Salem & Mum’s Visit

The last couple weeks have been fairly chilled, I did a bit of baking.

The kitties have been enjoying the last of the good weather before it goes and we received the kind gifts of a dead mouse and shrew from Mr Barcle.

Our bed from IKEA finally came… it’s absolutely huge but it just about fits so no more of Kim’s pointy knees in my back. Also we got some lights installed in our upstairs bedroom because there weren’t any so it’s all come along nicely.

Lucky the bed did actually get delivered on time because the very next day we were off out to Logan airport in Boston to pick up my mum who came for a little visit.

She wanted a sign so I made a bohemian rhapsody themed sign to collect her with at the arrivals gate.

So that was all good, we had planned to go out the next day but our heating (which we hadn’t really used until now) decided to play up so we had to have a nice heating chap come out because there was an air bubble in the tank or something but we’d just had it serviced so everything was sorted quickly. So because we had to be back to see the heating engineer that day we planned a shorter trip to the butterfly conservatory we went to last year. They had some quail chicks there to buy because in the conservatory they have little quails darting about and they are just gorgeous.

The Yankee Candle Factory is right next door so we went there too which we all enjoyed, I was especially excited for the snow machine. We had a tasty lunch there and we all bought a few things. I got a nice smelling beeswax candle.

When we got back Kim pointed out that the naughty neighbourhood squirrels have been eating my indian corn… I assume it’s revenge for us buying a squirrel proof bird feeder because they kept opening ours and eating all the seeds. They worked out how to open the old bird feeder faster than I did.

Last Sunday we went for a trip to Salem which was great because it was near Halloween so a lot of people were dressed up, it was very busy.

There was a motorbike event and the police closed large sections of the road for a kind of parade which was pretty funny because lots of the bikers were dressed in costumes like clowns and snow white and skeletons etc and some threw candy out to the kids watching.

We went to see a witch trial.

Which was good but some genius decided to bring their toddler along who made noise pretty much continually… almost as if a toddler didn’t find historical puritan witch trials interesting… ha.

We browsed a lot of the shops and market stalls, as you’d expect it was very geared towards tourists and the day before we had gone to Walmart with my mum to buy Halloween stuff. We had bought some witches hats to wear for Halloween and we saw the exact same ones for sale on a market stall for almost triple the price. They had psychic readings in one shop for $60+ so they must have been raking it in. We found a cool retro store that had old comics and old toys still in their boxes and records so we browsed that for a while.

And of course we browsed the old grave yard.

And that was our weekend!

Renaissance Faire & Hartford Pride

The weekend before last we got tickets for the Renaissance Faire in Lebanon on Groupon.

There were birds of prey and different animals about.

They also had jousting but the weather that day was terrible so they had to stop early because it was too wet for the horses.

I don’t know what I was expecting but the Americans went hard on the theming, Kim and I didn’t dress up and we were in the minority. Everyone kept putting on dodgy English accents too but no one could pronounce the place names they were supposedly from. I distinctly heard someone pronounce Norwich as ‘nor-wich’.

Kim got a ticket from the Sheriff.

And we went to a witch burning, but in the end the wet weather won out and we gave up.

The next day was Labor Day and Kim was working but I decided to do a little labour of my own and got round to some weeding in the garden.

I guess it would have looked more impressive with a before and after shot… never mind.

In other news, we saw some more wildlife this week. A lovely looking raccoon in our neighbours garden out in the day. Kim said this meant it had rabies but I googled it and that’s just an old wives tale. We also got brought a thoughtful gift from Barclay cat in the form of a northern short tailed shrew on our porch. I’ve never seen a shrew before but it was OK, just a bit shell shocked so I picked it up with some gardening gloves (apparently they’re venomous?) and put it in a box to have a rest before I let it out again in the forest by our house.

We bought a new bench to go in our upstairs bedroom which Bunny the cat has adopted as her own.

This weekend we went to Stop & Shop, a different grocery store and we discovered the British Aisle (as opposed to the British Isle?). Finally I can get marmite, squash, lemon curd etc.

They also sell candles with the pope on them, so… there’s that.

And slanderous magazines. I remember Kim had a magazine once that said it contained the Duchess of York’s baby scan photos… as if?! I honestly don’t know how they get away with the silly things they say unless it’s just that royal family doesn’t care and ignores them.

We got a lot of autumnal themed things and Kim planted the chrysanthemums.

This weekend we went to Pride in Hartford. It wasn’t a march but more of an event and they had stalls you could look round and a ton of free pens and stickers and tote bags etc. There was a stage with different acts, I wasn’t sold on the acts so I chose this view behind the massive red afro.

It was OK but I prefer a march I think.

Afterwards we went to Bushnell Park for a little walk.

Sunday we went to IKEA and spent about $2,000 on a ton of furniture for the house but on the plus side now Barclay can sit at the new table with us.

Waiting

It seems like Kimberly’s visa is taking forever since the wedding but back home I’ve been busy with work.  I’ve also been doing a few home improvements here and there ready for when Kim gets back, especially the garden. Our garden is a paved square affair so I’ve been getting a few pots and plants.

I also took a trip to IKEA on the way back from visiting my Great Aunt in Essex and, after falling over in the rush to get nearer to discount furniture and scraping up my knee (ouch), selected this table and chairs for 35 pounds. Bargain. My gardening assistant is pictured left, unseen is our supervisor who prefers to watch from the doorway.

Particularly difficult to find has been a pot for a herb garden, so I gave up my search and bought this bin thing from IKEA which I hammered drainage holes into the bottom of (much to the annoyance of my poor neighbours).  And it seems to be doing the job tolerably. I got a wind up washing line too in case the sun ever shines… ha. ha. ha.

In other news tourist season is beginning again and places are starting to open.

Tasha from work and I took a nice stroll in Gorleston with ice creams after a training day last week and successfully didn’t get rained on.

The weird tat shops are open again in Yarmouth for my perusal.

But it’s still a long way off until I brave my first ever dip in the Yarmouth sea.

Also, in unrelated news I finally  got some curtains… off eBay… why don’t we just buy everything online? It’s just better. But anyway now I can feel like a grown up and draw the curtains of an evening… only joking I’ve still never actually used them. Or ironed them. Once upon a time I didn’t mind ironing too much until my ex-military Dad starting getting a little crazy about ironed creases down the middle of my school trousers in the conviction that it would “impress my teachers” (it didn’t). Now I try to follow my mum’s philosophy of if it needs ironing I’m not buying it but I’m hoping the curtains will just sort them selves out… either that or Kim will fix them when she gets home.

 I think even the cats are bored that Kim isn’t home yet.

IKEA!!!

After my cousin’s wedding the boyfriend and I had a trip to IKEA on the way home to Norwich. The square-about was confusing but we made it.

Ohhh IKEA, how I love you and your cheap Scandinavian goods.

As I was walking round the store a lady saw me take a photo and said oh look how sweet, she’s taking pictures. Errr yeah? I got a blog to write lady, get with the program!

I got tasty dinner too for under £3! Lingdon berry juice, cinnamon rolls and calzone!

Thank you IKEA, please move to Norwich ❤