Statice in new home, likewise the dryer

A couple more thrills and spills before Mrs Miele took up residence. Finally installer got in touch early this morning, gave me eta of 11-1, to call when leaving previous location. Fine, transmitted info to Handsome Son.

Then a text at noon: flat tire on truck with dryer loaded on it. New eta of 2 soonest, would I rather postpone? After trying for fifteen months for this, what's a couple of hours..I said no, please come today.

Which he did, very nice guy,  and singlehandedly lifted the old dryer off the wall, none of the problems I'd been disasterizing, installed the new proud beauty on top, without dropping it,  took away all the debris, was done in a bit over an hour and a half, including setting the dryer up to run so we could see it at work.

Charged me half what the appliance guy had estimated. Cheerful even about the flat,  said it was better than happening on the beach, where he takes the truck  in summer. Definitely a glass half full man.

You see the compact area we had to work with. Every square inch occupied. Why we had to take what fitted.

Happy campers all round. Handsome Son very pleased. So's his landlady.

We had a celebratory cup of Earl Grey, and I departed, exhaling all the way home.

So we got our money's worth from my relief check in drama and suspense, supported a local small business, (installer's a one-man band), plus  supported the appliance retail sector, and I hope the appliance man gets a commission, because he was on top of it. 

And provided a gripping saga for the benefit of the blogistas of Field and Fen. Better than stuffing it in the mattress.

The statice has company now and a place in the window.  

While I was over at the condo I did a bit of gardener's larceny, and uprooted  a couple of stems of spearmint and peppermint from the foot of the steps. I'd planted everything there back when I lived there, so it was more like reclamation. I've potted them firmly, they're not getting loose to take over. 

Spearmint tea is lovely in summer.

And peppermint makes a wonderful sauce for vegetables and lamb, which I don't eat, but good with all kinds of food. Just finely minced, vinegar, spoonful of sugar, done, and excellent.  

My Aunt Annie showed me how to make it when I was very small. Also inadvertently  illustrating that an unmarried working lady can, too, cook. The first recipe I ever made, except no recipe, we just did it. 

Aunt Annie was the eldest sister in my mom's family, worked in an local orphanage when I was young, as a housemother. 

Many of the kids had at least one parent who couldn't keep them, often the mother of the family had died, the father had no way to cope and work, no child care in existence, unless a female relative could be conscripted. So they usually couldn't be adopted, the idea being to be back with a parent at some point. Pretty bleak life.

This institution was comparatively enlightened, with boys housed in actual house-type buildings, sixteen to a housemother, like an oversized family but not the kind of crowd kids get lost in.  We knew Annie as Auntie Where the Boys Are, because of her job.

A cousin of mine also worked there, much younger and always getting into trouble with the superintendent for being out on the playground roller skating with the boys, or getting up games of cricket when they thought she should be doing serious work like laundry. 

I've always thought she might have been the best thing that ever happened to the kids, injecting fun into lives that hadn't had much.

Another detour down les neiges d'antan..