Year end: Book round-up

This year I was fortunate to do alot of reading. The reading bug goes in phases for me but it primarily depends on the amount of free time I have. This year with no house moving, no new baby and no job I had quite a bit of time to read. You'll notice a New England theme later in the list with 1776, Alcott, Thoreau and Stowe. There are a number of books on the list that I would NOT recommend so if you are interested check with me and I'll fill you in.

Here they are in time order of reading (my top three are highlighted):

1. Catch 22 - Jospeh Heller
2. Living a beautiful life - Alexandra Stoddard
3. The problem of pain - C S Lewis
4. Twice Adopted - Michael Reagan (personally signed book!)
5. White teeth - Zadie Smith
6. The unchurched next door - Thom Rainer
7. Girl meets God - Lauren Winner
8. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Ian Fleming
9. The inheritance of loss - Kiran Desai
10. The letters of E B White (all 685 pages!)
11. 90 minutes in heaven - Don Piper
12. Gluten free girl - Shauna James Ahern
13. The gift of the sea - Anne Morrow Lindbergh
14. The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
15. If I was God I'd end all the pain - John Dickson
16. Granta 100
17. Granta 101
18. Granta 102
19. Granta 103
20. A shepherd's guide to psalm 23 - Phillip Keller
21. Drinking coffee elsewhere - Z Z Packer
22. Book by book - Michael Dirda
23. Mudhouse Sabbath - Lauren Winner
24. The know it all - A J Jacobs
25. The red tent - Anita Diamant
26. The mermaid chair - Sue Monk Kidd
27. Midnight's children - Salman Rushdie
28. Classics for pleasure - Michael Dirda
29. 1776 - David McCullough
30. Kafka's soup - Mark Crick
31. Arthur & George - Julian Barnes
32. Eden's Outcasts (The story of Louisa May Alcott and her father) - John Matteson
33. Uncle Tom's cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe (second reading)
34. The strong willed child - Dr James Dobson
35. The god of small things - Arundhati Roy
36. Walden; or Life in the woods - Henry David Thoreau
37. Multiple blessings - Jon & Kate Gosselin
38. Nothing in my hand I bring - Ray Galea
39. The Shack - William Young
40. The catcher in the rye - J D Salinger
41. Seven types of ambiguity - Elliot Perlman (another 600+ pages, been carrying this around since '04, finally read this excellent book in just 1 week)

Weekend roadtrip

We had planned to see out 2008 with a roadtrip to some Southern states based around Atlanta GA. However we realised that we needed to make a financial decision between buying the stonework for the pizza oven or going on the holiday. We chose the pizza oven mostly because we are obligated to complete it within one year of the county approvals but also because we are practical people!

Feeling a little glum I had a look at our list of potential weekend getaways and quickly joined the dots to determine that we should visit NC's capital city Raleigh to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit before it finishes in early January.

So last weekend we took the 2 hour drive up the I40 to visit this city that surprisingly we had not been to before (on our way home from Asheville last year we spent a night in Durham to see Duke chapel and then had lunch at the Raleigh Farmers Market but didn't enter the city)

Dead Sea Scrolls and the Natural Sciences museum

At the museum we did some fun things for Lucy including visiting the discovery room (seen left) before visiting the scrolls. Whilst we didn't find the exhibition to be very well organised (we had timed tickets but we ended up in a small hot waiting room full of pushing Americans trying to get through to the scroll room) we found the exhibition to be very interesting. Lucy wasn't too impressed given the large numbers of people which meant we didn't stay for long. The exhibition was in 2 parts - the first being the history around the discovery and sale of the scrolls in the late 1940's and 50's and the second being a dark room with several scroll fragments. Ironically Duke had a scroll exhibition in 1950 where 3 full scrolls were displayed but declined to buy them. At this exhibit we saw 11 small fragments of various biblical and non-bibilical texts. It was awesome to see some Genesis, Exodus and Isaiah extracts and see how the translations are still the same today.

NC State Capitol building

We toured the old Capitol building just down the street from the Natural Sciences museum. It was fun to see the George Washington statue, a unique one around the world as it shows him dressed as a Roman general writing in Italian on a tablet. (Apparently this just proves the ignorance of North Carolinians as he probably wouldn't have approved of this) It was also interesting to learn that NC has provided 3 US presidents, Andrew Johnson being one of only 2 presidents ever to be impeached (more NC embarrassment!)

Dining at Vivace

Although there wasn't long to plan this trip I did track down a list of the top 20 restaurants in the Triangle area (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill). Focussing on Raleigh we decided to try out Vivace, a modern Italian restaurant just 5 minutes from our hotel. We loved it! Great food, atmosphere and spectacular service. Andrew enjoyed the lamb carpaccio, Lucy discovered gnocchi and condensed milk gelato (separately!) and Fiona closed the extensive Italian wine and cocktail menu very fast. We will definitely visit here again next time (or maybe we'll just work through the top 20 list?)

Captain John S Pope Lamb Farm

Whilst in Raleigh we took the opportunity to visit a lamb farm in Cedar Grove, an hour north of the city. These are Dorper lambs that are raised on grass and hay alone (no grain feed, no hormones, no antibitotics etc) on a property owned by the Pope family for over 200 years. We saw lots of cute lambs, a llama, sheep dogs and toured the old farmhouse. Farmer Bob was very generous in spending the morning with us to drive to the farm and then tour us around. He even took us on a detour on the way back to see the town of Hillsborough (one of 3 previous state capitals before Raleigh) Lucy loved seeing all the animals but kept complaining that the farm was 'smelly'. We came back with an esky/cooler full of lamb with plans to meet up with Bob some time in the new year to order some more.

NC Museum of Art

After the farm visit we stopped in at the NC Museum of Art for a late brunch. Another excellent meal with fresh orange juice, scones, poached eggs and waffles. It might not sound that exciting to our Aussies friends but finding an independent restaurant that provides excellent food and service is hard to find in the Southern US so we revel in these opportunities. We then took the opportunity to look around at some art (Lucy ran around the galleries in great delight after being strapped into her car seat for most of the morning). Unfortunately there wasn't much worth seeing, with the displays comprising of minor painters working in the style of famous counterparts. Given that we have seen the real Caravaggios, Rembrandts and Vermeers this museum was pretty disappointing. Even the classical wing had just 1 mosaic (of unknown origin), 1 roman general marble statue (with no head or limbs), 3 greek amphoras etc etc (these all looked like unworthy leftovers from European museums). The museum is to triple in size in 2010 with some brand new buildings - I just hope they buy some art worthy of the construction.

Year end: Vacations & Visitors

One of our favorites things is to travel. This year we increased our number of US state visits to 16 as we went on three vacations. Just writing this blog has allowed me a lovely hour of reminiscing.


Outer Banks - We stayed in a beach house in the small town of Waves. The ocean was just a short walk over the dunes from our backyard. We enjoyed the wonderful company of the Vega family as we ate lots of pavlova, relaxed at the beach and visited the Wrights Brothers monument. See the photos here and read the preliminary blog here




Washington DC & Williamsburg - 10 days of soaking in US history. We had an awesome time exploring museums and eating at good restaurants. Read the blog here, see the photos here, read Fiona's highlights, Andrew's highlights and Lucy's highlights.






Boston/New England - Whilst based in Boston we managed to visit a few other states including New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and Rhode Island. See our series of Boston bite blogs.







We had a number of overseas visitors including Aunties Julie and Lynda in February, Auntie Kat in September (for her birthday of course) with friends Collin and Steve, and Grandma Lamberton in October.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Product of the week - Kiwano

Here's the scoop from Wikipedia (once I read the eating instructions I chickened out of tasting this one):

The horned melon, also called melano, African horned cucumber or melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, English tomato, or kiwano, is the vine Cucumis metuliferus and is of African origin. It is grown for its fruit, which looks like an oval melon with horn-like spines. The fruit of this plant is edible, but it is used as often for decoration as for food. ... Its' tastes has been compared to a combination of cucumber and zucchini or a combination of banana, cucumber and lemon.

Weekend highs and lows

Family update: In between Christmas parties (two - Elizabeth & Trung's and one at church) I've been in bed sick. Lucy has been using this time imaginatively by 'going to the beach' which means putting on her swimming costume and loading up a wagon with hats, sunscreen, food, clothes (and whatever else she deems necessary) For some reason she thinks lots of socks are required as she doesn't want to get sandy feet (even though she has NEVER worn socks to the beach before and likes the feeling of sand) Needless to say there is stuff everywhere! Andrew has been cooking and tidying up as well as working on the pizza oven.

Pizza oven update: We are ordering the stones today and wood in being delivered this afternoon

Weather update: Last week it was 20-25 degree celsius every day. It was awesome. Today's temperature range is 4 to -7 degrees celsius! Christmas day ironically will be back to 22 degrees!

From the mouth of babes!

We have a nativity set that Lucy is allowed to play with (which she does regularly). In a hysterical turn of events she put one of the wise men in time-out because he woke up baby Jesus!

Pizza oven update #5564

As you can see the structure is really starting to take shape. Andrew cut the angular bricks for the roof structure to sit on. He is pretty keen to get working again after a weather hiatus over the past 3 weeks (it has been below freezing at night which means he can't work with concrete as it won't set at those temperatures)

This week the weather is supposed to between 13-20C so I'm sure some more progress will be made. We've been checking out various colours of stonework and hopefully we will make a decision within a week so that we can order it in before Christmas.

Product of the week - Pepino melon

An exotic fruit from Harris Teeter. It tastes kind of like rock melon (cantaloupe) but less sweet. I asked Lucy what she thought (she doesn't like any kind of melon) and she said "naughty dose"?


Here are the details:


Pepino melon is native to Peru, but is now also grown in California and New Zealand. It is also known as treemelon, bush melon and mellowfruit. Pepino’s are teardrop shaped and have a smooth skin that is striped with yellow and dark purple. The flesh of this fruit is fragrant and combines the tastes of cantaloupe and honeydew. Pepinos are available late fall to mid-spring. Fruits with a light yellow or green skin are not ripe, while fruits with dark purple stripes are ripe. Ripen at room temperature until as firm as a slightly ripe plum, then refrigerate ripe fruit for up to 3 days. Pepinos are best served peeled and cubed or sliced.

Weekend shopping and jumping

Saturday morning saw myself, Alexis and Jackie driving down to Myrtle Beach SC to hit the outlet stores. Lucy scored big with some new clothes, a pair of shoes and several hair bows (as modeled) whilst Andrew got a lot of new work shirts. The outlet mall had about 50 shops within the one area so it wasn't exactly factory outlet bargains but there were still good deals to be had. There were a number of brands I had never seen before like Harry & David's and KB Toys so it was fun to check what that had in stock.

On the way I learnt a few interesting things about South Carolina, for instance tattoo parlours are illegal but full nudity strip shows, pornography shops and fireworks are legal. It seems like a very strange state!

Andrew and Lucy in the meantime went to Monkey Joes, a play area with lots of inflatable slides and castles. They had a great time but Lucy told me that 'Monkey Joe is scary' (someone was dressed up in monkey suit for all the birthday parties going on and she was happy to see him from a distance but not so happy when he came up close)

On Sunday night we visited Mary Lou and Bill (Grammy Lou and Poppy) for dinner. Lucy is very attached to Poppy and spent most of the night following him around. She even got an early Christmas present!

Stay tuned over the next few days for updates on the pizza oven.

Blooming roses

This season our amazing rose bush produced 241 roses starting on 17 April and going through to 18 November! There are still a couple of unopened buds on the bush but given the very chilly weather I think they are dead. The April roses are definitely the best ones - large, long lasting and extremely fragrant.

What do we do to enable this abundance of flowers? Lots of pruning and a little fertiliser. And then we sit back and smell the roses!

In thinking about Santa

In our household we don't 'do' Santa for Christmas. We don't pretend he is real, he doesn't bring presents to Lucy and we don't go to the mall for Santa photos.

We have three simple reasons for doing this:

1. Christmas is about Jesus

2. We don't like lying.

3. Santa was created by Coca-Cola to promote consumerism. [Don't get me started on this one!]

Not everyone likes our decision but don't worry we'll be teaching Lucy not to say anything to other kids. She won't be running around telling other kids that Santa isn't real. She'll know other families pretend Santa is real and she'll just go along with it. [By the way both Andrew and I had Santa as kids and loved it]

And Lucy in no way misses out. We are already having an awesome Christmas season. And she doesn't even have to be good to get presents! We give her presents because we love her and she doesn't have to worry about some one secretly spying on her to see if she was naughty or nice!!

For a really well explained explanation of why not to do Santa check out Nicole's blog.

Ornament and Cookie Exchange

On Sunday afternoon we headed over to Alexis, Tim and Lilia's house to make Christmas ornaments and exchange cookies for our annual family party for our mom's group. After much persuasion, threatening and several timeouts Lucy, under duress, made a handprint in the clay. Two sugar cookies later and she was more than happy to paint the handprint (complete with the bobble from her knitted Grandma jumper) We had a fun time with Rock Band and then Wii bowling before coming home with a tin full of sugary treats. After such a full weekend we are very tired but happy!

(Btw we took cookies made from a recipe in our Lindt cookbook - milk chocolate maple and macademia! Not very sweet, in fact very unsweet but still very good)

Product of the week - Chayote squash

Yes Australians, this is the humble choko. When I was hawking fruit in Bethlehem during the nativity someone asked me what this strange green fruit was. I said choko! And got some strange looks! I was pretty surprised to see one as I hadn't seen any since we moved here. It seems that the choko has many names. The main one used here is 'chayote squash' and it is grown in Costa Rica. It is apparently a staple of the Mexican diet and I'm surprised we haven't come across it sooner. Not that we have missed it in anyway given that it tastes like... nothing!

Living Nativity

Friday and Saturday nights saw us in Bethlehem! Our church put on its annual living nativity drama and it was AWESOME! Three months of construction had produced a set complete with Herod's palace, the temple, a large marketplace and inn, stable, cross and tomb. The set was filled with about 50 actors, and numerous goats, ducks, peacocks, horses and donkeys. Over 1200 people visited the nativity to hear the story of Jesus.

We were so busy that we didn't take any photos but you can check out previous years here.

Andrew was a shepherd for most of the night but did get to feature as Joseph for a little while, whilst Fiona was a fruit seller in the market place. Although it was REALLY cold, and we were outside for 3 hours, we had plenty of layers of clothes under our costumes. Lucy was well looked after in the nursery and very much enjoyed going through the set to find a real baby Jesus.

So although we didn't have a romantic dinner together, nor fly to Hawaii to renew our vows, nor revisit our honeymoon location we were very happy to have pizza together in the church hall to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary!

10 years later

Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary!

Silver alert, call 511

Whilst driving along the 40 last week, a large electronic traffic sign said "Silver alert, call 511"

It sounded kind of scary but I had no idea what it meant. Here's the scoop:

"The new “Silver Alert” was officially launched Tuesday [December 2007]. State officials say it's much like he Amber Alert used to tell the public when a child has gone missing. A Silver Alert will be issued when people wander away from their homes or nursing facilities. Its biggest benefit is the ability to spread word of a missing person quickly and over a wide area."

It seems a silver alert is to track missing pensioners. Who knew?

A spade is not a pizza peel

The pizza tools have arrived! My cake tins are saved!

Here's the rundown:

• 1 long pizza peel
• 1 short pizza peel (actually this is exactly the right size for Lucy)
• 20 10-inch pizza trays
• 1 dough docker
• 2 pie pans
• 1 rolling pin
• 1 chopping board
• 1 long handled wire brush
• 1 bowl
• 1 tin of tomato puree

Product of the week - Tea biscuits

There's nothing particularly special about these biscuits. Except that they are called biscuits and they are for tea. Unusual as not many people seem to drink hot tea! (They drink sweet tea here in the south of course!) Simple plain tea biscuits. Yay!

It's Christmas Time!

It's Christmas time, but it's not Christmas! Explain this to a 2.5 year old who can see wrapped presents under our Christmas tree and can't understand why she can't rip them open. Look at her posing with her pink Lucinda ball! Look at Andrew struggling with the tree! (I was lucky to get this photo as I was laughing so much at him trying to get in the house - reminds me of a very funny mattress incident!)

Andrew went out on Saturday to buy a Christmas tree. His instructions were 'to get the biggest tree that could fit in the car'. As it turns out, that is a very large tree! Especially when the growers use special netting to keep the branches protected. So we ended up with a 10 foot NC-grown fraser fir. Wilmington prides itself on having the world's largest living Christmas tree and I think we are in contention for the largest personal tree at home. It is huge! Thankfully I had stocked up on decorations in January when the sales were on so we had enough to cover the tree.

To take the stress out of Christmas and focus on the real meaning of Christmas we have done a few things to get the stress out of the way!

1. We each get 2 presents only, 1 big and 1 small. All presents were purchased in November, wrapped and are now sitting under the tree. Already I feel a tendency to want to buy more (esp. given the dozen or so catalogues I receive EVERY DAY in the mail) but I am fighting this and will stay firm. We already have more than we need.

2. All Christmas cards have been written and mailed on 1 December.

3. Our calendar is booked. We have locked in various Christmas parties, scheduled the required cookie baking days and now are looking forward to celebrating. (Yes, Australians, it is almost compulsory to bake cookies at Christmas and give them to your friends. This year I am trying out a macademia and milk chocolate cookie from my Lindt cookbook)

Advent calendar

This morning Lucy was very excited to open the first door on the advent calendar! It is a magnetic board that each day reveals a piece of the nativity scene. We read from Luke and then Lucy opened door number 1 to find a star magnet.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we celebrated our third Thanksgiving! It is one of our favourite holidays as there are no obligations to decorate the house, wear special clothes or buy gifts. Basically you just need to eat and be thankful. Tonight we were invited next door for a turkey dinner with Margaret & Daryl and their friends Chris & MaryBeth. Chris brought along his excellent home-brewed wheat beer and Daryl roasted an awesome juicy turkey on the bbq. We finished the meal with a traditional pumpkin pie and a not so traditional packet of tim tams. The kids all played really well together, however at one stage 2 of them were found naked in Ava's bedroom playing dress ups! We watched a bit of the American football and then came home to watch the Charlie Brown Thanskgiving special.

Sugar Plum Fairy

On Sunday we headed downtown with Alexis and Lilia to Thalian Hall to see a performance of The Nutcracker. It was Lucy's first big outing to a theatre/cinema/live performance and she was excited (ie standing in her bed at nap time shouting that she wanted to go to the ballet NOW!) Dressed in a pretty pink butterfly dress and matching buttergfly shoes, she was a little overwhelmed by the crowd of people and was curious that the lights were switched off during the performance. She was extremely well behaved during the first half and sat very still. However the second half she was less co-operative and needed to go to the bathroom half way through! She lasted until 5 minutes before the end of the show which worked out perfectly as we could get away before the crowd. So my purple sugar plum got to see the sugar plum fairy and she thought it was magical!

Product of the week - Olde time candy

Our source for this candy is Cracker Barrel. They have a store attached to the restuarant that sells all sorts of strange and interesting things, mostly around holiday themes. But they also sell a lot of candy that used to be sold everywhere but has gone out of style. We tried these coconut style candies and whilst good where not great enough to make us want to purchase them again.

Andrew's Pizza Wilmington opens

Andrew's Pizza Wilmington opened on Saturday 22nd November 2008. And we even have the matching t-shirts to prove it!

The bricks in the dome were still pretty wet from construction so most of the heat from the fire was used to dry out the bricks rather than to heat them for cooking. Also it was about 2 degrees celsius outside and given that there is no insulation around the oven, it didn't get very hot inside. And the wood was wet.

All that sounds pretty bad but we were still able to turn out a couple of okay pizzas. First course was a pesto pizza (with home grown basil!), second was a more traditional pizza with cheese, ham, tomatoes and corn and lastly we had a dessert pizza, half with nutella and banana and half with peaches and honey. The main issue with the pizza was that the base was soft and not always cooked (a sign the oven wasn't hot enough) Andrew was happy with his secret dough receipe but there are still some cooking techniques to be perfected.

Also we have to get some tools as I am not allowing my springform cake tins to be used anymore nor is it wise to be using a spade as a pizza peel. We also have to get a supply of firewood as the couple of bags from HT we grabbed were mouldy.

There's still a lot of construction to be done but at last we have reached an exciting milestone!

Death

Yesterday I went to a funeral.

When we moved to the US we were looking forward to getting involved in a community and attending events. One of our goals is to be invited to a Southern wedding (we're still waiting on this and there are hopes for one next year) but I hadn't really thought about funerals.

Last week my friend A's 19 year old son was killed. He was robbed for his paycheck and cell phone. His body was found at one of the elementary schools which was subsequently closed for the day. A's two younger children attend that school.

An African-American funeral is an experience! The funeral was held in Burgaw (my first visit there) and it was the first time in my life I have been conscious of having white skin.

We spent 2 and half hours in the church (this is before the cemetery and the wake) praying, singing, listening and clapping. There were hundreds and hundreds of people. 60 teenagers answered an altar call.

And at the end we all filed past the open casket, one by one, a sombering reminder of our own mortality and a reminder of our need to get right with God.

Fresh spots

A lot of restaurants along Market Street in Wilmington have billboard signs with changing messages. Outside Whitey's this week it says "Fresh spots". Fresh spots to sit? Fresh spots to eat? Freshly painted areas to eat in?

What are spots?

It seems that spots are fish! And they are prevalent along the coast here. Bon appetit!

Product of the week - Reese's cookies

Ahhh another product of the week, another Reese's product! Since we moved to the US Andrew has hardly eaten peanut butter cups. Which is surprising given that he was willing to pay $2.50 for 2 in Australia. In any case I made him try these Reese's cookies just for that you readers.

The reaction: a good chocolate biscuit but with little peanut flavour - the chocolate overpowers to such a degree it is difficult to tell its a Reese's product.

Pizza Oven Progress

Half the weekend was devoted to the pizza oven. Well half was devoted to building the pizza oven and about 75% of the weekend was devoted to talking about and showing off pictures of the pizza oven!

The second arch is complete! And progress has been made building the wall around the dome. Andrew is picking up the welded flue today from the metal shop. Work will slow down while the roof structure is being determined - metal or wood for the frame? (I personally told Andrew to use whatever was easier. There is no fire risk due to all the insulation)

Saturday night saw us having a lovely dinner at the Jessens with the Bearmans and Alexanians. Everyone was talking about having Christmas pizzas but I was trying to hold back expectations (we don't even have a pizza paddle, pans, bowls etc with which to make pizzas!)

Thanksgiving Craft

We hosted a crafty playdate at our house this morning! We made two turkey themed crafts for Thanksgiving. The first one involved painted hands, glue and lots of pieces of foam. The second one involved a stick and some creativity to get the colour to come through on the turkey's feathers. We had lots of fun and surprisingly it didn't take long to clean up.

Flapjack breakfast

We had breakfast/brunch at Cracker Barrel this morning (don't call it 'crackers' mummy, it's 'cracker barrel') Despite talking about it all week (you no go to cracker barrel daddy, you do work) Lucy had a meltdown in the carpark. Not a screaming plank meltdown but one where she didn't want anyone to talk or look at her. She even wanted to go home before we ate. However 45 minutes later after she had eaten a significant amount of food (note: I fed her breakfast before she went) she was a lot happier and was able to burn some sugar off in the park. Not the hostess with the mostess.

Product of the week - Pie crust cutters

From the ever wonderful Williams Sonoma come these pie crust cutters in the shape of fall leaves. Last week Lucy and I went to a brunch with our mum's group and we took along a pumpkin pie. We made pastry leaves to put on top of the pie and they looked very cute. The pie itself was made of pumpkin, real pumpkin, not from a tin ie I peeled a pumpkin, cut it up and cooked it. That doesn't seem strange to me but the mum's were amazed! They were even more amazed that I used butternut squash. But they all agreed it tasted good. It took a lot of work to make it from scratch so I think next time I will take their advice and buy a couple of cans of organic pumpkin. The whole concept of pumpkin pie as a dessert is still a strange one to us Australians as evidenced by the leftovers in the fridge that have remained uneaten for the past few days.

Anniversaries and pizza ovens

Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll last week! The clear winner was 'Go back to our honeymoon spot (Brampton Island, Australia near the Great Barrier Reef)'. Unfortunately we won't be able to get back there this year, nor will we get to Hawaii. All spare money is being coralled for the pizza oven and its accessories. I'm hoping for our 20th wedding anniversary we can get back to Greece. Maybe I should start a travel fund now so that it becomes a reality!


And speaking of the pizza oven, the dome has been completed, except for a small hole at the top for a light. Andrew had to climb inside (yes through that small hole) to chip off lots of mortar at the top that had seeped through. He's now working on the second arch at the front. Then there's a lot of metal work, the rest of the brickwork, the tiling, the stonework etc etc. There's lots more to be done! However going to bed at 2am every night is not good for anyone, nor does it make for a happy home life so we may not make it to Greece if this continues for much longer!

Over the weekend we managed to squeeze in Cooper's 2nd birthday party. Lucy insisted that she give him the present and then promptly ran away from him. She ate lots of hot dogs, chips and cupcake icing but she especially liked the take-home party favour bags full of balls, bubbles and balloons. Happy birthday Cooper!

Weather update

The weather has been crazy lately as it cannot make up its mind as to which season it is. Here's a rundown:

13 October it was 90 degrees and we were swimming at the beach!

18 October autumn arrived and the temperature dropped to 60 degrees (with lows of 38)

1 November we are back at 75 degrees (and this is still the case today).

We are basking in these North Carolininan blue skies even though we know this weather will break soon. I think God gave NC a extra pinch of something special when he formed it.

Autumn, we are awaiting you!

Southern slang

I saw a personalised number plate (licence plate) on a car the other day that said INHGHCTN. In other words, in high cotton. I'd heard this Southern phrase a few times and decided to investigate. Here are some definitions:

• 'In high cotton' is a Southern term expressing the best of times and meaning that all is going very well
• 'in high cotton' - to have a lot of money. Prominently featured in the country-western song "High Cotton" by Alabama . "When we were kids, we thought we were in high cotton if we had a dollar."

There's also a fantastic restaurant in Charleston called High Cotton. When we were there we ate at the sister restaurant Blossom as Lucy was with us and HC looked a little too fancy.

Pizza Oven update

The pizza oven is progressing well. Andrew is working out there every night and is now up to about the 10th layer of bricks. Things are getting tricky at the top so the number of bricks laid each time is small. Keep checking www.andrewspizza.net for up to the minute news.

And happy birthday for tomorrow Dad!

Vote in my poll!

Given that in the US today is Election Day (with a capital E) I thought I'd give you a reminder to vote in my poll. For those of you using feeds to check the site, swing by and let me know how you think Andrew and I should spend out 10th wedding anniversary in December.

Product of the week - Fair food (elephant ears and funnel cakes)

Food at the fair! What do you imagine? Fairy floss (cotton candy), check; hotdogs, check; philly cheesesteaks, check; sno cones, check; funnel cakes, check; elephant ears, check.... wait funnel cakes and elephant ears???

The first photo is a funnel cake. Essentially strips of fried dough in a squiggly pattern, smothered in icing sugar or a topping or your choice (there is apple on the top half of this one)

The third photo is an elephant ear. Also fried dough, but in a single piece. Smothered with butter and then icing sugar.

Needless to say Lucy and Andrew devoured them!

Fun at the fair

The Cape Fear Fair and Expo is in town for a couple of weeks so we headed over to the airport to join the festivities. There was chainsaw woodcarving, cheerleading competitions, a livestock tent (full of rabbits, roosters and baby goats), sideshow games and rides, rides, rides. We thought the emphasis might be on agriculture and animals but really the focus was on entertainment for the kids. There were SO many rides and SO many games to spend money at. Fortunately the rides were covered by the admission price but it was surprising how many people wanted to shell out big bucks for the chance to win a stuffed animal!

Unfortunately we missed the kangaroos and tigers but we did have lots of fun. Lucy liked the police, fire, sheriff and national park stalls and even got a fireman's hat and a Smokey's friend bracelet. In the end Lucy did not want to go home but she was appeased by dinner at Cracker Barrel. Incidentally isn't funny how sometimes you keep bumping into the same people. At the fair on a number of rides, randomly placed throughout, we would end up being on the same ride as this particular family (who we don't know). We left at the same time (we bumped into each other at the exit) and then we walked into CB (10 minute drive away) and guess who was sitting at the table next to us? We should have introduced ourselves!

Whilst Lucy has been on lots of carousels (Hartford CT, Washington DC, Wilmington NC) she hasn't been on any other rides yet. She made up for it here having fun on the fire engine, wigglin' worm, carousel, ferris wheel, house of mirrors and the giant slide. She also went on a motorbike ride by herself but was so self conscious of all the parents staring at her she put her head down and stared at her feet for the whole ride. The operator was really worried about her so he stopped the ride to check on her but she just said 'more' so he started the ride up again and she put her head down again!

I'll leave you with a little video of Lucy and Andrew on the fun slide. Tune in for tomorrow's blog about American fair food - you can only imagine!!