Click, click, click... There's no place like home

Well it worked, I closed my eyes, clicked my heels 3 times, then bought a plane ticket, train ticket, packed my bags, took a taxi to airport, a plane, a bunch more trains, another taxi... and when I opened my eyes I was home, not quite magically transported, but transported nonetheless.

Here's one of the many reasons I love it here.

This morning I went out and stocked the larder. I had to as the kitchen was empty. What you see before you is all local produce (except the tea), organic and delicious ... and here it's the norm, what you get at the local market.

Starting top left and going clockwise:
Croissants and whole grain bread baked this morning at the bakery down the street.
Pont l'Eveque cheese from a local dairy in ... you guessed it ... the village of Pont l'Eveque
Organic local strawberries over yogurt from a local dairy
Golden Delicious apple, locally grown
and in the center of it all TEA from Ceylon.

Today I'll devote the day to cleaning the house. It's in pretty good shape, not too musty from having been closed up. But I'm finding evidence that a mouse moved in during my absence, so a thorough cleaning is in order. Tonight I'll set up the "humane" trap and see if I can catch the little fellow. Hopefully he's not the clever one I had a few years back who figured out the workings of the trap.

Rancho Escargo is thriving. The heavy rains of mid-Spring combined with some recent clear weather have been exactly what was required to make the assortment of wild stuff thrive.

So tomorrow I'll don the gloves and get out the sickle and start clearing the jungle again.

Eat your heart out Martha Stewart

Things could be worse! - Impressions #17

Things could be worse!

It's the weekend. I've got my cup of tea and some shortbread. I'm thinking about the next painting I'm going to do. I'll start sketching tonight. The sketch in the photo is from one of my recent paintings, just there to illustrate my thoughts for today. I think I'll do a painting of Kenwood House in Hampstead, overlooking the heath. I'm going to work a pond into the picture, and some venerable old trees.

Meanwhile...



Outside my closed windows the rest of the city immerses itself in the "holy month" of Ramadan, which started a few days ago. This is the month when everybody tries especially hard to be good. The muezzin sing especially loudly, and for longer periods. Nobody eats during the day time, then they gorge at night.

I stuck my camera out the window to catch the sounds floating over the city, a couple of dueling muezzin mixed with the buzz of a hundred air conditioners and the ubiquitous honking car.