It’s now one year (plus some time difference) since I struck out from the drizzly February green and pleasant land of Britain and went to find my fortunes in California. I didn’t find streets paved with gold, although most peoples’ wheels do appear to be paved with silver.

There’s nothing revelatory, or pictorially titillating, to add here today. I suppose this is an indication of how I’ve settled down, and how everything is now familiar – to me and hopefully to my reader! Most of the past year’s achievements and wonders were summarised in New Year’s Eve’s post.

It’s been a rather stressful couple of weeks, really, since starting the house purchase process. There has been little else on our minds. Jamie and I have been somewhat flooded with forms, fees, inspections, approvals, negotiations, decisions, pipedreams and consultations. I’ll release more pictures and details on the blog once the place is actually ours! (Assuming the place does in fact become ours: no counting of chickens until they’re hatched.) As well as the significant financial responsibility this will incur, there are the inevitable ramifications of ‘putting down roots’ here: we can’t up-sticks back to England at the drop of a hat! Though if all goes according to plan, the house will be an enormous liberation for us – to have the space to do what we want, grow what we want, and build what we want. We can’t wait!

There are rumours that my parents will be visiting us in April and June, and of course we have the trip back to the UK planned for July, to go to the Lake District for the Cooke family holiday (my Mum’s side of the family). No amount of monthly mortgage repayments can stop us affording it; we will even forgo the luxury of Sonoma County wines if we have to….