UPDATE
So...once again, I have been terrible about posting things. So here is my big catch-up post.
Hmm.
To recap and update: The Boyfriend and I moved to this officially "charming" little town just outside of London in December. We have one set of insane neighbors, who have had a "Sold" sign up in their front garden since April, and one set of very nice neighbors, with whom we have started a Fruit Exchange Program. They have pears, we have apples.
No, let me rephrase that. We have buttloads of apples. The world has never seen so many apples. The other day, Mike said, "We have more apples than God," after which I tried to explain that technically, the apples ARE God's, and he is just letting us eat them.
The garden is slowly but surely getting whipped into shape. I've planted things in the borders, and over the weekend, Michael and I (mostly him) put up a sort of arbor, and planted wisteria around it so that it will grow up and then flower. It looks gorgeous, and I will put up some photos of it when I have a chance (read: when the camera battery charges).
The garden is a hotbed of animal activity. There's a bat that flies around (although he spends more time flying over the evil neighbors' garden, which makes perfect sense if you think about it) every night. I believe he is a soprano pipistrelle, and he's really cute. We still have 1.5 gazillion frogs, countless birds, some kind of a little mousie that shows up every now and then, and, the most recent visitor, the hedgehog. Evidently, he was finding all sorts of tasty bugs under the patio. He doesn't seem to be the least bit bothered by us looking at him. He wandered under the patio, and you could hear "pad pad pad *smack smack smack* pad pad pad pad *smack smack smack*" as he made his way around.
I tried to cut off one of my fingers with a motorized hand trimmer (a gardening tool which I wa taking the name of a little too literally), and had to be rushed off to the hospital for stitches and things. It's healing well, although I may never regain all of the sensation, and the scar is fairly impressive.
I've discovered the joys of home ownership, as all of the appliances decided to break themselves. The dishwasher was the first to go. Then the boiler went, so we have no heat, although fortunately it's not all that cold yet, and we have a fireplace.
Usually the thought of any "domestic" kind of activity fills me with horror, but I have to admit that the other night I was really enjoying sitting on the couch across from a toasty fire, peeling apples I'd just picked for the pie I was about to pop into the oven.
It was really nice.
Both the experience and the pie.
I've worryingly become addicted to my own apple pie. I've looked at loads of different recipes, but it doesn't seem like any of them manage to get the right mixture of ingredients. I saw one that called for a dash of vinegar instead of lemon juice, and some don't seem to understand the need for BROWN sugar. I don't know why these things are important, but they are.
Since it was Appliance Repair Month anyway, I finally ordered a tumble dryer, which is being delivered today. YAY!!!! I never thought I would have such strong feelings about appliances, and the fact that I do is more than a little disturbing to me. But one of the things that seriously bugs me here is that nobody seems to have tumble dryers. They all hang up their clothes to dry, which may be ecologically friendly and all of that, but it means that if you keep up on your washing, you always have part of the house that looks messy. As far as I'm concerned, if you are caught up on your washing, then your house should look tidier.
Anyway, I am more than a little swamped at work, so I'll end this now, and will try to get some photos of the arbor on my lunch hour. Hopefully it won't be raining like it is now.
So...once again, I have been terrible about posting things. So here is my big catch-up post.
Hmm.
To recap and update: The Boyfriend and I moved to this officially "charming" little town just outside of London in December. We have one set of insane neighbors, who have had a "Sold" sign up in their front garden since April, and one set of very nice neighbors, with whom we have started a Fruit Exchange Program. They have pears, we have apples.
No, let me rephrase that. We have buttloads of apples. The world has never seen so many apples. The other day, Mike said, "We have more apples than God," after which I tried to explain that technically, the apples ARE God's, and he is just letting us eat them.
The garden is slowly but surely getting whipped into shape. I've planted things in the borders, and over the weekend, Michael and I (mostly him) put up a sort of arbor, and planted wisteria around it so that it will grow up and then flower. It looks gorgeous, and I will put up some photos of it when I have a chance (read: when the camera battery charges).
The garden is a hotbed of animal activity. There's a bat that flies around (although he spends more time flying over the evil neighbors' garden, which makes perfect sense if you think about it) every night. I believe he is a soprano pipistrelle, and he's really cute. We still have 1.5 gazillion frogs, countless birds, some kind of a little mousie that shows up every now and then, and, the most recent visitor, the hedgehog. Evidently, he was finding all sorts of tasty bugs under the patio. He doesn't seem to be the least bit bothered by us looking at him. He wandered under the patio, and you could hear "pad pad pad *smack smack smack* pad pad pad pad *smack smack smack*" as he made his way around.
I tried to cut off one of my fingers with a motorized hand trimmer (a gardening tool which I wa taking the name of a little too literally), and had to be rushed off to the hospital for stitches and things. It's healing well, although I may never regain all of the sensation, and the scar is fairly impressive.
I've discovered the joys of home ownership, as all of the appliances decided to break themselves. The dishwasher was the first to go. Then the boiler went, so we have no heat, although fortunately it's not all that cold yet, and we have a fireplace.
Usually the thought of any "domestic" kind of activity fills me with horror, but I have to admit that the other night I was really enjoying sitting on the couch across from a toasty fire, peeling apples I'd just picked for the pie I was about to pop into the oven.
It was really nice.
Both the experience and the pie.
I've worryingly become addicted to my own apple pie. I've looked at loads of different recipes, but it doesn't seem like any of them manage to get the right mixture of ingredients. I saw one that called for a dash of vinegar instead of lemon juice, and some don't seem to understand the need for BROWN sugar. I don't know why these things are important, but they are.
Since it was Appliance Repair Month anyway, I finally ordered a tumble dryer, which is being delivered today. YAY!!!! I never thought I would have such strong feelings about appliances, and the fact that I do is more than a little disturbing to me. But one of the things that seriously bugs me here is that nobody seems to have tumble dryers. They all hang up their clothes to dry, which may be ecologically friendly and all of that, but it means that if you keep up on your washing, you always have part of the house that looks messy. As far as I'm concerned, if you are caught up on your washing, then your house should look tidier.
Anyway, I am more than a little swamped at work, so I'll end this now, and will try to get some photos of the arbor on my lunch hour. Hopefully it won't be raining like it is now.
posted by Simone @ 1:44 AM
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