Plumb Out of Ideas for Plums

There are two wonderful plum trees in the yard. The landlords and the neighbors assured us that there would be more plums than we could eat, and they were sure right.

In addition to eating four to six plums per day, per person, we came up with a few creative uses:

Michael's special dried plum recipe

Stewing plums and blackberries in preparation for pureeing

Blackberry-Plum Fruit Roll-Ups!

Plum Cake

A Plum Shrub. Don't know what that is? Check it out!

How Lucky We Are

None of you, save Carrie, Rachael, Javier and Mike's parents, knew what The Shitty Apartment looked like. Good, you still don't. It was always part of the plan for our first place to be forgetful, and this entry helps us complete that process.

Don't be fooled by the fresh paint and new landscaping.

While we were loading the truck, the occupant of the balcony in the upper right intermittently, and stealthily, snapped photos of us. When Donica confronted her, she said, "Don't worry, I love you, I love you!" As a side note: Isaiah, you'd call the the 14' truck cheating, and it was, but they didn't have any ten-footers available and the cargo van was too big a challenge.

Donica's co-worker's friend's friend from church provided us the lead for the new place. After all of our craigslisting and driving around desirable neighborhoods, it's refreshing to be reminded that you can still count on serendipity and personal connections.

Hello lover.

The iris patch

We knew straight away that this was the apartment for us. After walking through the garden we entered into a dining area and nice-sized kitchen with more cabinets and drawers than we know what to do with, washer/dryer/dishwasher, ten foot ceilings in the living room, and lots of windows.  Inside of 30 seconds Donica had decided we were taking it.  Seriously, I remember her saying, "Jerry, this is great, so great, we'll take it."

Recently liberated from the ivy is our very own garden gnome

After living with a kitchen that had one cupboard for food and another for dishes, we had a very hard time unpacking. Throughout the house we found ourselves crowding our possessions into tight clusters despite the relatively sprawling shelves, cupboards, closets and counter tops.

Plates, glasses, tupperware, spices or pots and pans? They probably all fit in here.

The glorious pantry!

We heart mason jars. White sugar, barley, brown sugar and bulgur wheat.

True to form the kitchen and wine rack were unpacked first, while other boxes remain unpacked, even as you read this post.

Banana breading with the new, cool-ass scale. The recipe was metric, what?!

Oh, and books. It was much fun unpacking and deciding how to organize our library.

Every day we spent time reclaiming the gardening space.  Look closely, this is the first found worm.

Look at my pretty, gardening wife.

About 2/3 weeded, yard waste bin about 2/3 full.

Spring-time bulbs in Seattle are a sight to see. Daffodils, irises, lilies and the fashionably late tulips.

While not completely settled in, our nice new digs have markedly improved our outlook on life and our opinion of Seattle. It has also given Donica an excuse to spend most weekends thrift store shopping. Come visit!

On to the Next

Yep, it's a bicycle post, but I wanted to illustrate how committed to this new apartment I am.  I'm down to just the bikes Donica and I are riding.  That's right, two bikes!  I can't even look at craigslist during my lunch break for fear that I'll give in to the many temptations I'll find. Now, before you start feeling too sorry for me, I still have the Bertin down at my parents house awaiting a complete upgrade overhaul.  And there's room to have one-at-a-time projects at the new place.  That said, check out this cool Raleigh Sport 3-speed I'm parting ways with.

 I really dig the upright posture and the cushy ride the over-sized tires provide. I find myself making turns just for fun, weaving through open parking lots and making shuushing sounds as I lean side to side. It's been a great beer bike, especially since my ride to the pub is flat enough for the three speeds to handle (not always the case in Seattle).

 It's not with out it's scratches and rust, but it's all cosmetic.

Look at those cool Raleigh herons in the chainwheel.

 

Which shot do you think best captures the billeted side walls and neat spine running the length of these wheels?

Silverseal 26" x 1 3/8" (no metric units here) rims.

 Hasta!