As much as I enjoy quiet and peacefulness, I've always lived in the city. Well, maybe not city -- but at the very least the suburbs, land of the perfectly manicured lawns with two cars in the driveway of a well-kept house. My father's house isn't quite as perfect as the normal house of suburbia, but it more than makes up for its shortcomings for its proximity to Washington, D.C., being just thirteen miles outside of the capital's city limits. Considering all the traffic and all the smog I inhaled as I walked home from high school each day, I would certainly catergorize that as "city."

Then when I moved into Kurt's apartment in Portsmouth, there was more concrete than greenery, a fact that I lamented quite frequently. If there's something I adore, it's wandering around on a lush green lawn in my bare feet, much to my father's disgust. "You'll step on a rusty nail, and I'm not driving you to the hospital!!" he'd threaten.

So when we moved here to the Northwest, and I found myself on an extremely large lot, I was very excited. I have all the perks of living in a subdivision (like city water, although I do have a septic tank instead of city sewage. I always thought they went together), but all the advantages of living in said subdivision that happens to be in the middle of nowhere. For example, the nearest grocery store and gas station when I lived in Portsmouth were within a block of my apartment. Now if I need gas or something for dinner, I have to drive about five miles.

Which still is no biggie. I remember helping these Australian tourists when I was working at the fabric store in Williamsburg, who informed me that they only went to the grocery store every month, seeing as they lived "in the bush" and it was 100 miles one way to get groceries. I so wanted to fling that in the face of every whiner who complained that if that fabric store closed, they'd have to go "all the way" down to Newport News just for fabric. Newport News is only twenty minutes from Williamsburg.

Not only do I have a large lot here, but I was also informed by the real estate agent that on the lot, I've got two apple trees and raspberry bushes!!

So now I have fruit!! In my own backyard! Literally!!! And when I found out about the raspberries, I went over to them and picked one off and ate it.

I felt kind of naughty doing it.

I mean, when you're a city girl and raised to think that food comes from the supermarket, you feel there's got to be something wrong with eating something off a tree. It's got to be dirty or something.

But oh my goodness are the raspberries good! I don't think I've ever had raspberries before except in yogurt.

I have no idea when the apples will be ripe; I always thought apples were ripe in the fall. I can't wait to try the apples too, although I hope they're not grainy. I can't eat Red Delicious apples (all my stepmother ever bought, bleccch) for their graininess. Yuck.

And on a more somber note, Katharine Hepburn passed away today at the age of 96. Maybe, finally, she is reunited with Spencer Tracy in heaven, and maybe this time they can truly be a couple.

May God bless her, and watch over her family left behind.