It’s quiet in the house tonight. I’ve had my family visiting for the past week, and the house has been a bustling hive of activity. Curtains have gone up, the door frames have been painted, fences mended, floors screwed down, power points installed front and back, signs put up, wasps eliminated. And there was also time to sit around the television as a family to watch thirteen hours of graphic violence. Oh, and I also saw Sleater-Kinney, who are indeed still awesome, and Turn Me On is every bit as vital when I heard it in 1997.

I am old

To add to the already full house, I then invited lots of friends to come and visit for a picnic (which was moved indoors after the to-be-expected rains were forecast). That involved a day of cooking, four different desserts and three more people sleeping in the house (though, granted, two of them were smaller people. Smaller people who were impressively interested in Transformers. More of this!).

Now, my family are somewhere past New England, ready to enter Canada and head across Greenland over the Atlantic. To home and waiting cats. The house is quieter, but feels as if my family has finally had more involvement with it, leaving their stamp on almost every room in the house, improving things and leaving me with a list of things to improve. Dad was even impressed with my choice of electric screwdriver.

And so, quiet evening on a long sunny Sunday evening. Knowing that I have great friends and family, even if there’s nobody here right now, there will be somebody dropping by before too long has passed.

(also, if you happen to be that person: I HAVE SO MUCH LEFTOVER FOOD AND I WILL MAKE YOU TAKE SOME)