Two Years On

And so it has been two years now since we arrived on these shores. Things have a way of repeating themselves, however, making it seem as if little has changed – or maybe as if we are in a version of the film ‘Groundhog Day’.

This time last year, Andrew had gone off to the UK for two weeks, and I was doing some census work. This year, Andrew has gone off to the UK for two weeks, and I am, again, doing some census work. Go figure. If I am doing census work this time next year, somebody shoot me.

Sally and Spencer started school last week; both looking forward to it after 12 weeks of lolling around here. Spencer is in the 4^th grade, but would have been in year 5 at Leigh school. Sally, a senior in high school, and due to 'graduate' is busy looking at ‘colleges’ to attend – although has no specific 'major' or field of study in mind to my knowledge. She is leaning towards art courses – I would hope she might do more with it than I.

We are still having temperatures that skirt the 90s, more often, now on the cooler side of that figure, but today it is a cloudy and chilly 66 out there. Who’d’ve ever thought one might consider 66 degrees chilly? And I discover, when I wake sometime between 5am & 6am that it is darker and darker. Sigh, with kiddos in school, cooler temperatures, and shorter days, I’m already going into an autumnal funk.

I can be brought out of it fairly quickly though when out in the garden harvesting. Yellow summer squash (sometimes known as crookneck or straightneck) is a personal favourite – for some reason not grown or marketed in the UK - and my one plant has produced so much that the children are pleading for us to have something else for once. Loads of cucumbers – grown outside no less – are also proving troublesome. I juice one most days, but what to do with the rest?

We are amply able to appreciate seasonal produce from the grocery store as well, and it is with great delight that we find that Colorado Peaches are ripe and can be had for 99c(64p)/lb. Imagine. Cantaloupe melon is also another Colorado stalwart and is in the market now for, perhaps $1 a melon or 30c/lb. And while these items can be had at any time of the year, it seems that prices reflect the seasonality of foods here to a much greater extent than they did at home.

Those of you who pay attention will notice that even after two years, I still think of Leigh as home. Now there was a garden.....