A garden and a mystery

Last weekend we decided to take advantage of the weather to do some gardening. We needed to remove the weeds, rocks, and trash from the garden before putting down some grass seeds. After hours raking, shoveling, yanking, bagging, squatting we were thoroughly exhausted...so Leo made us some well-earned gin and tonics. Here's a before and after shot of the garden (hopefully you can see the difference). On the left we have a bunch of daffodils which started growing, so we left those. On the right is where the vegetable garden will go, since it gets the most sunshine.














While Leo was digging the shovel hit something hard in the back of the garden. Digging down deeper he came across a large blue crate full of dirt buried in the back yard. It was the oddest thing. As we dumped the dirt out we found a few children's toys inside and I was praying we wouldn't find a child's hand buried in there as well...which thankfully we didn't.

New addition to the living room

We bought a new rug, which is very similar to a smaller one we have which is now sitting in Leo's parents' attic. We were out on one of our death marches through the city on a sunny day and happened upon a rug store going out of business. So this one came pretty cheap. Do you think it ties the room together?

The Urban Gardeners

For the first time in our adult lives, Leo and I have a piece of land. Sure, right now it's just a large patch of dirt in back of our flat, but to us it's the promise of a great salad to come. If you know me, you know plants would rather kill themselves than let me nurture them. But for some reason, London gave me a greener thumb. My friend Caron gave me a tomato and a pepper plant last fall and both are still alive, so they'll be going into the garden soon. I've also got some herbs which I picked up at the supermarket, which are still alive. We've also started some seedlings for cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower, two types of tomatoes, beets, leeks, and peas which are now in our living room, but will soon be transplanted to the garden. Can't wait to see if anything actually grows!

More flat photos (ha!)

What's really nice is the sun is shining today, and I'm sitting in our study writing this post and listening to the birds chirp from the tree in my garden. Some days in London are good days.

Long overdue

So, finally our flat is starting to feel like home. We've spent the last few weekends cleaning the place up, buying items to make it feel more homey, and as the place has been warming up, I think we've both been warming up to it. So, here are some photos so you all can get an idea of where we live.

Pancake day perfection

Last year I was a bit confused by Pancake Day (a.k.a. Shrove Tuesday) so I didn't take part. I've never been a big pancake fan, and therefore it didn't seem necessarily fun to overindulge on pancakes, which is what one does on pancake day. For me, something like Fat Tuesday and drinking to excess makes more sense before repenting during Lent (not that I repent during Lent).

But this year, for some reason, Leo and I decided to celebrate Pancake Day, by putting together a pancake feast, both savory and sweet. Rather than taking on the English tradition, however, we decided to celebrate Maslenitsa (the Russian equivalent - which can be referred to as both pancake week or butter week) so Leo made some rather buttery pancake batter from a recipe in our Russian cookbook...so buttery that no butter was actually needed to cook them in the pan. These things oozed butter!
To add to the Russian festivities, we also toasted our meal with vodka. We served up the pancakes topped with ham and cheese, mushrooms and onions, and for dessert with gooseberry jam. I think now I'm a pancake fan!

We've moved

Last weekend we hired a van and moved all of our stuff to the new flat. The move itself was the easy part. We hired a man-and-a-van as they call it here, and the man came at 2 pm like he said and he even helped us load the van, which was not something we paid for but which we accepted happily. Somehow the 6 suitcases and a guitar which we had brought with us to London a year ago had expanded to 6 suitcases, 3 garbage bags, 4 plants, a desk, 2 bookcases, a TV, a PlayStation, and several smaller bags crammed with pictures and other junk. I have no idea how we expanded this much in one year! But we easily fit everything into the van, waved goodbye to the mouse-infested flat (Leo had killed one just that morning), and in less than 15 minutes were at our new place where there was a vacant parking space directly in front for the van. We unloaded everything in minutes and began the excruciating task of finding places for everything. The task is almost made worse when you have too many options of where to put things, as is the case with our new flat.

As we started unpacking, we noticed one BIG problem with the place...it was freezing. We ran the heater almost all day and still the place was icy (not sure why we didn't realize that a bedroom in a basement in winter in London might be very cold). But also, there seemed to be something wrong with the boiler, since it kept turning itself off (even when we told it to stay on!) when it thought the flat had reached the desired temperature, even when that temperature had certainly not been reached and you could see your breath inside. So, while unpacking I had on a hat, scarf, and heavy sweater and looked more like I was on an expedition in the Arctic than in my new, lovely flat with centralized heating in central London.

On Sunday, we spent a fun-filled day at Ikea, spending more money than we'd have liked to on the same items we've bought several times before. And now I'm still trying to find a place for everything and and to put everything in its place. I think once we get the cold issue resolved, and the mold (another issue arising from living in a basement), the place will be fine. At least there are no mice!