Well, we passed our last building inspection: Plumbing, electric and the building inspector all had to sign off before we could close up the walls. The insulation was being done yesterday and today and the next thing will be sheet rock. Whoopee!

Steve has begun to build some relationships out on "our" street, one neighbor in particular has had long conversations with him. My contacts are limited to hellos and smiles as I am not so good at working on the truck in front of the house. Now when I can start gardening, it will be a different story.

Speaking of gardening, knowing we are leaving Wyckoff in August meant we had to be creative about what we did here. Last year we did some container gardening and wintered over several of our plants. We have a huge red hibiscus, an azalea, and white climbing rose bush. Last week we put 4 cherry tomato plants in another large pot so they will all come with us. We have no grass, only a cement double driveway. We think we will put down some astro-turf outside the back door and in front of the (unusable) garage and call it a lawn. There we will put our container garden and our table, chairs and umbrella and call it a yard. (o: We also have narrow gardens in front of and at the side of the house, and a good place in that side garden for bird feeders. I love to feed the birds, watch them and listen to their songs. I was in Newark for a teacher's meeting yesterday and as I walked back to my car, I heard birdsong! What a blessing!