The web of community begins to grow around us. We've made friends with the neighbors on two sides, which feels wonderful in a deeply rooted sort of way. Hopping over the fence to borrow a rake on one side, getting an armful of lilac blooms on the other. Brunch out in the garden, which is already beginning to overspill its banks. It is a good life.

We are both candidates right now for good, interesting, well-paying (and nearby) jobs that we can each imagine keeping for a while. Jobs that "serve other people, provide learning experiences that deepen the worker, and do as little harm as possible." If we get these jobs (or find others of their description), we're going to start seriously looking into buying a house. We are both tired already of paying someone else's mortgage. We are tired also of moving so often, of uprooting, of planting only annuals. I want to plant asparagus, I want apple trees; I want to know my neighbors and keep knowing them.