9/11

Today is the eighth anniversary of the Twin Towers. I was living in Marina del Rey in Los Angeles which is three hours behind New York. When I turned the radio on in the morning, the announcer was talking about the towers and I thought he was giving a promo for an upcoming program so I got into the shower. I came out of the shower and he was still talking about it. That's when I realized that this was for real and it was going on right now. I rushed in and told Malcolm that we were under attack and then I turned on the TV. I saw the second tower go down and watched pretty much for the rest of the morning. It was an unbelievable sight and not one that I would ever want to see again. It falls into the category of, "Where were you when?"

09-09-09

This is supposed to be a very lucky day in the Chinese calendar but it is also the 2nd anniversary of my divorce. Maybe I can put the two things together and have a good day. To ensure the best possible day, I have invited a few very close friends to come for a meal tonight.My kitchen is close to finished. I did most of my cooking yesterday. The oven works and I had a hotplate from John T. I made a Boeuf Bourgignon which is delicious. There will be vegetables from a combination of my garden and the allotment - even potatoes. Diana gave me some apples from her tree and I have made an apple crumble. Don't worry; I'm not going to start making my own wine!

The Boy

I spent Thursday to Saturday in Brighton helping Alison to celebrate her birthday. She was 39 yesterday. It's really sad when you have to start lying about your children's ages! She's my baby and she turns 40 next year. I might have to kill her. We had a terrific dinner last night. We went to a nearby restaurant which has excellent food and it is within easy walking distance. I arrived home this afternoon and must now start setting up my new kitchen. I thought I would just fool around on the computer first. I went to the Mac shop in Brighton to look at the big fancy
I-macs. I'm tempted to switch over but it's a big decision. My current computer is very slow and it shuts down without notice which is very irritating. It's quite old now (5 yrs) so perhaps I will be brave and become a Mac person.

New Name

I have decided to drop the "Cecil" from my blog name. Although it was my godmother's name which made it all right, it is also Malcolm Pike's middle name and that made it all wrong. So I will simply be Anne Richards.

Inundated

The shades for the back room came yesterday and they were rolled the wrong way so had to go back for re-rolling. They will arrive around 1pm. Before I noticed that they were not right, the fitter had hung them so I had a chance to see how the pattern is going to look. It's super. I am going to love them.




My house is full of men. This is good from the building point of view. Lee (the builder) is finishing up drilling and fixing. A few minutes ago the granite men arrived with my slab cut into proper sized pieces. They will be putting it in place soon and I am terrified. I chose the slab about a month ago and today I will have to decide whether the choice was a good one. If it isn't, I will have to live with it. Unlike Formica or tiles, it is not replaceable due to cost.

PS: I'm a happy camper. Everything in place and I love both. For those of you who saw my kitchen in Marina del Rey, do you notice anything?

Rosie is 2 (almost)

Rosie's birthday is actually tomorrow but we all had family lunch today at the farm. I got her a car just like the one at my house. What I didn't realize was how difficult it would be to put it together. It took me two hours just to get the four wheels on and then I had to go to the lunch. Chloe took over and built the rest of it. Rosie is thrilled. She looks just too cute going around in it.

Kitchen update - The units are in place and some of the appliances but I now await the granite which is due at the end of this week. Because I live alone, it hasn't been too bad making do with sandwiches and food on the hotplate.

A picture

There is no reason for this post except that I think this picture is just too damn cute.