To The Surbiton Manor Born

Signs of life this week as things seem on point to begin. While we've, unusually, not had a single day over 50 degrees this March (and are not forecast to have one), the sun has been shining, and we're actually producing more electricity with the solar panels than we've been consuming - something we haven't seen since last fall. If you look closely at the image above, you can see the yellow arrow pointed toward a cauliflower seedling that emerged. Most of the pots we planted last weekend have just begun to show sprouts. I think this may have something to do with my vocal encouragements "Good morning little cauliflower! Time for a big day of growing!" and my evening guitar serenades. What small plant wouldn't want to hear the Ventures " Walk Don't Run " or Airbourne's " Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast " played with (slowly) increasing skill? The slag from last fall's excavations for the stairway has, indeed, turned to mud. Thi

  Yes, today marks the first day of spring, the spring solstice, ushering in Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, rises from Hades to bring the warm breezes, the green leaves, and the fertile land, which has but slept beneath winter's snows, to flower. She seems to be late, per the observed conditions out Surbiton Manor's front window. Nevertheless, the weekend marked the first seeds in the soil. I dropped the snowball cauliflower into the greenhouse, after giving it a good scrub in hopes of avoiding last year's issues with fruit flies. These will need to be planted out just after last frost, which, in theory, should be May 11...We shall see. Meanwhile, on the interior of Surbiton Manor, the painting death march toward Carpet Day continues. The baseboards are now complete. If the carpet were installed tomorrow, at least that would be done.  A bit of retail therapy happened last week when I got a new (Open Box scratch & dent) Epiphone Les Paul '61 SG. Fantastic guita

We've officially entered the top 10 winters for snowfall. There was another snowpocalypse (sort of) last week, and call me a kipper if it doesn't look like we're in for another one late this week. The snow at the end of the driveway is now heaped head high. So it is a good time for indoor pursuits, like preparing for the new carpeting and reading, and setting up guitars.  The photo above is the fireplace after repainting the brick. Painted brick would not be our first choice, the the hated previous owners (HPOs) left us little choice. On close inspection, which I spent most of my day closely inspecting it, the bricks were in pretty bad shape. Well, now they've got a new coat of paint on them. See the "before" picture below.  Last weekend, in much the same way that it was too rough for the old cook to feed the sailors on the ill-fated Edmund Fitzgerald, it was too busy to make a blog entry painting the hallway upstairs.  K. and I have spent the last week or so