The joy of home and hearth

I walked in the house and the smell of baking hits me and I sighed, I'm home. I woke up early this morning and baked a coffee cake with fresh apricots. I bought so many that I had trouble consuming all of them. The season for fresh apricots, like cherries is so short. I ate them fresh and I put them into the coffee cake that I made. The smell was so good. The smell of home is like none other- whether it be the smell of cooking, fresh laundry or a scented candle. It is so reassuring.

While I love to travel, I love being home just as much. Some one once said about the 2 good feelings, one is when we're leaving on a trip, the other is when we come home from one. I love both.

I left the coffee cake to cool on the kitchen table and went to the farmers' market. This is a small Sunday market in Mar Vista where I live. Today was the Springfest; they expanded the market to include crafts and there was an exhibition of ethnic dances. Seeing the kids in their native costumes and dancing brought tears to my eyes. The day brought out a lot of young families with young children. It was a very heartening sight. This area has become a very favorable neighborhood. While the housing market has dampened; it hasn't really affected this neighborhood. Prices has held rather than declined. It is a very small neighborhood and one can only find so much space so close to the ocean. They don't make anymore land like this.

Yesterday I transplanted my tomato seedlings into bigger pots and I stuck a tomato wire into each pot. These are the tomato seeds I brought back from Sicily. I went early in the morning to Home Depot to buy the clay pots and tomato wires. We have a Home Depot that is opened 24 hours. I came back and noticed and noticed that the clay pots were made in Italy. How apt, Italian tomatoes growing in Italian clay pots.

I noticed some wood rot (or is it termites) affecting a section of the kitchen deck. I need to call Joe, my contractor, to see how much he wants to charge to replace that section. My contractor lives in this huge mansion 2 blocks from me.

Ah, the joys of home and home ownership!

My office is a converted garage and that is where I write this blog.