June 22, 1949
I went into town this morning while Elphaba remained to finish the cellar. Killyjoy came with me. I brought cheese and some coinage to barter with. Eventually I found a farmer on the other end of the valley who was willing to give us his extra straw for ten jars of goat cheese—I only had four with me, but I told him if he delivered the straw to us he would get the remaining jars. He will deliver it in a month on his next trip into town—he drives by our house on his way down the valley into town.
I bought more jars so that when I went home I could begin the process of making more goat cheese. With some of the spare coins I indulged in a meat pie from a vendor in town. It was delicious! I have not had any meat besides fish since I left the Emerald City—it was quite the treat!
June 23, 1949
Elphaba finished the cellar this morning! She spent the afternoon finding acorns so she could replace the trees she cut down—I started transferring some of the herbs that were hanging from the ceiling onto the beams. After I went to milk the goat for more milk to make cheese with.
June 26, 1949
There has been very little to write about the past few days. Elphaba is taking a break from working on the house. She has been out collected wild plants and bringing them home, as well as sketching!
I did not know until recently that she had a travel journal—she has not written in it since we bumped into each other in the Emerald City, or so she says. She won't let me look, but she says it is full of interesting observations and knowledge gained from her travels, as well as sketches of edible plants and animals.
She has been scribbling the past few days—and she chastised me for writing in this journal! She's been documenting a lot of her finds…I wish she would let me read the Ozdamned thing, but she doesn't read mine, so I will let her have her privacy.
June 27, 1949
Elphaba is back at it again. She is off to terrorize the bees—she wants to inspect the apiary she built and see if there is any honey. I think she has plans to build another one.
I collected extra vegetables from the garden and startled pickling them. They'll go in jars later tonight after dinner. I want fresh fish, so I think I'm going to go fishing later today.
I can't believe it is almost July!
June 28, 1949
There was honey! Ephaba collected some—she wants to go to town to get a big jar for wax. She has plans for something but won't tell me what! I want her to go to town to get materials so we can finally whitewash the downstairs!
June 30, 1949
Elphaba is in town and I am about to make goat cheese. I saw no reason to go with her—she can handle herself, and I had things to do. Besides, I went by myself last time!
July 1, 1949
Oz, my wife sometimes!
She went to town to get the supplies and came back with them—and a kitten!
She had gone into the general store and the owner had a box of them. Some farmer had come in and asked him to get rid of them. I am certain she got the only one remaining, because if there had been more I am certain she would have brought them all.
She—the kitten—(for it is a little girl) is all black and fuzzy and has blue eyes… Elphaba assures me they are only her kitten eyes and will change colors soon. She thinks she is about nine weeks old.
Elphaba adores her and has been helping her drink goat milk and letting her climb all over and perch on her shoulder. Killyjoy is not quite sure what to do this this strange invader into our home. I think she is very cute, but I am a bit miffed that Elphaba brought her home without asking.
We have yet to name her, but Elphaba is currently making her a nest in our bed out of a shirt as we speak, so she in undoubtable here to stay.
July 3, 1949
Elphaba has decided to name the kitten Ozraindra—Rain for short.
I think we have a theme for all black animals. I noticed it when we took Rain and Killyjoy out front and let them wander in the grass—two black smudges against the golden grass. They are very sweet together and I have grown to adore Rain in the three short days we have had her. She purrs like a little motorboat and curls up with me whenever I have a bit of a lay down.
I am happy to report that I am having to rest less and less now—all the work in the yard and the garden is making me stronger!
July 5, 1949
It has rained all day today. We made a day of it—we had breakfast, then cleared out the downstairs and whitewashed the walls. Finally, it looks like an actual sitting room!
Elphaba found the time to whittle a bit. She sat with a kindling branch and her knife for the better part of an hour and made a cute little cat figurine—it is displayed with my little fairy furniture.
We have decided the downstairs needs some sort of shelving. Now that we are settled, Elphaba wants books, and with books comes a place to put them. I need a place to store my writing supplies and my journals. One of the only things I miss from the palace besides my books is my writing desk—it was so beautiful and so useful.
I also sort of miss having an actual bath, but I have grown accustomed to bathing in the lake. I do wonder how I will bathe in the winter though…I don't think I could not bath for months on end.
July 6, 1949
We pulled the yummiest tomatoes out of the garden today! Much better than anything I ever had in the Emerald City! Neither Rain or Killyjoy thought much of them, but both Elphaba and I thought they were divine!
There is a word I have not used in a long time…
July 8, 1949
I caught Elphaba in the pickling jars this afternoon, eating from one of the jars of pickled cucumbers! She was very bashful about it, but it reminded me of when we were young. I have forgotten how much she liked pickles at Shiz. I remember being disgusted at how she drank the pickle juice.
I will have to be sure to pickle extra cucumbers for her for the winter months. She does love them so.
July 11, 1949
Another rain day. We had nothing really to do all day—Elphaba couldn't go out and I couldn't bring anything in because of the water. We spent a lazy morning in bed, but by afternoon Elphaba was getting antsy.
She actually started doing pushups in the main room downstairs she had so much energy to burn!
I dragged her to bed for some other sort of exercise—and after we had lunch. Then I went out, got a few spare feathers from the chicken coop, and with some string and a stick we made a toy for Rain. She loves it, and Elphaba loves playing with her.
Nothing makes Elphaba smile—except animals, apparently. I have not seen her smile so wide as when Rain caught the feathers in mid-air. She was so proud, almost as if she had given birth to Rain herself.
She is so silly, but I love her so.