Kitchen at last

Just when you think you’ll never have a kitchen, it all comes together. Counters, a fixture, a range and range hood, dishwasher, you name it – we now have it. 

One of the first meals: a pot of vegetable soup. 

A recent visit to our local café.

Noise, and more noise

If only it were just one guy with one jackhammer. But it seems our neighbors are jack-hammering the neighborhood into the ground. The house next to mine is under an onslaught of construction (since we moved in). The cross street, a stone's throw from me, is Jackhammer City. Huge city machines, chunking up concrete: all. day. long. And two doors down I hear they're tearing down a rental to build a new house. Awesome.

Time to break out the Bose noise-cancelling earphones. Grabbing them now and going "under." James got these for me for Christmas; pricey yes, but they'll turn any seat on a plane into a first-class seat. I never forget them when flying -- they transform the experience and make it bearable.

The cure for a wall: English ivy

So, we have this wall that sort of covers the front of our house. I am not thrilled with it, because I feel like it walls us off, or in. While I am a bit of an introvert, I do love saying "hi there" to passing neighbors. But I digress. For this wall, I think I've found an answer. English ivy! Which I love! I cracked up at this picture, though, because while it is quite gorgeous, it does look like the ivy is SWALLOWING the house. I can totally see us getting too busy, accidentally letting it go a bit long, and *POOF* we're buried in the stuff.

Did you know this about English ivy? English ivy uses a chemical adhesive secreted by its adventitious rootlet ends in order to stick to a vertical surface – it can even cling to something as smooth as glass. The secretion is yellowish and forms circular dots on the vertical surface. It is very sticky, and becomes stickier as it dehydrates. More info to be found here.

Flash update: I went out at 5:00, after working, and planted the ivy! It was already almost dark, and definitely dark as I was finishing up. I'm sure the neighbors, coming home/driving by, thought I was nuts. But, the entire flat is in the ground, all along the bottom of the wall. And I let it know we have high hopes for it. :o) Of course, as I read more on it, everyone says it's pretty awful, pulls down your wall, and brings rats! How positively romantic! And from what I read, I planted way to much of it. Fun! Stay tuned for me battling rats and trying to prop up my house with sticks. On the upside, we eventually want that wall to come down, so let's let the ivy do it! Ack!