Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was a very laid-back affair for us this year. For starters, I thought it was the previous Thursday (it's the 3rd Thursday, right??), so by time the actual day rolled around, I was kinda over it.

So, we did something we had done before - turkey tacos with cranberry salsa, sweet potato chips and seasonal beers. I tell you - I think I like this version better than the traditional one!

Sweet potatoes at the ready

 

What's cookin', good lookin'?

 

Getting layered up

 

The finished product

 

Satisfied customers

 

The lewd turkey Rachel gave me years ago

 

Ahem

 

Old door, New door

A couple weeks ago we had our back gate - a solid wood door - kicked in by some drunken students. At 2 am.

You can't tell too well from inside the yard (mostly because there's a blue bin on the other side in front of it), but they kicked off 1 panel. The locks flew out and were lying on the ground.

 

View from the alley side

 

See - no more locks!

 

Our landlords are fantastic and had a new door made right away (and also installed a security light that is brighter than the sun).

 

It has a handy new latch (snib? hasp? depends where you come from) installed which makes it much easier for transporting bikes in and out.

 

No. 12! To avoid confusion for drunken students in the future.

 

Not so grim up North

The BBC is reporting today that Newcastle, according to some think tank, has been named as the UK's "Greenest City".

Apparently, our new home "topped the environmental rankings, which included measures on air quality, wildlife and residents' "ecological footprint" - the amount of land it takes to provide them with food, transport, housing, goods and services.

It also performed well in quality of life measures such as life expectancy and education, plus its planning for the future, to rise overall in the table from fourth last year and eighth place in 2007."

Take that, London!

New life from dead branches

We have an arbour in our back yard that frames the little passage way to the alley. It has a vine of some description growing up and interwoven around it. When we moved into the flat back in March, it had leaves on it, but they didn't look too healthy. The whole thing never changed in appearance over the summer - it didn't grown more leaves nor did it lose any; the colour and condition of the leaves didn't change or improve. So I decided in September I think, that I'd prune it right back down and leave the vine still woven because it looked nice. I figured it was dead and even hacked into some of the bigger branches to find that the vine was in fact withered and lifeless. It had even passed the Dad test via Skype.

Or so I thought.

Last week, I noticed new leaves and shoots sprouting forth!

The vine when we moved in

 

Doesn't look too healthy, does it?

 

Pruned

 

What ho!

 

New life!

 

So, any thoughts on what's occurred? The new leaves look remarkably healthier than the old ones ever did.

Starry Night

I was playing around with my camera's "night time" function earlier this week. I hoped to caputre the ghostliness of the trees which line a street along our evening walkies route, but the camera's default (and minimum) shutter speed for this setting is 15 seconds, which is too much. Plus, I need a tripod.

The trees in question

 

A lit path along our way - night setting

 

Same path - normal setting

 

View across the Moor, city lights in distance

 

Things we did while Ole was away

Made a Tequila Sunrise

 

Walked a stubborn Westie

 

Enjoyed our quiet street

 

Took funny photos of Rosie

 

Saw a beautiful Beech hedge

 

And neat rows of bins

 

Admired a sun-lit tree

 

and played with Bizzy Bee

 

Pedersen Family Motto

It's quite simple, really.