A taste of what we've been up to

We've been here long enough to have a semblance of a life now, and the biggest obstacle is Arthur having too much homework to be sociable. But! for those curious at home, here's a sampling of our current lives.

• We went to the local food festival again. We didn't get any auction items this time, but we did run into a variety of Northwood folks, and that was fun. Very different from last year when we knew NO ONE. Arthur was sampling the raw garlics. So I know he's not a vampire.
  
• The garden continues. The lettuce and peas are in their second plantings. The cucumbers up and died during a dry spell, which is very sad. The chillies continue to outpace me, but! tonight I wandered outside and started handing them out to neighbors, and conveniently one of them had just been given a bunch of tomatillos by a neighbor and was on his way to the store to buy hot peppers. WELL, I thought. I can take care of that! So I went to the garden and picked him a whole bunch more. Now maybe the peppers are possibly manageable. Maybe. In the meantime, I enjoy these little Northwood moments. I really wish there was some sort of semi-formal garden produce swap. I have too many jalapeños, you have too many tomatillos... well, let's share and wind up with a mountain of salsa verde!
  
• Checking out local parks. Most of them are along the river. One of them even has *gasp* "bluffs" that can almost be seen as real bluffs! It was wonderful. We've been slowly working through the parks that are a quick drive away and have a range of walking path lengths, so Arthur still has time for homework.
  
• Lots of volunteering. Habitat for Humanity (they really like Arthur who comes all pre-packaged with l33t skillz), Alpha House, trail maintenance, social media, bookstore table, rovering, and much more. If money weren't a problem, I could really enjoy volunteering all the time. I really need to win the lottery.
  
• Potlucks, potlucks, potlucks. I generally like potlucks. Potluck culture is a good thing. But sometimes three in a week is a bit overwhelming for my kitchen...
  
• Gaming! We've finally found a couple of outlets for gaming once or twice a month. (Arthur has even found fellow students who game, at last.) Trying not to buy any new games... And I'm playing bridge again.
  
• Assorted random things, like Art Fair (really that big!), the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival, Dancing in the Streets, Happy Hour (it's a *very* Happy Hour sort of town), Meetups, etc.
  

Of course, not everything's been fun and games. We're dealing with the disaster that is the health insurance market (it is not yet January 2014). And the car troubles. And other stuff.

---

So we're finding stuff to do, and sometimes even people to go with. Often the biggest impediment is cashflow. Now we're really feeling like students!