Safe and Sound.

and so here we are, in our apartment with its lovely newly-painted walls (but not new carpet in the portion of the place not pictured - the 3 bedrooms, den and hallway. also not pictured to the right of the image is the dining room, eat-in kitchen and screened in outdoor porch). this carpet issue is a matter of small dispute with the very sweet and lovely landlords, and will be cleared up once our copy of the lease arrives tomorrow morning with our stuff. in the end we may have to pay for these ourselves, but it will be worth it to ensure allergy issues for Eva and cosmetic ones for both Eva and myself. this is one UGLY carpet.

my parents are truly beside themselves. looking at them is like seeing double. they've taken us out for dinner once already, and will do so again shortly. they also brought us casseroles in the old fashioned tradition - a spinach pie, a baked ziti, and a bread pudding, all half-cooked and frozen to provide us with meals as we settle in. oh, and bagels from New York that were brought down by friends of theirs who had been visiting for the weekend. they were - and this is no exaggeration - a religious experience.

now all the stressy work kicks back in - no more packing now, but massive unpacking, me looking for work, Eva getting ready to start her fellowship. oh, and the HEAT. Baltimore's summer weather is VILE. right now, at 6 p.m., it's 88 degrees with something like 80% humidity. the air is more like soup than air, and i'm completely grumpy and drained simply from being out in it this afternoon. any chops i had in my prior Northeastern life are gone, leaving me purely as a weather wuss in a Mid-Atlantic city which sits mostly below sea level. mosquitoes and thick air. i actually got claustrophobic from being outside. i felt deprived of oxygen.

but do come visit! (i'm cracking myself up right now).

i will say, in defense of visiting, that the fall here is amazing, and the cold winter never gets cold like points North of here, so i don't mind it, and the spring we have just missed was also really lovely.

but the summer is going to suck.

gotta go take a very long shower and lie in front of an air conditioning vent.