Planning, Visiting , Shopping, Moving Dirt and Cooking

Sarah, Sam and I met with George this morning.  Trying to figure out how much we'll be able to get done this year with much more limited funds.  We have to do the outside--siding and grading--and would love to get plumbing done inside--for all bathrooms and kitchen even if we won't be able to get it all done.  We shall see.

When George left, we had a late breakfast of scrambled eggs with onions, garlic, cheese and red peppers.   Jackie and Andre arrived in the early afternoon bearing a grand hanging plant of pink, blue and yellow flowers and three pies from the vegetable stand on Route !5.

They had a quick meal of left-over pasta and cucumber soup while Sarah and Sam began making lists and planning shopping expeditions.
They headed out in search of many products while Jackie and Andre and I drove to the first trail head to walk into Hyper Humus.

The walk was lovely and the shopping successful--purchases for earth moving, floor fixing and wallpaper removal--bags and bags of top soil, knee pads, shovels, drop clothes, scrapers, face masks and more.  Sarah and Sam began hauling mountains of dirt from the bottom of the hill to the top.  This is part of the great re-grading effort.  It  wasn't completed last year. Water rushed down the hill, bits of the walls collapsed, piles of dirt at the bottom.   George explained how the slope should be built up--"just think like a rain-drop," he suggested.  Once the grading is complete, we have to add topsoil and plant grass.  Note newly purchased bags of topsoil at top of hill.

As they worked, Jackie and I began dinner preparations.  We roasted asparagus, eggplant, zucchini, onions and red peppers.  Just a little lemon on the asparagus--but we made a gremolata of lemon, parsley and garlic for everything else.  Once the vegetables were cooked, we grilled the chicken legs and thighs that I'd been marinating in orange juice soy sauce, garlic and ginger--and for a non-grill addition--mashed potatoes as well.  Very pleasant and leisurely  on the weeded patio.  Forgot to take a picture of the food before eating--but remembered mid-meal-not the whole spread--but you get the idea.   And then there was dessert--pies that Jackie and Andre had bought on Route 15--rhubarb and strawberry, berry, and some peach combo--all much better than in previous years--and ice cream that Sarah and Sam had bought after all their home-improvement shopping.  A grand meal--Sarah drove back to the city with Jackie and Andre--and Sam stayed for one more day of hard labor.