Journal: May 26th. Running Water. Many stores.

this is the first day with proper running water. Laura Tillem, visiting from Wichita, will drive out with me tomorrow. i want to get the bathroom--gerry-built though it might be--looking a bit more presentable.  Carl, the plumber, was sorry to do such a make-shift job.  "It's just one step above camping," he lamented, but I assured him that eventually he would get to install a spiffy new facility.

In the meantime, I have to throw out old mildewed shower curtains, buy new ones, get a bath mat, set up some kind of cabinet,  and buy one of those things you hang in showers to hold shampoo, soap, etc.  With the running water, I have begun to wash the sheets in the linen closet.  

I am taking full advantage of the incredible number of stores just minutes from my house.  It is crazy that it is easier to make the rounds of Bed, Bath and Beyond, Staples, Lowe's, Home Depot, and  Sears than it is in Los Angeles.  And indeed, dear lord forgive me, but there is even a Walmart perched on the hill that used to be behind one of the Ideal Farms milking barns.

Just as I am leaving Walmart (I was looking, unsuccessfully, for a suitable shower curtain), my Laura, my sister called. She had originally said she probably wouldn't come before Thanksgiving, but wonder of wonders, she has bought a plane ticket and will be arriving for ten days on June 13th.  How excellent is that?