Friday, August 28, 2009

Cute as a button?

So!

As someone pointed out to me recently, no matter where I go, I have adventures with wildlife. Check out the number of magpies that like to hang out in my yard:


There were eight of them at one point, each the size of a very large crow. Sorry they're blurry--they kept hopping around and I kept involuntarily following their movements. Their blue-green feathers are very visibly iridescent in the bright sun we usually get here.

I also just returned from the compost heap, and look what I spotted there!




I am almost positive that it's a button mushroom, oooh ah--it certainly looks and smells like one. See its cute little pink gills? That means it is not, at least, a death angel. I'll be doing a bit more internet research before consuming it, though.

And, yesterday evening, there was this down the block:

Monday, August 24, 2009

Hooo, Chilly!

It's down in the forties every night; can you believe it?! Shades of things to come, I guess.

So far this morning, I have repeated my round of phone calls to various US accounts--that our new zip code has 6 characters instead of 5 is just too much for their automated systems. I will be continuing with the unpacking and then, perhaps, I will settle on a recipe to use the extremely prolific rhubarb plant out back, seen here in low light.



Here are a few shots of our spacious new kitchen, which is growing rapidly more cluttered:



And I will leave you with a pic of the restaurant we visited this weekend. Even though the food wasn't great, it was sooo worth it to see that it was just up the street from Doc Hollandaise Grill.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

We're here!

Now to get the phone hooked up and insurance and bank paperwork and blah di blah di blah done.