Nick spent the day tiling busily.

If you squint, you can almost picture what it will look like when it's done. Envision soft filmy curtains and lots of plants and candles. And bubbles. There are many bubbles in the imaginary bathtub. They smell nice. A Ray Lynch CD is playing. Oh, and there are strawberries in a little ceramic bowl on the windowsill. (Those are mine. Don't eat them. I mean it. You can borrow my fantasy bathtub, but you have to bring your own imaginary munchies.)

That mental image has gotten me through a lot of this whole lengthy process--for the better part of a year and a half I've been telling myself that this maddening house building project will culminate in a nice bath. I have simple pleasures.

Enough people have asked if they can come over and use the tub that JoAnne offered to make me a sign up sheet.

Totally different subject. I pass these two on my way to the house site every day. They share a lovely meadow, and are the best of buddies. They're always together. The pony is so short you can't even see him when the grass is high, but if the horse is there, the pony is around someplace. Today they were enjoying the shade together and I couldn't resist pulling over and taking a couple of shots.

There's a really bizarre twist to the small critter/large critter dynamic on this corner. In this same spot I regularly see two squirrels, one red and one gray. The red squirrel is always furiously chasing his larger rival. The first time I witnessed this I just thought it was funny. By the third time I was starting to find it a little strange. Do they chase each other all the time, or do they just do it when they see me driving by? So far I haven't been able to catch them on film. Unlike my equine friends, they don't stay still long enough. None of this is relevant to the house, I just thought I'd share.