It’s been a few days in the making, and the window box kinda slipped in there unannounced, but I’ve now finally finished the other project that we’ve had going on, the Amazing Shoe Cabinet!

It looked like this last night, before staining, varnishing and final assembly:

The idea was to build it in the ‘Craftsman’ style of [...]

Today I built a window box. We can have a garden!

It’s built from cedar, they were actually fence posts! Does the job though. Only $2.99 per plank, each 6 inches wide and 6 foot long. Used 4 planks, so total project cost $12. Quite cheap for a day’s entertainment. Thanks to Josh (M) for the [...]

We received three letters from USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) today: one ‘Notice of Action’ for each of the three applications we submitted a few days ago on the 15th May.

These acknowledgements are good news – they have successfully received the payment for the three applications, and didn’t request any additional information, or [...]

Following a hankering for orange squash the other day (there is no such thing in the USA, it appears, and to me there’s nothing like it for making rapid rehydration palatable), I happened across this online importer of British foods. What a gold mine!
Among many other treasures, we have:
PG Tips tea
Squash, hurrah!
Bird’s Custard Powder
Real sausages, [...]

It’s been a LONG TIME since Jamie and I were last out of the great steaming Los Angeles metropolis. We heard about this stretch of mountain highway re-opening, and thought it the perfect excuse to get out and explore:

Quick purchase of a cooler and lunch…

And we’re on our way!

30-odd miles of roads like this. Unparalleled.

The [...]