Well, it’s that time of the year again — the time of year where I start to want to have people come over.

Which means it’s also time to clean the Burrow.

Rudi and I are not minimalist people. We enjoy bulky hobbies — music, books, yarn, and bicycles. Unfortunately, we do not live in a clutter-friendly home. We live in a home suited to a single person with small hobbies — painting miniatures, perhaps, or dollhouse embroidery.

Or, perhaps, we live in a home suited to Type A personalities who do a good job of tidying up after themselves in a quick fashion.

Us? We tidy up in emergency situations — flooding, bug infestations, impending visits…

But it’s time to pull out the paper shredder and deal with the junk mail situation. I think it’s possible we could be buried alive otherwise, leaving three hungry cats to alert passersby that we’re under a huge pile of campaign announcements and charity requests.

It’s time to locate our quarters and do some laundry. I’m not ready yet to switch away from the summer wardrobe (this is D.C., after all, where January 1st reached 75 degrees), but it would be good to get it cleaned so that I can put it away for the two-week period it won’t be needed.

Rudi already started the cleaning by emptying the fridge of unmentionables. I need to do my part by washing the containers. I think they may have soaked long enough now to remove unpleasant odors.

It’s time to unpack from Utah and find places for all the … stuff … that came home with us from Salt Lake.

And it’s time to look hard at what we have lying around and see what we can do without. Do you think GoodWill picks up?

What? Three more beautiful things from the last week? Yep! Just too many to fit into one post!

1. Today was my best friend Karen’s birthday. When I called to sing to her in an off-key sort of way (which, as a musical person, she tolerated exceptionally well). While we were talking, her fiancé presented her with her birthday present and she burst out into very merry laughter. It was such a delight to hear!

2. Cocoa Rose, the puppy (maybe a lab-retriever mix?) who lives at the corner, is now five months old. I saw her romping in the yard on my walk to the Metro the other morning and she has grown tremendously since she arrived in the neighborhood. She is still a puppy despite her large size and she races from one side of the yard to the other playing with a small ball all by herself.

3. While we were flying to Salt Lake last week, we stopped in Minneapolis. As the airplane was descending, we got a gorgeous view of the setting sun. Pinks and oranges and blues and greys all combined to bathe the city in a vibrantly rosy hue.