Another beautiful autumn photograph courtesy of Dr. Stratton.
This one is taken from the deck looking southward.

In unrelated news...

As part of our quest for more self-sufficiency April picked and dried basil, peppermint, tarragon, and parsley from our final Santa Fe garden. We got it all packed up the other day and discovered we'd produced 16 jars worth from our "meager" harvest!

Autumn Color

We Were Trying to Identify the Family Silver

So we looked it up on one of those replacement websites after Ebay finally yielded a positive identification. We're thinking of feeding Russ' stuff addiction by selling Mom's goopey silver and filling out the set. Here are some of the more esoteric pieces...

Casserole Spoon
Lettuce Serving Fork
Tomato Server
Cucumber Server
Old Style Pickle Fork
Pickle Serving Knife
Mustard Spoon
Hooded Asparagus Server
Macaroni Server
Croquette Server
Baked Potato Fork
Pea Serving Spoon
Cranberry Server
Horseradish Serving Spoon
Sandwich Tongs

Cream Ladle
Mayonnaise Ladle
Bullion Ladle
Oyster Ladle
Cream Dipper

Cracker Spoon
Saratoga Chips Cracker Spoon
Pierced Saratoga Chips Server
Egg Server & Spoons
Corn Fork
Five O-Clock Teaspoon
Butter Pick ( two-tine or single spiral)
Butter Spreader
French Hollow Knife with Bolster
Medicine Spoon
Infant Feeding Spoon
Individual Asparagus Tongs
Youth Tea Cutlery
Child Tea Cutlery
Terrapin Fork
Ramekin Fork
Cream Soup Spoon

Cake Saw
Pastry Server
Pastry Fork
Pierced Waffle Server
Buckwheat Cake Server
BonBon Scoop
BonBon Tongs
Confection Spoon
Petite Fours Server
Individual Pap / fruit Spoon
Orange Spoon
Fruit Knife & Fork
Strawberry Fork
Chocolate Spoon
Long Handle Chocolate Muddler Spoon
Sorbet Spoon
Parfait Spoon
Ice Cream Spoon
Pudding Spoon
Large Solid Ice Cream Server
Jelly Knife & Spoon
Preserve Spoon

Almond Scoop
Nut Serving Spoon
Pierced Nut Serving Spoon
Nut Pick
Crumb Knife
Cheese Scoop

Marrow / Bone Scoop
Sardine Fork
Tinned Sardine Serving Fork
Chipped Beef Fork (in 3 sizes)
Cold Meat Fork
Ham Slicer Knife
Butter Pick (1 twisted tine)
Lobster Fork
Oyster Fork
Crab Mallet

When It Rains It Pours

Do you remember those reports of flooding in Scotland back in August? Here's a picture from the bottom of our road. That's the corner of our building in the middle ground. No worries about our wee hoosie... it was above the flooding and protected by a good wall along the park boundary. It must be said, however, that the news reports were not correct. The flooding in this location would have been directly caused by a "trash screen" installed in the stream several years ago just above our building. This is the second substantial flood caused by the failure of Fife Council to clear the collected refuse in a timely (and might I add, sanitary) manner.

Here, then, is news from our friends, the Goldsmiths, of the rest of the "flood" in Cupar and St. Andrews. Each of these small, local businesses were generally strong enterprise just four years ago.

Things are very slow here, with a lot of property on the market, particularly “2^nd houses” which have been hit by having to pay full local Council Tax, as well as the credit crunch. However, as Tannery Court is towards the lower end of the market – and above the floods! – it stands a chance of people down-sizing; particularly if the credit situation eases a bit. How is the Santa Fe place going?

Sorry to continue the gloom! Shops are closing almost daily, “Ian Joy” in St.Andrews is giving up the shop after 60 years, and Michael is just continuing as commercial photographer. The ladies’ woolly-shop opposite is in the hands of the Receivers, the Meal Shop (Rogers) in shut, although the Cupar one is surviving. Coffee Place in Greyfriars’ Street is closed. Cupar is struggling on, McColl’s newsagents is now a sandwich bar (that’s five in Cupar town centre – you can get a sandwich between visits to charity shops). The computer shop now also sells kitchen pots and pans. Megatronics, the computer experts in Methil, have shut – they used to be the biggest independent computer business in Scotland. And goodness knows what will happen with the banks … Bank of Scotland has been taken over by Lloyds TSB, and Bradford & Bingley has been nationalised; the Royal Bank of Scotland is struggling to keep it’s head above water. We are with the Clydesdale Bank, who are owned by an Australian bank, so fingers crossed …

Autumn Color

Taken by Mr. Stratton this last week.

Making An Inventory

Russ discovered the Computerize Your Assets home inventory program about a month ago. and has been occupying his time entering all his collections. We really like it... especially since it was only $50.

It took a while to learn how to attach pictures but once we got that down it's fairly easy. We can attach as many as we need, too! There are screens and screens of data fields to hold nearly all the data you can imagine, though only a limited number of characters in the open description field. So far, that's the only real fault we've found. After all... how do you begin to describe a pre-production lens in 100 words or less?

Why are we telling you this boring stuff? Because we know what your closets look like.