We have a lot of good memories from our month in the Russafa neighborhood. Just about anything we could possibly need could be found within a few blocks, including two large grocery stores and...
Blog posts from Daily life
2023 Year in Review
Previous years-in-review – 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 In 2023 we focused on longer, slower trips. That led to less total flying than in...
NY Summer 2023: sights
We spent the majority of July away from NC, escaping some of the heat and humidity. Though we typically worked during the day, we had plenty of time in the evening and on weekends to check out the...
2022 Year in Review
Previous years-in-review – 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 2022 marked a busier travel year, including a return to international travel. 5 countries...
Art in Bloom 2022
Art in Bloom is a fundraiser for the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) where florists create artwork-inspired floral displays. It is a great annual event that we try to attend each year. These are...
NY Summer 2021: shucking oysters!
A few days after we arrived on Long Island I started noticing "Local Oysters" placards popping up along the side of the main and north roads. Normally, I would get my oyster fix once or twice a...
Making bread without yeast: a lesson in patience
Like many people I have been making A LOT of baked goods over the last year while stuck at home during this pandemic. I've made English muffins, Pão de Deus, focaccia bread, bagels, chocolate...
Pandemic “Dinner and a Movie” Nights
Since we are still mostly housebound and missing travel we came up with the idea of pairing meals (and wine!) to the location of a movie. We've been wanting to watch the Before trilogy for a while,...
2020 Year in Review
Previous years-in-review – 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 Obviously we did not have the travel year we originally planned. Trips to Jordan, Scotland, Canada, the...
Building a fire patio
We've used a small copper fire bowl for our backyard fires for years. Normally we'd set it up in the middle of the yard, clearing a small patch of leaves and pine needles. It worked ok, but it could...
Light-up house numbers
Our house is set back from the road making it hard to see our house numbers, especially at night. This year we finally addressed that by adding 12" numbers backlit by LED tape to the garage. We...
NC Fall Foliage
We've had some nice fall color in Durham the last few weeks, with different patches of the yard turning color at different times. dogwood in the front yard backyard view Japanese maple close-up...
Wine / Whisky Room custom table
As mentioned in the Wine / Whisky Room transformation post, we'd been thinking about this room for several years. Back in Christmas 2018 we found a beautiful log from a downed tree at my parents in...
Wine / Whisky Room transformation
This September we finally upgraded our unused dining room from dumping ground to an actually-functioning wine and whisky room. We'd been discussing this for several years, but now that we are home...
NY Summer 2020: sunsets
One of our favorite activities on Long Island is going to the beach for sunset, especially since Pasha is allowed off-leash. in 2020 we were able to go quite a few times, and each time was a unique...
Dryer Repair 101
I threw the down comforter and duvet cover into the dryer, selected the cycle, hit "GO" and ... nothing happened. I switched outlets and scoured the manual, no luck. The power was on but the dryer...
Coronavirus cooking adventures
Because of the pandemic currently affecting the world, we are grounded for the foreseeable future and my hobbies now include trying to get our money back from airlines and puzzles. In between Zoom...
September 2019 (in a few seconds per day)
Continuing my video trend from last month - here are some snapshots of our life in September... E+L September 2019 from Leandra Ganko on Vimeo.
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London, UK (Dec)
Manchester, UK (Dec)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)