Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

Once again I have smooth travel. Scott & Sue thoughtfully left the Scion at RDU so I jumped right in and drove home.  Simon was glad to see me.  

Can't be bothered...

Ann Soto brought me over a cooler of food.  I put sheets on the beds, wiped out the ice box then sat down with a plate of sushi to watch another installment of The Killing.  As you already know, I am passionate about TV on demand.  It is the only way to watch TV.

5 hours later I went back to RDU to collect the lads. Got a double-bag-drop 2-arm hug.  X 2.

And so the transition begins.

Sleep.  Laundry. Driving.  Staying on the right.  Sleep.  Food. Shopping.  Sleep.  The mail.  Cars.  Sleep.  The weather. Sleep.

My Monday morning coffee is at Starbucks, 6AM.  I sit outside watching the docs in clogs get their AM juice.

The Little Red Roaster it aint.

The cappuccino has too much foam and the soy milk is too sweet [sigh].

Kathi brings me flowers.

Eric sends me coffee.  I adjust the coffee grinder whilst not in caffeine deficit.

I restart the newspapers, pick up Sam from Trevor, schedule many, many doctor appointments, get a hair cut, pick up the 330 from Joan.  I walk Simon, Skype with Eric and Alice, cook dinner. Tuesday Rebecca is leaving for London and Jonathan for the mountains.  We are grateful for JJ's giant pasta feed on Monday evening.

Pasta on JJ's stupendous rack.

There are so many things to do.  Perhaps the most time-sensitive is the garden.

Those are some might big weeds there Mrs Ward.
The tomato stakes that EW and I pounded in last summer have survived.

First I tackle the herb bed by the driveway.

After the path and bed have been cleared.

While the horticultural definition of a weed is any plant that is where it shouldn't be, I will leave the oregano in the front and the rosemary in back alone for now.  In the cleared spot in the middle will go basil.  I am installing soaker hoses too.

Onto the main bed. First I pull and dig out all the giant weeds.

Yes, this is an improvement.

On to tilling.  After some fiddling, calling Big T and internet searching, we get the Mantis going.






Unfortunately the job is bigger than our equipment.

Clover. 

So we decide to till only 1/2 and spray the the other half, the clover-chocked 1/2, in hopes that dead clover is easier to clear.

Just as it was emotional to leave (Norwich and Cambridge) it is emotional to arrive here. Here is not yet home. We are working to make ourselves and this place one again. Slowly.  And we are missing 2 parts:

On their own.

Onwards.