C— is a generation older than I am, and has a research job at the same university where I'm a grad student. Her home is an adorable cottage in a beautiful, treeful, and old suburb with every building different from the next one over. If we're going to have suburbs at all, I'd like them to be more like this old place.
The home is pleasantly appointed and, for a place with a dog, kept terrifically clean. One feature of note is glass doors (with white wooden frames) between many of the rooms; I think they must have attracted C— in particular, who seems to enjoy glass decor and utensils quite a bit. She's got many glass dishes for eating from and so forth.
I'm slowly getting used to where everything is in the kitchen, where I have the greatest need of using the tools she's provided. One great idea that I can use when I leave here has already impressed itself on me in that space: from now on the counters are to be tiled with used paper grocery bags from Trader Joe's when not in use. This will be a much easier way of keeping them clean than actually teaching the cats not to get up and walk on them in the first place! This would never have occurred to me at my own apartment, but the change of space and the need to take care of a home I've been entrusted with by another helped.
I'll have more to write some time soon on the idea of living more intentionally — with more <i>ki</i>, in the terms of the martial art I'm a student of. This afternoon, meanwhile, I'm going to dive back into the conference paper referred to below, getting back into familiarity with the data set.
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