Sunshine

After two or three days of drenching rain, it's bright and sunny again today and we have a chance to dry out.

We're almost sorted, on the home front. We both worked most of the week, so nothing much got done apart from the kitchen as we went along, but we spent all day yesterday organising the wall of books in the dining room-cum-spare room, and today should see that finished. 

We have a motley assortment of bookcases, with a big one I made with my Dad that is designed to hold fiction paperbacks, and two cheap and cheerfuls from Ikea.

The overall look is rather like the shop in Black Books, but I love it. Now it really does feel like home. I just have to level up the top so it all looks a bit more balanced. Nothing sits entirely square on the old jarrah floorboards, but I don't care. I'm a sucker for a room full of books.

I've organised all my fiction alphabetically, from Akunov to Zola, after lots of time worrying about whether Lynn Reid Banks goes in the Bs or the Rs. And what about Frances Hodgson Burnett and Janette Turner Hospital?

We've got a separate section for fiction anthologies, and today's burning question is whether Sarah Vowell, the brilliant NPR radio and Chicago newspaper columnist should go in with the short stories or the current affairs-stroke-politics.

I can see why you need a degree to be a librarian. 

Our bedroom is finally clear and free of its week-long chaos, and now my attention is turning to the family room.

We've still got a lot of Lily's books spread out to dry on the big table (below) — there was a bit of a flood on Friday and Saturday, with rain puddling in the garage here, where all her boxes were stored.

Dave and I spent an anxious morning shifting all the sodden boxes, transferring dry things to dry boxes and laying out all the wet things to dry. 

Lil's fabulous Tony Lama cowboy boots — handmade in El Paso, Texas — were completely waterlogged and limp, so I'm happy we found them soon enough to save them.

Nothing like a mini-disaster when you're already up to your eyes in it!

Now I'm off to clean up the dog sick I just found on the carpet (acres of jarrah floor and only a small percentage of rug ... it's as if he k-n-o-w-s) and get ready for a visit from my lovely brother who's in town for the weekend.