Teeth suck!

I believe that Evolution had the financial benefit of dentists in mind when inventing teeth. It's true! According to The Guardian 654 dentists in England and Wales earned more than a quarter of a million pounds in 2009. I know that my friend would wish to be among them, but in general dentists do earn a lot of money.

And it is an odd job, don't you think? Children hate you - you can't even give them sweets at the end of their appointment as this would be sort of counterproductive, and adults don't particularly like you either except for the big house and the Merc in front of it, hence the status you add to their own portfolio when you show up for their dinners.

Evolution must have some weird, twisted mind to invent teeth. Probably one day it was sitting at a beach, a bit bored after all the evolving it already had done and thinking about what to do next. Maybe a tortoise came waddling by giving it a big grin, and it may have thought: Wouldn't it be great if there were loads of white pearl like things lined up along that rim, and let's make it a bit fleshier, yes lips would look sexy!

But that's the thing that happens when you start changing the design without thinking it trough. The white pearls keep falling off unless you root them in and then you might want to make them last for a lifetime so you add some nerves - great, really great idea - and then gums are needed to bed it all in, but unfortunately providing nice bedding for viruses and bacteria as well. The tortoises rim was perfectly fine, but NO! one had to temper with it, didn't one?

And now that Evolution has left us with it's mad invention it did what every good businessman does, it leaves us with the deputy - the dentist - and moves on to the next better job. I recently heard that at the moment it is working on our gut.

Yeah... I was at the dentist today had a new filling done... sorry for the rant...

A wonderful time of the year!

Oh I love autumn! It may be humid and cold, but those few moment of seeing a beautiful sunsets or looking into my garden and being hit by the colours of my hedge are worthwhile it. And the food, oh all those luscious flavours, everything tastes warm and cosy. Summer is nice, is fresh, lemony fruity. Well, basically the difference between summer and autumn is the difference between coriander leaves and coriander seeds. At that is why I am going to open the season for autumn cooking tonight and what better start there is than to do Stunningly Salacious Butternut Squash

After a cold, yet successful walking session with my dear friend this morning, and attending to some household chores. I am now looking forward to the smell of baked squash and cheese, probably followed by a very beautiful Creme de Figue.
Santé!

Spider News

Yikes! and Eeeek!

I just can't get used to them. I am sure my scream could be heard next door or even at the end of the village. It was a lovely warm night and I was happily sitting in the dark, the only light being shone by the computer screen, window open, soft breeze and a spider walks in. Very calmly walking along the upper rim of my keyboard, taking a little rest there and then slowly moving on to the laptop and then crawling underneath. By that time the scream already had happened and I found myself thrown and clinging to the wall of the other end of the room.

Brain racing for options, but in a very headless chicken way and not coming to any conclusion, hubby at the movies and so I did the very natural thing: I facebooked my distress!

Rika Nauck A huge spider just walked past my keyboard and now vanished under the laptop - yikes

... and instantly got reassurance that this spider will now house there forever. Thank you!

My research - via wireless keyboard, sitting in the middle of the room with feet up - revealed that it is quite likely to be a male on hunt for a mate. In November? you hear me scream! In my Study?

However, I had to give up. This thing was nowhere to be seen. I had an amazingly good night sleep despite a friend telling me horrid stories about spiders creeping into people's mouths, got up went into my spare room and there it was, of course right up at the top of the ceiling in a corner. Hubby had to finish his morning routine a bit in a rush - so should he be a bit smelly today, please forgive him, he had to rescue a damsel in distress - while I was watching the scary animal. Please excuse the poor photo quality, I just wasn't very keen on using the flash.

From there things went smoothly. I had decided that the poor sod deserves to live, he was a love sick bugger after all and hence excused for doing silly things. I offered hubby a choice of weapons and he safely placed him into the smaller glass and then I proudly dared carrying him downstairs into the garden. I even released him myself. I have to admit that he was not that huge, probably a late-comer of his poor old mum, and actually quite pretty. But definitely much prettier when outdoors!

Me carrying...

... the moment of truth, will I open the lid?

Yep, I did!

... and a happy ending.
(still no flash, didn't want to scare the little bugger now that all was over)

Hedgehog News

We have a lodger in the shed!

I am so thrilled. I know for sure that we have at least three hedgehogs in the garden, one of which we nurtured back to health this summer. I could hear them huffing and puffing during their weird romantic adventures and one cannot avoid to overhear them eating. All year round I leave my shed open in the hope that one moves in. It happened once, some years ago, and it is so wonderful to hear a bit of snuffling in the box once in a while.

So this year I left two boxes, a lot of dry plant material and newspapers in the shed. I wasn't entirely sure when they go to sleep so I left it in August and added a few nuts and seeds. The food was gone quickly but nothing else was touched - so somebody at least knew that there was possible accommodation.

And then I completely forgot about it until I needed a garden tool - and the place was raided. Not a single piece of newspaper lying there anymore and all the straw and leaves gone. However, I tend to not believe myself in things like those. I always am wondering whether or not I did leave the paper in this particular place, or if it actually was THAT much straw.

So I provided a few more seeds and some water and this morning it was gone. Dried mushrooms don't seem to go well, though. And, most importantly: The entrance to the cardboard box looks differently. Yesterday paper was sticking out, today it's gone!

We definitely have a hedgehog as a lodger!

5:30 PM and it's Halloween!

Oh my, made it just in time!

The house was decorated by 4 PM:

Window pumpkin in place...

... front garden pumpkin well positioned and decorated ...

... front door spider and rat enhanced ...

... sweets in place ...

... and then some cooking got in the way and I had to rush to get myself into shape.

Told you before: If there were witches I would love to be one, and Maud's Attic my favourite little boutique for accessories in Ipswich had this beautiful spider necklace which I didn't really need. But since I am scared of spiders and one has to face one's fears it was only natural to buy it. And who would be able to resist this cute little spider that sits in its web, minding its own business but on demand is all too willing to jump off and just hang on its silvery thread.

I am so in love with that thing now that at least those spiders don't bother me anymore at all. We will still have to see about the live, fast and unpredictably moving ones, though.

Well, then eventually I had got hold of a hat. For a witch the hat is an essential piece of equipment, I reckon, and when I saw this one I fell in love. It's nothing special, but I never had one before, it doesn't go floppy whatever you do to it and it somewhat suits me, don't you think?



And then it eventually got dark and I could snap my pumpkins lit. It's the moment of truth that will reveal whether or not they are scary at all.

... and then the 'Trick and Treaters' came!


Happy Halloween, Dears!