#1,048 Back to Real Life.

The magazine stuff was over by noon today and life resumed. Mrs. Jean wrote a sweet note inside her new photography book and gave it to me before she left, and there is a small mountain of very expensive home furnishings waiting for Andrea to take back to her shop sitting in my entryway. That’s all that’s left from this crazy experience.

I ended up keeping only 2 things, the grainsack wingback chair and a garland of dried cotton bolls for the mantle. Andrea wants to start a Christmas list for me. That sounds like huge trouble.

After lunch, I went to work to catch up on everything I’ve not been able to take care of. I was a total zombie all day even though I thought we got good sleep last night. I guess the whole thing is catching up with me? I walked home at 4 to find Brooke and Patrick walking up my sidewalk to hang out on the porch with Ben, who was answering emails and drinking sweet tea out of a Mason jar. A dang Mason jar. These things happen, if you want them to.

Before long, Ian stopped by to check out an issue Ben had found with our breaker box. Then he got a glass of tea and stuck around for a while too.

Then the fat butts showed up.

Big Baker is weighing in at 120 lbs. nowadays. It’s uncomfortable if he bears into you with a paw.

We could feel the cold front coming in. Tomorrow the high will be 63 degrees, and earlier this afternoon it was in the upper 80s. The leaves were swirling around in the wind and I hugged myself to fend off the chill. One of my favorite feelings.

We went to the fair with Hope when it got dark out, and we ate more calories than anyone should ever consume in their lifetime. Jesse met us there. I’m embarrassed to tell you what all we ate, but a corn dog was involved and so were cinnamon sugar apple rings. Among other things.

Yeah, I got a box of $7 taffy. I had to.