Space is an expensive commodity

Last year we bought a new mattress and since then we have been looking for a new bed. So, today, Martin and I went shopping. What we wanted was a second hand one that would match our wardrobe and fit in our room. Today we decided to check prices at Devon Pine, which is where our wardrobe came from, then over to Buyology to compare. Once we got to Devon Pine we were lost. There is so much to choose from and its all so beautiful. The beds, wardrobes, chests, bookshelves, nightstands, everything! We didn't even get to Buyology, though I love going there, you can always find something to buy. Here's a picture of the bed we picked out here and the wardrobe we have here . The picture of the bed is much darker than the one we chose, ours has a clear varnish over natural pine. We were lucky enough to also find two "under the bed" drawers on sale too. Earlier we picked up a night stand that matches wonderfully. It'll all be delivered in a week, then we'll find out if there is room to move.

Our bedroom is pretty small, we have a bed, night stand and a wardrobed in it. We have enough space in our bedroom to get into bed, open the doors of the wardrobe or the drawers of the nightstand, not all three at the same time. I can imagine the acrobats I'll go through to get clothes out of our "under the bed drawers". Very cozy! If I was a designer of furniture, I would only design items that were also storage containers. The kitchen table would have drawers and a hidden compartment in the base and Chairs would have storage under the seat. I would design corner and half tables to fit easier in small rooms and tables that have shelves, pretty lazy-susans and tiered shelves to sit on tables or hang on the wall, slender bookshelves and pretty storage boxes to go above wardrobes. I'd also make it easier to move furniture around when needed. Space is such a premium here!

England is a small island with over 50 million people. To give you an idea of the ratio of people to land, the land mass of England is 50,352 sq mi which is slightly smaller than the state of Louisiana which is 51,840 sq mi. The population in Louisiana pre-Hurricane Katrina is 4,468,976 (post Katrina is 4,410,796 a 1.3% drop). In Louisiana, you have plenty of land to spread out. Sometimes you find a house right smack in the middle of acres of land and the average house size in the USA is 2,349 square feet. In England, the average new house is 815 sq ft. Martin's home is larger than that, but not by a whole heck of a lot. Most homes are terraced, which means there are three or more two storied houses connected. There are bungalows, which means its a single storied home with yard on all sides (non-attached) and semi-detached, which are two houses attached, usually two storied.

Hmmmm, that word "adjustments" comes to mind again. You think about all these things before you move everything you own across the ocean. You remember that you aren't 20 anymore, that you're somewhat spoiled when it comes to space and that you have an actual driveway on your property. Then you shove it all to the back of your mind and replace it with thoughts of the wonderful man you're in love with. I believe "adjustments" could just possibly mean "love" if you look it up in the Webster's dictionary.


This is me walking toward Martin's house which is the second one in this row of terraced houses.

Summer at last

Summer in England is wonderful, so far. No humidity to speak of, its June and the temperature today is 64 degrees F and there is a steady cool breeze. The sun is bright and the sky is filled with puffy white clouds. Not a lot to complain about. What a difference from New Orleans where its hot, humid and the temps are in the 90's.

I have more day light hours now to work in the garden as it doesn't get dark until 10 pm, my favorite part of summer in England. In the back I've finished building my wall, one section of the garden is tiered, one trellised arch is up, the cherry tree is planted, and my fruit bushes/vines are down. In the tiered walled section I've planted tomatoes, bell pepper, leek and spinach. I have lots more room so when Martin puts up our trellis at the front end I will put in the rest of the spinach, more bell pepper, green onion (spring onion), a row of basil and broccoli.

In the front yard, 1/2 of (what I call) death valley has been dug and the zucchini (courgette) and butternut squash is planted.


We picked up 4 stone trench style planters that need a good cleaning and a coat of paint. We've also managed to find a good amount of top soil. The soil is compliments of Colin and Sarah who are making some changes in their rear garden as well. Thanks loads Colin and Sarah!

I have so many projects going for this summer that I need to keep a running list what I want to get done and in what order. I'm trying to stay on a schedule, even if its a loose one. Since I'm not going home until May of 2009 I have time to dig in.

I'm posting the picture of my pine cabinet that I refinished a couple of months ago along with a couple of shots of my wall I'm so proud of.


On a sunny spring morning the front garden with blue bells, purple and white osteospernums, purple alpine, and red and yellow primulas. Martin's fuschia is just starting to leaf out.




Refinished pine cabinet

Terraced vegetable and herb patch; tomatoes, bell peppers, leek, spinach and thyme.
My "proper" stone wall, first section of terracing, red rose.


Charlie

Our new/old display cabinet

Last year Martin and I spent a couple of days in Cornwall with friends, Mike and Ann. Cornwall is absolutely beautiful. With its rolling hills, steep slopes, cliffs and enough rain to keep it green. There are pretty stone walls in the neighborhoods with flowers growing out of them and wild onion on the side of the roads. Its also the home of the Cornish pasty, one of my favorite foods here, Tintagle and Boscastle. Tintagle is reputedly where King Aurthur was conceived even though the ruins dating is not consistent. But they have recently found ruins which date back to an earlier time. The village of Boscastle had a horrible flood in 2004. I was in England at the time visiting Martin and remember it well. The village is small and everyone flooded. I watched on BBC as the Vicar tried to be there for everyone, coordinating the rescues and the rebuilding. Prince Charles is Duke of Cornwall and I watched as he arrived too. In 2006, when I moved here, it was important for me to visit there. I wanted to see their progress after the flood. It gave me hope to see this bustling village post flooding, having just lived through Katrina. I love to listen to the Cornish speak, they have a wonderful accent, but it makes you want to ask "huh?" before they've finished a sentence. And they believe that once you've driven over the border into Cornwall, you've left England. Its very close to where we live, right over the River Tamar from Plymouth. Its a joy being there, it always seems to be warmer and the sky bluer.

While there, Anne gave us a pretty pine wall cabinet with glass shelves and doors. It was a little scratched up and needed a good cleaning since it had been stored, but over all in very good shape. Its quite pretty too. I got to work taking it apart a couple of months back so that I could refinish it once the weather was warmer and dryer. The glass shelves were stuck in the storage position and were extremely difficult to take out. In the end one shelf had to be broken in order to get the remaining ones out. Still, there are 6 shelves left, each with a 2.5 to 3 inch space for displaying things. With the one shelf missing I will have one space with 5 to 6 inches for tall items, I consider this is a plus.

This past Saturday the weather was perfect for outside work. My plan was to sand the whole piece that weekend. By Saturday tea time I was able to sand off the finish on the shelf itself and most of one door. I put everything away with hopes of finishing up the following day. As is with the English weather, on Sunday it snowed. Today its haling, again no outside working. Maybe this coming weekend I'll have better luck. The forecast is for sunny in the morning, rain in the afternoon and night. Still, I got a good bit completed. It looks nice in the raw, pine always looks good without stain. So I'm thinking that I will put on a few coats of varnish and call it finished. It'll match our pine wardrobe since it has no stain either. I picked up a packet of fine sanding paper and I'm hoping its fine enough to use between coats of varnish for an extra smooth finish. I can't wait until its completed then I can put it up on our sitting room wall. My mother-in-law can't wait until its finished too, then she can get it out of her living room!

gi

I believe its actually Spring

I love to grow plants from seeds. It can be flowers, veggies or herbs, it really doesn't matter much. Just to watch the new life sprout up out of black dirt gets my heart beating quickly. Around this time of year I usually like to get up early to check on all my seedlings. This year is no different. It might be cold here and maybe there isn't much room to set trays of plants out, but you can still find me up early with a cup of coffee, setting out my struggling seedling so they can get a little sun. At night when the temp drops I store them in the back shed, and if the weather is right in the morning I bring them out on a makeshift table in a sheltered alcove. So far it seems to be working.

Last year was my first spring in England and I wasn't sure what would grow and what wouldn't, so I had decided to start small. I only planted tomatoes, bell peppers and a few herbs; basil, oregano, chives and thyme. My tomato and peppers grew until they hit the height of 2 inches. The herbs never saw the light of day, except for my chives. I realize that much of the summer I was in the states so that could have been most of the problem. I left them in Martin's capable hands (he swore he watered them all), but nothing much lived.

This year things seem to be much more productive. I have carrots sprouting up which are planted in a large tub. Parsnips are also planted there and next month I'll put some beans down in this same tub to grow up on a metal trellis that's already in place. I have 5 tomato seedlings which are guaranteed to grow outside of a greenhouse in England. My thyme is doing well. I planted 6 pots of them and they are all showing signs of life! My oregano is doing ok, basil is just beginning to come up, and I have hopes they they will both do as well as the thyme. The green onion is by far doing the best! I planted 6 small pots, a larger 8 pack that plants come in and I scattered some seeds in a planter I made out of a discarded plastic tray and they're all doing well. They call them spring onions here, this is the pink variety. So far the only things not sprouting are my bell peppers, lobelia and a red seed that I snagged while I was visiting Mount Edgcumbe gardens, I still have hopes. I have more seeds ready for planting once the weather is right.

Martin and I have plans for the back garden. We have discussed them, drawn them up and changed them around many many times. I decided that nothing much would come of them this year so I just as well make use of the space and put in a veggie garden, all from seeds. Its not a large space, but them most yards here aren't. I'm in the process of digging up the grass and turning the soil. This all sounds pretty easy right, well its not. There is not one bit of top soil in his yard! When they built this neighborhood they scooped out all the top soil and sold it off to the highest buyer. This whole area used to be farmland, so the soil must have been wonderful! What's left is a yard filled with clay, rocks, small stones and slate that is so compacted that it can't be shoveled. To turn the soil I have to use a digging fork, then I sieve the dirt to remove the stones. The large rocks will be used to build a small wall to tier sections so I can get rid of the slope at the top of the yard, that was Martin's idea, nice huh? I'm about at the 1/2 way point of the first dig, then I want to turn it over a second time, which should be much easier. Once all of this is finished I have 8 large bags of tree mulch, compliments of Plymouth City Council , which is where Martin works, as they were giving it away 3 weeks ago, that I can add to the soil. THEN I can begin my planting. In addition to the plants I've already mentioned I want to plant leek, radish (not sure how to cook them), non-pink variety of green onion, broccoli, beet and spinach beet, plus more herbs. I'm thinking I'd like to put down sage, parsley (if it grows here), dill and savory. I have rosemary, chamomile and chives growing in pots already from my first year here. Its all going to look great.

Did I mention my berries that I planted? Along one fence I have 8 berry plants; blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, red and black currant and gooseberry, the English pronounce it goosbry.

I can't wait to post a few pictures, again once Martin's computer is healthy...

gi

Martin's computer isn't back to where it was, but I took some new pictures...so here they are.

Click on the picture for a larger copy of the photos.

Sampon enjoying a rare sunny day while I dig the earth. You can see the beginning of the wall that I'm attempting to build. In the background you can see my berries coming up.

A few of my tulips in bloom and a couple of fuschias, I'm waiting for blooms.

My attempts at terracing the yard and a better view of the start of my wall.

These are my carrots and parsnips coming up and all my young fuschias.

Young seedlings struggling in the English weather. Shown here are green onions, tomatoes, oregano, a few basil, thyme and the bell peppers still under plastic.

gi

And they say the English are obsessed with weather

Its been a cold wet winter here. We've had a little snow, lots of wind and, as usual, rain.

I'm still learning how to manage my time around the rain. I'm used to living in an area where it rains a lot, but some how its different. In New Orleans, you'll have hard down pour, then the sun comes out and dries up all the rain, as the song goes. Most people just wait out the rain, then go on their way, hardly a need for an umbrella. In England it rains and rains and rains and then it rains some more. Sometimes its a light rain that goes on for days. The dog doesn't even want to go out to do his business it gets so messy outside. Other times, like this past week, you think its going to have a good rain, then the sun comes out, then it rains again and then the sun comes out again. It tricks you into thinking that you can actually get something done outside. You look out the window and see the sun, get dressed for outside work, put on garden shoes, pull the key out for the back shed, call Sampson to get some fresh air, then by the time you get to the back door it's begun to rain. Other times the rain is joined by wind. The only time I've ever experienced wind like we have here is during a hurricane. Sometimes its blustery, where your hair blows every which way and seems to stand on end, paper blows in circles over your head and the dog gets spooked, other times you can't stand up straight without straining. Last year I bought a small greenhouse for seedlings and tomato plants. I assembled it, put it in a corner so that it had two sides protected, within an hour it had blown over and the plastic sheath was ripped. It has no mercy.

So, I've been trying to paint the back door for about a year now, right. I've managed to get it sanded, puttied and one coat painted. I'm hoping to get it finished this year AND get the front door started. I believe I'll get more things finished quicker once I learn how to work with the weather. I have a new favorite website, Metcheck.com. You guessed it, a weather site!

With the cold and rain I'm doing more indoor things. I've starting to bake bread again, I'll have to find my old bread cookbook, and I'm working on some cross stitch projects. One for Avery Grace and another for Judy. Judy has been waiting for her piece for a few years now, it's been packed away since my move. Now its almost 2/3 done and looking very pretty.

I'll post more pictures when Martin gets his computer back. I believe we put pictures on your computer Cliff and yours Patsy, if so I might be calling to ask for copies. There is a chance that we have lost everything on Martin's computer. :(

Gi