The scent of four o’clocks is wafting in from the jungle outside my window. Katydids are in full voice, and so is one lone screech owl, sounding terribly mournful.

I worked with DH today, painting a kitchen, and my neck and shoulder are very sore and achy. We got a lot done, though. I should remember to take Arnica before I go to bed.

When we got home this evening, DH worked on sanding the top of my dresser that I started stripping last week. It has turned out to be poplar, and it’s gorgeous. I have a first coat of oil on it, and will sand it in the morning and give it a second coat. Unfortunately, the rest of the dresser has an extremely tenacious coat of paint, and I think we’re just going to paint it. Which will be nice, I think—painted white, and with an oiled poplar top. I’d like to find some old drawer pulls to replace the ones that are on it.

I made a small pot of oyster stew for supper; not surprisingly, all I could find were oysters from Virginia—the Apalachicola bay, I’m guessing, is still closed to oystering, and probably will be for a while. Oysters from Virginia—it just wasn’t the same.