The Orchard, Dah-ling

Welcome to the Orchard, our new (temporary) home! In my head, I always say, "The Ooo-chahd," and flash back to that episode of Friends where Phoebe asks, "Where do you summah?" 

You know which episode I'm talking about. Don't pretend you don't.

Ahem. Moving on.

The infamous front gate. When Scott and I first arrived on Monday, there was no one in the office (Memorial Day) and the gates were open. We had been mailed the keys, so we blithely wandered around the complex until we found our new abode and let ourselves in.

We just as blithely left the (still un-gated) neighborhood, went out to dinner, and then nearly rammed into the now-closed gates on our return journey. It was a bit flummoxing.

Never fear. There's someone on call 24 hours to assist hapless gated-community novices like us. We discovered that we had, in fact, been mailed an access code. Which did, in fact, open the gate. We sheepishly puttered back to our apartment.

Our digs are up on the second floor!

Here's our lovely green front door.

And Scott looking out from our lovely balcony. I'm a little in love with this balcony. Might have to take it with me. Here's the view:

It doesn't look like much and that's because it isn't. We're really really in the middle nowhere here. Right now, the Orchard is at the very front edge of all the new development pushing out into the cornfields and Ohio wilds and whatnot. 

Which is fine with me because I like these trees. They make a really nice swishing sound. Especially when freak storms spring up unexpectedly at about 4:00 in the afternoon.

Right after I took this shot, it rained so hard that you could barely make out the trees. For about five minutes, anyway. And then the sun came out again. 

Oh, crazy Ohio. It's like we never left Boston.

In any case, we've been settling in very slowly the past few days. Unpacking slowly. Exploring slowly. Breathing slowly. Both of our instincts are to jump in and do everything right now and make it all ok as quickly as possible. So we're trying to, well...not do that. We're reminding ourselves that it's ok to take things slow and find a balance between being excited about our new home and really really missing our old home. 

Scott has also been practicing Midwestern driving. So far he's mastered the friendly wave ("No, you go first!") and is beginning to retrain his aggressive-defensive driving instincts. I'm rediscovering the things I love about the Midwest (big skies, Steak n' Shake, friendly strangers) and also the things that...I love not so much (strip malls every few blocks, driving everywhere, feeling like a black sheep). Meh.

So...slowly, right? One step at a time. Ok, now the sun is out. We're off to explore!