For Caroline #1

 Given the width of this entry, you might prefer to read it at http://www.funnytheworld.com/2017/Jan/17.htm

It has been more than 20 years since we have had a stranger from another country come to live with us.  It is so long ago I don't even remember who the last one was.  But I had an email from Jane, from England, who stayed with us in 1980, the first year of our 10 years of hosting foreign students.  She was a delightful person and we actually managed to see her once a year for three or four years after she left here, sometimes here, sometimes in England.  It was she who arranged for us to have the best seats for Phantom of the Opera when we took the kids to see it in London.

Anyway, Jane's oldest daughter is now a year older than Jane was when she lived with us.  She is a veterinarian and is doing a program here at the vet school through the month of March and needs a place to stay, so she is going to move in with us.  Thanks to the NextDoor Neighbor site, I was able to find someone who can lend us a bike for the month, which will help a lot.

I invited her to read Funny the World occasionally to get an idea of what life is like around here.  I also thought it might help to add photos of what things are like TODAY (and hope they will be better by March!).  If she's going to live in this chaos, she might a well be prepared. 

So, Caroline, I just took the camera and went through downstairs, without attempting to clean up first.  Hopefully it will be a little better than this March.

My office is the most important room to me.  Ned built it for me last year and it has both a working part (were I now sit) and a craft area and shelves for craft supplies.  Behind me are shelves for books. Believe it or not, this is neater than the office was before Ned rebuilt it.
	The door to my office is on the right and you walk into the family room area.  I am standing at the TV and and looking at where will be, when we get the furniture removed. the table where we eat meals.  Right now it's right behind me as I take the picture and there is only room for one person to eat at it. (Note Polly sleeping in my recliner)
The other side of the room, looking at the table where I was standing.  This is where we spend most of our time and there are two dog beds for the two dogs, though usually one or both of them are sleeping on the recliners.
	Here is the kitchen.  We have more stuff than we have shelves, so most of the time the counter is covered with packages of things.  The laundry room is to the left of the sink.
This is the the living room, with Lizzie watching me.  The couch at the left is where I sleep because my back kills me if I sleep in a bed.  Sadly you can't see my amazing collection of dust on many of the shelves.
	This is the other side of the living room.  This is actually an older picture and I hope it will look like this when you get here.  Right now there is other furniture that needs to be removed.   Note the trio from the Wizard of Oz, which was a decoration for my 70th birthday party.
Here are the stairs to the second floor.  Walt is keeping usable boxes here because he is trying to clean up the upstairs and these are handy storage boxes.  We get a box like this once a week, when food is delivered, so the wall of boxes continually grows!

This is enough to put Caroline into shock, so I will save the upstairs for another entry.  In the wake of seeing The Whale yesterday, where the hero was so intent on being truthful that he finally let his internet students see his 600 lb bulk, I decided to photograph the house as it is most of the time.