November issue) on tight deadline, with some time I had to spare a week before our intense 3-day photo shoot of pantries...but more about the pantries another day. I've pitched some more article ideas to OLD-HOUSE INTERIORS with future placement. I need to send some more of my children's stories out to editors for feedback. This can be "winter work" to fill in the gaps around my pantry book writing.

But right now I should try to turn the lights off before midnight for once in my adult life...