I didn't dive right into work, though -- while my tea was brewing, I repotted a few plants. We made an evening run yesterday to Home Depot to replace some fluorescent bulbs from our kitchen (we replaced with full-spectrum versions; not sure I can tell the difference, but it seemed worth a try), and I couldn't resist their plants. One phalaenopsis orchid, white, which should bloom for four to six weeks. One gardenia, with one white bloom so far, incredibly fragrant, and hopefully more blooms to come. And one little tree-like thing, that I don't know the name of -- someone in the store told us, but both Kev and I had forgotten the name by the time we came home. Three almost bamboo-like stalks, coming up to a lot of densely-packed filigreed leaves; very delicate and pretty. The closest thing I've seen to it is Japanese maple, but these leaves aren't the same shape, and they're deep green. It's a mystery. If I weren't so sleepy, I'd go take a photo for you, in the hopes that one of you could identify it, but that is beyond my capabilities right now.
One of the things we've been seriously debating is the whole city vs. suburb thing. Both of us dislike the idea of commuting, but the houses we saw in Oak Park on Sunday had huge gardens (not to mention big basements, many big rooms, pretty old art glass windows, lots of gorgeous built-in woodwork). For the price of such a house (a half hour drive away), we could get perhaps a three-bedroom condo where we are now (a ten minute walk to Kev's work). Possibly with a balcony or a deck. I've been frustrated for a while by a series of northern exposures (Kev's apartment in Utah, my apartment in Utah, our condo here), and I think I'd probably be reasonably happy with a window or two that actually let in sunlight so I could grow herbs and flowering plants and maybe even tomatoes. But it's strange, trying to get accustomed to the idea that if we stay in the city, I'll probably never get to plant trees... I think maybe one of these days I should go to Borders and just page through books on city gardens, get an idea of what the possibilities are.
This afternoon, we go look at condos in Bucktown, which is also half an hour away, but in the city -- the advantage over our current location is that we'd be in the midst of a much more interesting neighborhood than ours; more cafes, restaurants, bookstores, that kind of thing. And there are older buildings; I like old stuff. Everything around us is new, or at least newly-converted to residential from warehouses, and you're lucky if they've left a strip of the original brick exposed. I like living in places with character, dangit.
Okay, first cup of tea done. I think make another, and then maybe actually try writing. It's been weeks and weeks. :-(