i guess my list is going well, since i didn't write anything at all yesterday, so i must be keeping my resolution of not spending too much time in front of the computer. the weather is absolutely glorious, so i definitely don't want to coop myself up in the house when i can be outdoors.
i did spend some time indoors, laying out the kitchen tiles so that the tile man can put them up (whenever he decides to show up). base tile is an orangey-yellow called mandarin and i've strategically dotted it with shiny red tile (to match the refrigerator) and a few fun little rustic tiles with a petroglyph on them (that's the lighter ones you can see). they'll go on the wall that you can just barely see in this picture, right above the sink. it took me the better part of a day to get it right, but i think it came together in the end.
the decking is nearly finished out in what is fast becoming a courtyard. i just heard the truck come with the last of the boards, so it will no doubt be finished today. husband and i ran around to 4 different nurseries in search of the perfect tree to plant in the decking. in the end, we found a wonderful catalpa ("trumpet tree" in danish) that has a lot of character. a tree with character that was at least 2 meters high, that was our requirement. 
the rain barrel was delivered this week as well. it's a wonderful old french oak barrel that was definitely used for red wine in its day, as it's giving off a faint aroma of cabernet still. it also has great character. luckily, there's no rain in sight this week, so we have time to get it set up properly and hooked to the gutters so that the rainwater is mainlined directly into it next time it does rain.it seems that things are coming together and although our projects are far from finished, it does begin to feel a bit more like it will be done in time for my parents' visit at the end of august. i surely hope so, as we've invited 68 adults and 30 kids for a party! that seems to be a good driver for us to keep the nose to the grindstone and finish. we've been lucky to have july off from work as well.
husband has a completely amazing capacity for work. he works until well after dark every evening. i feel a little ashamed of myself for the time i spend at the computer, but since i've been doing a bit of work this month on a consulting project, i try not to feel too badly about it. much of the work that he's doing i'm not really so much help with anyway--i managed to cut myself cooking on saturday (rather badly--it wouldn't stop bleeding for an alarmingly long time) and then again on sunday when i was working with the tiles--so imagine me near a saw! not good!
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on another note, i devoured a wonderful little book over the past 24 hours (that also kept me away from the computer). mohsin hamid's the reluctant fundamentalist. it's an extremely well-written and compelling exploration of how someone seemingly "integrated" (there's lots of talk of integration in the danish press) into western society can come to reject it. it's evenly and intelligently written, with virtually no reference to religion. this, for me, makes the arguments all that more powerful--the cultural forces at work on people, pulling them in opposite directions. it captured as well the zeitgeist after september 11 and how people on both sides reacted. a very powerful little book that i highly recommend.
