Happy Thanksgiving, and yes I'm gutted I'm going to miss watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Again. Sigh. I will now stop moaning about how Thanksgiving should be celebrated over here with the same gusto as in the USA. I will not even mention my mild contempt at the 'black Friday' sales going on over here despite not having what I think of as the obligatory Thanksgiving Day nor will I mention how things have changed 'over there' and that's mostly down to WalMart deciding to keep stores open on Thanksgiving.
I will however mention how Thanksgiving (and Christmas and Easter for that matter) used to be the one of three days NOTHING was open ANYWHERE except one 'convenience-filling station' that did most of its business income making tins of Blue Lake green beans, Cool Whip Topping, and a filled fuel tank available to poorly prepared celebrants. For the most part, owing to my step-mother's poor housekeeping, there was always a run to the 7-11 for something and I used to marvel at the quiet, deserted streets. The WalMart Affect (yes, I AM using that correctly) meant busier and busier streets early in the day instead of the quiet streets that didn't really 'come alive' until later in the afternoon when drivers making their escape from the in-laws dinner gathering had to dodge footballs (gridiron not 'soccer') and the players chasing said balls.
Onwards and upwards...
Up early this morning to bake the gluten free apple pie (tinned pumpkin pie filling being scarcer than hens teeth over here) - first make the pastry crust then peel and pare the apples...house smelling wonderful as it bakes, I must say, and Paul has poked his head through to announce the aroma has made him hungry for an apple pie breakfast. Not. Happening. He can have his usual porridge, fruit, and buttered toast.
After digging through the shed, the Christmas decorations and 'premium most realistic' Balsam Hill 4ft Royal Blue Spruce have been unearthed and brought into their waiting position in the front hall to be put up/out after dinner. (Still marvelling at the Tardis qualities of this cottage - how can so small a house be blessed with such a superb design we have a front hall comfortable enough to put five large plastic boxes and a 'deluxe' faux tree storage bag down yet leave enough room to pass easily, how?!)
DVDs also fished out and waiting on the sideboard to be played.
Despite everything (Brexit betrayal thanks to the beyond incompetent-bordering on treasonous 'Prime Minister' and 'Cabinet', other huge 'social issues' like the horrific violence down in London...), we do have so much to be thankful for. I just wish I could work out how to stream the Macy's parade. Sigh.
22 November 2018
20 November 2018
Mind boggling, absolutely mind boggling - how on earth can a smaller house be so much better designed that we are having no real trouble getting everything into a proper place for fetching out to use, how?! OK, yes, we do have one large shed and another on the way, and we're very likely going to put a tall multi-shelf outdoor cabinet on the veranda for yet more storage but still, this house is like unto the Tardis (Rest In Peace, Dr Who, 1963 - 2017, sob) for organising things neatly and logically and downright surprisingly. For example, the kitchen is a quarter of the size of the one in the old house yet every single kitchen thing has a home, a proper home that makes sense when cooking, doing the washing up (but, Father Christmas, PLEASE BRING ME A DISHWASHER!), putting away the groceries...
We love this cottage! Still looking for 'the right bookcases' and we have a few other tweaks to make but in the main, we're pretty much settled in, and not a moment too soon.
Late autumn here and the weather is behaving as usual - winter cold in the air but no snow as yet. Rain is falling now but this morning I heard sleet hitting the windows. The Scottish word for this weather is dreich, meaning cold, usually wet(ish), and always downright miserable - lol, often confused and or used with 'dreck' ('nice' definition is 'rubbish, trash' but really means er, ah, umm, well, faecal in nature).
Snow and lots of it predicted for the end of the month here to last through to January - OMGsh, you mean...winter? Bring it. The online order of a 13.5 tog duvet arrived yesterday and has already been washed (OH do I love that 9kg capacity washing machine!), 'gently dried' over the electric heated airing tower (aka fancy clothes horse or drying rack or indoor drying apparatus or...) and folded to await the arrival (and first washing) of the fancy-schmancy duvet cover and pillow slips I found in an online overstocks offer. For the curious with good memory, the other two duvets (bought down in Dundee at a big box home store) are 10 tog, one is already in the process of being quilted into its plain white duvet cover and yeah, that project is going to take all winter to accomplish.
Other winter preparations include the off-grid 'emergency heat and cooking' (LPG canister fired heater and a 'kettle' BBQ for the patio); 3-in-1 squeegee/ice scraper/brush for the motor windscreens; 'eco-friendly' grit for the paths to the car park; hobby supplies stocked in; winter clothing and kit unpacked-washed-dried-into wardrobes and chests, and other normal sorts of preparations.
And this year Paul says he finally understands why Americans love Thanksgiving almost as much as Christmas - he says we have a lot to be thankful for even with the political and other deeply worrisome situations here in the UK. Turkey is hard to find before the second week of December in Scotland so although we are having a Thanksgiving meal Thursday, it will be a roast chicken with all the trimmings including being roasted with stuffing. Biggest fattest one the butcher has and let me tell you, that thing is huge - no-one in this house is going to be short of leftovers for chicken sandwiches.
He's not quite on-board with the idea of hauling the Christmas tree and beginning the hall decking Thanksgiving night after my 'must-watch' Santa Claus The Movie scene is reached where the elves announce 'Seasons Greetings!' (tough, we're doing it, end of), and he'd rather have a root canal than dress the tree while 'White Christmas' the movie is playing on the DVD player (again, tough, we're doing it, end of). Hey, I'm just happy he's on-board with Thanksgiving this year, and the window boxes filled with greenery gathered from our landscaping going in by the morning of the first Sunday of Advent.
Speaking of that greenery - long-time readers will recall I was born and brought up in the American Desert SouthWest and then spent nearly all of my adult life in the American Deep South. Magnolia trees flourish in both locations and both locales use the foliage for Christmas decor both in and out of the house. 'Darlin', it ain't Christmas without a magnolia wreath and a pine garland, it just ain't!'.
Right, so what do I see when I go out on the veranda of this new home - yes, that's right, a ginormous mature magnolia that is so going to give up some for the window box displays. I even have all-weather florist foam so those foliage displays should last the season (First Sunday of Advent 2 December 2018 through Epiphany 6 January 2019). Wow!
I'm doing a deep clean today and washing the windows tomorrow (big woo, a total of four for the entire cottage, not going to take long, that) so the house is ready for Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season. Sunday the 25th of November is Stir-Up Sunday (traditional bake-ahead day in Britain) and I've got the gluten-free recipes ready to go, all ingredients present and correct for the marathon baking session.
Christmas shopping is pretty much finished and blimey if I hadn't made a hard copy list of where I've stashed pressies I'd be at real risk of forgetting something. As it is I hold my breath every time Paul pokes his nose somewhere I have something stashed - he's already found the Cloggies I'd planned to put under the tree - walking into the bedroom a few weeks ago to catch him trying them on. He loves them AND he's impressed I was smart enough to buy spare liners. Now, Cloggies is a more affordable Crocs knock-off and wow are these the bees knees or what - comfy and no danger of 'walking out of them' and are saving his leather boots he was ruining by dashing out to the bins in the rain. (Yeah, I'm married to the only Brit like EVER who hates wellies, go figure) Hopefully he won't find the other things...
The smallish hex cold water aquarium I bought two months ago arrived in a box so big and bulky I couldn't hide it - he is very pleased with it and we'll likely have tetras swimming happily through it in the next week or so now the water is conditioned, the gravel is washed and in place, and the 'ornaments' are in their final spots.
AND, as I'm pretty sure he reads my blog, I am not going to say what other gifts I have stashed but really, without the list I'd be finding things in March or later. Love lists, love them!
We love this cottage! Still looking for 'the right bookcases' and we have a few other tweaks to make but in the main, we're pretty much settled in, and not a moment too soon.
Late autumn here and the weather is behaving as usual - winter cold in the air but no snow as yet. Rain is falling now but this morning I heard sleet hitting the windows. The Scottish word for this weather is dreich, meaning cold, usually wet(ish), and always downright miserable - lol, often confused and or used with 'dreck' ('nice' definition is 'rubbish, trash' but really means er, ah, umm, well, faecal in nature).
Snow and lots of it predicted for the end of the month here to last through to January - OMGsh, you mean...winter? Bring it. The online order of a 13.5 tog duvet arrived yesterday and has already been washed (OH do I love that 9kg capacity washing machine!), 'gently dried' over the electric heated airing tower (aka fancy clothes horse or drying rack or indoor drying apparatus or...) and folded to await the arrival (and first washing) of the fancy-schmancy duvet cover and pillow slips I found in an online overstocks offer. For the curious with good memory, the other two duvets (bought down in Dundee at a big box home store) are 10 tog, one is already in the process of being quilted into its plain white duvet cover and yeah, that project is going to take all winter to accomplish.
Other winter preparations include the off-grid 'emergency heat and cooking' (LPG canister fired heater and a 'kettle' BBQ for the patio); 3-in-1 squeegee/ice scraper/brush for the motor windscreens; 'eco-friendly' grit for the paths to the car park; hobby supplies stocked in; winter clothing and kit unpacked-washed-dried-into wardrobes and chests, and other normal sorts of preparations.
And this year Paul says he finally understands why Americans love Thanksgiving almost as much as Christmas - he says we have a lot to be thankful for even with the political and other deeply worrisome situations here in the UK. Turkey is hard to find before the second week of December in Scotland so although we are having a Thanksgiving meal Thursday, it will be a roast chicken with all the trimmings including being roasted with stuffing. Biggest fattest one the butcher has and let me tell you, that thing is huge - no-one in this house is going to be short of leftovers for chicken sandwiches.
He's not quite on-board with the idea of hauling the Christmas tree and beginning the hall decking Thanksgiving night after my 'must-watch' Santa Claus The Movie scene is reached where the elves announce 'Seasons Greetings!' (tough, we're doing it, end of), and he'd rather have a root canal than dress the tree while 'White Christmas' the movie is playing on the DVD player (again, tough, we're doing it, end of). Hey, I'm just happy he's on-board with Thanksgiving this year, and the window boxes filled with greenery gathered from our landscaping going in by the morning of the first Sunday of Advent.
Speaking of that greenery - long-time readers will recall I was born and brought up in the American Desert SouthWest and then spent nearly all of my adult life in the American Deep South. Magnolia trees flourish in both locations and both locales use the foliage for Christmas decor both in and out of the house. 'Darlin', it ain't Christmas without a magnolia wreath and a pine garland, it just ain't!'.
Right, so what do I see when I go out on the veranda of this new home - yes, that's right, a ginormous mature magnolia that is so going to give up some for the window box displays. I even have all-weather florist foam so those foliage displays should last the season (First Sunday of Advent 2 December 2018 through Epiphany 6 January 2019). Wow!
I'm doing a deep clean today and washing the windows tomorrow (big woo, a total of four for the entire cottage, not going to take long, that) so the house is ready for Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season. Sunday the 25th of November is Stir-Up Sunday (traditional bake-ahead day in Britain) and I've got the gluten-free recipes ready to go, all ingredients present and correct for the marathon baking session.
Christmas shopping is pretty much finished and blimey if I hadn't made a hard copy list of where I've stashed pressies I'd be at real risk of forgetting something. As it is I hold my breath every time Paul pokes his nose somewhere I have something stashed - he's already found the Cloggies I'd planned to put under the tree - walking into the bedroom a few weeks ago to catch him trying them on. He loves them AND he's impressed I was smart enough to buy spare liners. Now, Cloggies is a more affordable Crocs knock-off and wow are these the bees knees or what - comfy and no danger of 'walking out of them' and are saving his leather boots he was ruining by dashing out to the bins in the rain. (Yeah, I'm married to the only Brit like EVER who hates wellies, go figure) Hopefully he won't find the other things...
The smallish hex cold water aquarium I bought two months ago arrived in a box so big and bulky I couldn't hide it - he is very pleased with it and we'll likely have tetras swimming happily through it in the next week or so now the water is conditioned, the gravel is washed and in place, and the 'ornaments' are in their final spots.
AND, as I'm pretty sure he reads my blog, I am not going to say what other gifts I have stashed but really, without the list I'd be finding things in March or later. Love lists, love them!
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