Work is a Four-Letter Word...

...but it turns out that "payday" is like sweet, sweet music. I've been back at work for a month now. There have been ups and downs - there has been a change of landlords, half our staff has relocated to a different floor and, most disruptive to me personally, my friend and co-worker Amy is going back to South Africa to continue her architecture studies. I'm moving to a new role starting next Wednesday, so there will be two new people to train from Monday. It's been challenging, to say the least, but it's not too bad. And I got paid on Tuesday. I was used to being paid weekly, so a month's pay in one check made me feel like I was suddenly very rich. I celebrated by ordering this dress.

I've had my eye on it for a while, but as soon as I placed the order, I started to lose interest. I might send it back, or it might be my new favorite thing...

Beatlemania

It's not 1964 around here, but you'd be forgiven for thinking so - and not just because I've got a really cute new, mod A-line tunic dress (which I washed today and was hanging up to dry when I spotted a "dry clean only" tag. I simply harrumphed. I don't believe in dry cleaning and, besides, in my relationship with my clothes, I am the boss. If they can't stand a gentle cycle or a swish in the sink, I don't want them around!). Anyway, I was actually going to write about how there's an incredible amount of Beatles synergy around lately. A couple of weeks ago, thousands of people congregated at the zebra crossing on Abbey Road to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album being released - and, from what I heard, caused quite a bit of traffic congestion in the process. There's the release of the Beatles Rock Band game and a boxset of re-masters of all their albums, which I think happened on the same day. The BBC has been showing lots of Beatles documentaries and specials, of which we watched about 6 straight hours last week. This culminated in Help!, which was just as funny as I remembered from seeing it as a teenager. We decided that George has to be our favourite, certainly in this film, since he was the Action Beatle, tackling nefarious henchpeople and leaping onto the back of a speeding car, etc. Add to that the fact that he wrote "Here Comes the Sun" and he's obviously the best.

And then today as I walked to the grocery store, I saw two people wearing Beatles t-shirts. One was an album cover, but the other was the shirt pictured above (black letters on white). I like how simple it is, but as I thought about it, I became increasingly annoyed - the names are in the wrong order! Honestly, everyone in the entire world says John, Paul, George and Ringo. Right? Right??? Hmmm. I'm guessing that some people will say that they don't really care and as long as you don't actually leave one out, there is not one proper way of ordering the Beatles. To this, I would respond that there is a proper way to do everything.

...And We're Back!

So, in the month since my last post, I haven't been having lots of fun and not sharing it, or taking lots of really artistic photos and not sharing, or even going about daily life and not sharing my insightful and amusing thoughts about it - I've been writing and, more importantly, completing and, most importantly of all, handing in my dissertation. Yay for me!

Before you get too impressed, this was an MA dissertation, only 35 pages long and more what we'd call a thesis in the US, not a real, proper PhD dissertation, which can run into the 100s of pages. Still, it was hard work, especially as I never really got the hang of "social science" writing versus "liberal arts" writing. During the course, I wrote a paper on environmental economics, in which I literally did not understand what I was writing but got a pretty good grade. Then I wrote one about wind farm implementation, on which I worked really hard, did lots of research in local newspapers, and thought I really nailed it - and made a letter grade lower than the previous paper. Then there was the paper that I forgot about. I'd neglected to write down the amended hand in date and was reminded of it the day before when I ran into a classmate at the library who just happened to mention it. I ran home and wrote it in about 18 hours, with no outside sources and a very questionable central metaphor holding it all together. And, of course, that was the highest grade I got the whole year! So it's been a struggle and I have no idea how it will be received. We don't get our results until the end of October, so it will be a nice, long wait - argh!

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to rejoining the land of the living. I've been been keeping my head down for most of the year and have avoided most social occasions over the summer. For the last two weeks, except for morning walks, I literally did not leave the house. I think the guys at the Turkish shop across the road were getting worried about me - I normally go in there a lot, sometimes several times a day. I have a long list of projects I want to do, like finishing reupholstering my chair, gardening, making jam, and lots of sewing. And, of course, Christmas. It's already the end of August, which means I've got to get my butt in gear. I've already got a theme, with a runner-up in place in case I change my mind, and have preliminary lists started. Last year I was so busy with school that I felt like I didn't get to really enjoy Christmas, so this year I'm going to do it right. I'm getting excited just thinking about it!

Saturday at the V&A

Yesterday I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum with my friend Amy. We went specifically for a screening of Handmade Nation, a documentary about the DIY/indie craft movement in the US. It wasn't a cinematic tour de force, but it was really interesting and I came away with notes of people to look up and ideas of things to do.

While we were there we also saw the Telling Tales exhibition, which I thought was very good. Or, at least, very interesting. My favourite piece was probably the Linen Cupboard House, though the mole slippers were sort of lovely. (The micro-website is pretty good, so have an explore.) I think I like this little guy, too. It's hard to see, but he has golden grubs in his ears - which is disgusting but sort of beautiful.

The DIY ethos of the film inspired me, so when I got home, I hand-crafted some roasted vegetables and sausage, then resourcefully combined it with some spinach Matthew'd cooked earlier for my dinner. I must say, I was very pleased with my work!

Dreamland Theatre

For the past few months, I've been having very interesting dreams almost every night. It started when my parents were visiting in April. Being gracious hosts, we gave them our room and we slept in the basement/guest room. It is passably comfortable and we didn't have trouble sleeping or anything, but I think my sleeping mind knew I was in a different environment and went a little bit haywire. One night, for example, I dreamed that I ran a marathon with Willie Nelson.

The dreams continued after their visit, when we moved back into our bedroom. About a month ago, just before her birthday, I dreamt that I was at a masquerade party with my friend Jennie which featured all sorts of activities. I listened to a lecture about alternative energy sources and Jennie kept telling me the yoga/massage area was amazing. She wore a Regency style dress in a multi-coloured sari material and a paper mache mouse mask; I don't know what I was wearing because I couldn't find a mirror. I looked all over, but I couldn't find the toilet. Then a woman asked where we were parked because there was a monster at the party. I didn't believe her, as it was a masquerade party, after all, and I figured she had just seen someone weaing a monster mask. She seemed pretty adamant. I still couldn't find the toilet. It was weird, and then eventually I woke up.

Last week I dreamed that I bought some hand-knitted socks from my old friends and former co-workers Mayanna and Ashley at a craft fair. The socks were lavender, but had red and white stripes on the inside.

This morning I dreamed that I'd gone to visit my old friend Russell Brand (?!?) because he was getting married (?!?) and I'd taken my mom (?!?!?!?) with me. My mom got the guest room and I slept on the sofa, which was fine the first night - this was a really long dream - but the second night he had lots of noisy people over and I couldn't sleep. Then I was back at my house here in London, with Matthew and my mom and sister (and presumably my dad and brother-in-law, though I didn't see them). A baby pigeon flew into the house and the cats started chasing it. I got it away from them and carried it around to keep it safe. At some point, while sitting around a table on our patio, I realised that the pigeon had turned into a real baby, though it was still cooing like a dove. I decided I would keep her and that we'd call her Frankie.

So that was weird.

Garden Update

Matthew always says it's an ill wind that blows nobody good, and while I'm not absolutely certain what that proverb actually means, he uses it as an alternative way of saying that every cloud has a silver lining. (There is some cloud/wind connection that makes sense to me.) Thus, I suppose one nice thing about last year's garden being such a non-starter is that I'm very pleased with the limited success I'm having so far this year. It's been very rainy the past few weeks, but I'm holding out hope that we will still get enough sun overall for a successful season. My little plants, if not exactly thriving, are at least alive and growing (in general - I had a bean and a pea plant that just sort of gave up the ghost, but what can I do if the plant does not have the will to survive?).

These are some peas waiting to be transferred to larger pots, which just arrived in the post yesterday, with the new compost, which has not been delivered yet. They're still a little delicate and it's been chilly lately, so I've been moving them inside at night but back outside during the day in the hopes that they'll get fertilised by passing insects. As you can see (if you look really closely), one is already growing a little pea pod! I've got four pods on the go at the moment, which - admittedly not an enormous crop - is enough to add to a very small salad.

This little pea has one of the other pods. I just don't get it; the peas seem to have almost sprouted from the soil with flowers just waiting to burst out, but the beans, while growing quite tall, aren't ready to flower yet. I guess they're shy...

It looks like the Great Tomato Debacle of '08 may be behind us - I've got at least 4 baby tomatoes growing and I reckon I could get as many as 10 or 12, just from this one pot! A couple of other plants have flowered, but most haven't. It isn't a completely unmitigated success, but I am getting pretty excited about the possibilities.

But speaking of unmitigated success, the spinach patch continues to amaze. We have eaten spinach every day for weeks and weeks, and it just keeps growing! This photo was taken after I picked two bags this morning to take to my friends Monika and Amy. And that was after I picked some for our dinner two nights ago, and enough to make a "Welcome to the building/sorry your stove doesn't work" spinach lasagne for our new upstairs neighbours just a few days before that! I've used it in quiches, lasagne, sag paneer, quesadillas and shredded it in tacos, though usually I just wilt it in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil and water. A little salt and pepper and it's magic.

I don't know how these little guys are going to turn out, but so far they are doing brilliantly. On a whim, I planted parsnips, because we really like them roasted but they tend to be the most expensive of the root vegetables - several times more expensive than carrots, for example. If they carry on as they've been doing, we should have some fairly decent ones and probably enough for several batches of roast vegetables, so I'm already planning to plant loads more next year.

In fact, I've got lots of plans for next year, most of them half-formed and flying around my head randomly. I'm feeling pretty ruthless about some of our ornamental plants, especially the ones occupying our few sunny spots. Rocco has an apple tree of which I am getting very jealous. But I'm most excited about a current project. I have always heard that mint is very hardy and spreads, almost to the point of being invasive and that you shouldn't put it in a flower bed because it's so hard to control. We have a separate little bed built into the wall at the end of the garden. It doesn't get much sun and is in one of the paths that the cats and foxes use to get in and out of the garden. I've put a little mint plant in it a few days ago; for now, I'm watering it and waiting and every day I whisper to it, "Go wild! I know you can do it!"

We shall see.

4th of July - Cupcakes and Bunting

As per usual, we had a cook-out to celebrate the Fourth of July. The novelty this year was that we actually had it on the Fourth. Last year's was on the fifth, since US Independence Day is not recognised holiday in the UK and everyone had to work on the day. This despite the fact that, as Matthew points out, you'd think the British would've been glad to be rid of us if we were going to be so cranky and rebellious. Or something like that. He has a similar line about Thanksgiving, like being thankful to not have to deal with those dreadful colonials anymore. And then he usually says, "Present company excepted." Usually.

Anyway, we had some people over and had a nice day in the garden. It was lovely and hot, unlike the preceding week, which had been hellish and hot. Our practice barbecues paid off - in a way. Matthew has gotten pretty good at setting up the barbecue with the briquettes and firelighters but his attention still wavers and neither of us is very good at determining when things are cooked as opposed to just charred on the outside while still harbouring dangerous bacteria on the inside. Fortunately, the guests were there to help out. It was sort of audience participation, with everyone taking a turn to flip burgers or turn sausages or say, "Actually, this is still raw inside, I'm going to put it back on."

My position is that I cook inside the house, not in the garden, so I focused more on the baking. We had cupcakes again this year, with flags, sprinkles and little decorations that my parents sent in a pre-Independence Day care package. This is just a sample. There were many, many more than this. Thanks to my friend Adrienne for helping with the icing and decoration. To anyone who got little bits of paper stuck to the back of their flag deco, that was my fault, not hers! I think I have discovered the secret to good icing. I've tried margarine and real butter, with very disappointing results, but apparently the key is shortening. Or as they call it here, vegetable lard. Sounds yummy, huh?

I also made a Victoria sponge cake, which English people just love. It's like a layer cake, but without the icing. There is jam between the layers and the top is dusted with powdered sugar. I added fresh strawberries to this one and dusted the top just before cutting. There were obviously some issues with the filling, which was on the oozy side, but it still tasted very good.
To continue this summer's theme of all bunting, all the time, I made some special red, white and blue bunting, with fabric kindly supplied (and even cut!) by my mom. All I did was lay it out on the floor to decide on the order, then pin and sew. It was great. The flags are raw-edged, with the top folded into seam binding and zig-zag stitched.

And you know how at a party, everyone congregates in the kitchen, no matter how cramped? Apparently the same principle operates at barbecues, as you can see below. Everyone is crammed within 20 feet of the grill (just out of site to the left), while the other 2/3 of the garden is empty, except of deck chairs and a red/white/blue picnic blanket. I just don't get it. Though, to be fair, they may feel they need to keep an eye on the grill in case the cook wanders off.

The postscript is that today I have eaten half a blueberry muffin (Matthew's friend Vincent brought 2 dozen homemade muffins!), two cupcakes, a hamburger and sausage sandwich, and some baklava (brought by Adrienne). I feel slightly sick, but mostly in a good way. I like to think, the American way.

P.S. Apologies on the wonky formatting lately. Blogger is doing my head in!