.... where my thought's escaping...

Our new home is bigger than any house we've lived in together. One of the benefits of this is that the clutter is now distributed more evenly giving the effect of a more organized life. The drawback is that winter is coming, and old homes are inevitably trickier to heat efficiently. Even now, the cool fall mornings seem whisper winter's song. Slippers, sweaters and hot meals are the comforts that have kept us toasty thus far.

We have "neighbors", but have yet to become very neighborly with them. The two houses that sandwich ours are occupied by older women living alone. Friendly and fastidious, they keep mostly to themselves.

We have a small side yard shaded by crab apple trees, where lives our trusty picnic table. We do a lot of outdoor snacking, but will have to wait until spring to do any serious open air dining, since evenings are cool and dark now. Greta and Simon kick the soccer ball around, and practice their cartwheels (Greta mostly, but Simon puts in some concentrated effort too!) after school, and we are far enough from the road so that I feel at ease.

A month ago, I was worried that the houses size would impede our intimate family moments. Now that life has been lived in these rooms, with it's silly laughter and it's real tears, I know that the closeness that we live by has little to do with the size of the area that surrounds us.