We are going back to India on February 4th to attend a friend's wedding! I can't wait! Escaping the cold of February for ten days will be an immense pleasure. Hoping C can come with us. She is looking into it :).

Our latest trip to England left us both with awful colds. We stay awake coughing late into the night. Tarzan's aunts and uncles keep the temperatures of their homes somewhere in the high 50s. While we keep our house at 62 F, we are obviously mere amateurs in the "can you freeze your guests to death" competition, if such exists. As I sat ( Read more... )

As the cold winter drags on, I am dreaming of India. The three weeks I spent there were definitely some of the best weeks of my life. I can feel the sun and warmth as if it were yesterday. I think my next big trip will be to China, if I can ever cobble together enough days to make it worthwhile. With C out in Seattle, and my desire to spend ( Read more... )

The living room is painted!! It's so exciting!! The wallpaper for the dining room will be here on Monday, and the paperer will be ready to put it up as soon as we get it. Tomorrow, I'm choosing a chandelier. I found one I liked in a local lamp store, but, I'm looking through catalogues tomorrow as well. The dining room furniture arrives next ( Read more... )

Livejournal is petering out as a place where people I know post. I suppose it is long past time for me to call it a wrap, too. Anyway, I am on the cusp of an adventure in home improvement. With a little help from my friends and favorite interior designer, the color scheme for the first floor of my home is almost complete. The wallpaper for the ( Read more... )

"The h-index is an index that attempts to measure both the scientific productivity and the apparent scientific impact of a scientist. The index is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other people's publications. The index can also be applied to the productivity and impact of a ( Read more... )

I ordered a new guitar on August 13th -- A Gibson J45 with a red spruce top. The store assured me it would arrive in three weeks. As I am left handed, they had to order it from the factory. It is now October 25 and my guitar has yet to show up! I have been calling weekly to check up on my order. It is so frustrating. I just want to strum a ( Read more... )

We actually still have a few watermelons left growing! And, they are still sweet and delicious. Hard to believe. Any day now, they will turn to compost! I have been baking bread every other day now that the weather has turned. I just ordered a new knob for the enameled cast iron pot I bake the bread in -- the knob I have isn't rated for high ( Read more... )

It was a nice, relaxing weekend. I built a larger cage around my fig tree as it had outgrown the one I originally surrounded it with. While the deer don't seem interested in eating the fig tree, I built the cage for protection during the winter months. It gives me great pleasure to grow figs -- as they sometimes cost a buck a piece at the ( Read more... )

I can't imagine actually buying tomatoes again in the winter! We still have quite a bit of produce in our plot, and will soon be putting in the winter veggies, but, the absolute splendor of the summer garden is coming to a close once again. When we have pulled out the last of it, we will finish the stone path we started in the spring and raise the ( Read more... )