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This week saw the success of our Open House. We had sent invitations do a dozen or so of our neighbours, who have made us very welcome and have helped us in several ways. Lisa had prepared a mixed hot and cold buffet which went down very well (and we had enough leftovers to keep […]

This week, we are preparing to host an Open House for our lovely neighbours, so we need to get the house ready. And lots of cooking by Lisa was the order of the day. The first priority was Christmas decorations. And this involved a really large Christmas tree. We went out to a farm near

On Saturday evening this week, we were driving the few miles for what for us was the first event on the run-up to Christmas – the Winemakers Dinner at Wolf Mountain vineyard. It was a full moon with just a few clouds scudding along. But the combined light of uncountable stars and the moon were

Driving through the countryside, we can now see the bare grey bones of the forest as the autumn leaf display finishes. Leaves come spiraling down singly and then blowing in squadrons as the occasional gusts of wind stirs them up and drags stragglers off the branches. Surprisingly to me, the leaves closest to the crowns

Driving through the countryside, we can now see the bare grey bones of the forest as the autumn leaf display finishes. Leaves come spiraling down singly and then blowing in squadrons as the occasional gusts of wind stirs them up and drags stragglers off the branches. Surprisingly to me, the leaves closest to the crowns

After our weekend on the slightly artificially luxurious environment of Kiawah Island, we headed west to the mountains on Monday, waving goodbye to the Atlantic Ocean for a while. The five hour drive gave us plenty of time to contemplate the likely state of the property after the tree blown down blocking the driveway, an

Following the departure of Peter and Paula on Sunday afternoon, we had far too many odd jobs on our plate to complete before heading off on Thursday for a couple of days in Charleston in South Carolina for a family wedding. So no serious unpacking this week. We have discussed with TJ (the concrete and

On Sunday 19th it was Gold Rush Day in Dahlonega, a huge crafts and music festival, so that provided some excitement. The small city of Dahlonega (population less than 10,000) hosts a quarter of a million visitors over this two-day event. Pamela and Tony went off to explore everything, whilst we took things a little

Now that we are established after a fashion in the new home, the next big event is the start of visitor season. Not just all the tourists coming to see the leaves of the forest changing colour, we have friends from Ealing arriving imminently. Pamela and Tony are arriving on the 13th on their tour

Now that we are truly established in the house, we need to start enjoying it. But before we can get totally relaxed, we need to make significant progress on unpacking. The upper floor, where most of the living takes place, is certainly habitable and there aren’t boxes everywhere. In fact I can only count two