The Hedge Massacre continues

It's a never-ending battle between us and the hedge. The hedge usually seems to be winning for a long time, but every now and then we get some good blows in, like this weekend. Frederic's cousin Emmanuel came out for the weekend to help us out and attacked the hedge for us.

Early in the day, Frederic managed to embed the secateurs into the heel of his hand, which earned him a trip to the ER and 3 stitches -- I still think he did it on purpose to get out of working as hard as his cousin.

This part of the hedge hadn't gotten its 3-foot-trim last time around, so it did this time, and at the same time Emmanuel removed some roots that were threatening to cause trouble with our water pipes near the water counter. Frederic mainly mulched the cut branches since he could easily do that with one hand. Those in the foreground didn't make it to the mulcher yet.

On the right side of the gate you can see the part that still needs to be trimmed.

This is the back of our lot - not much left now except a lot of branches to run through the mulcher! I think we will be busy for a while, and we'll need to look for something to attach to the fence so we don't have to see our neighbors' cars go past (that is their driveway behind our yard).

Our firewood was delivered at the end of July. We're ready for winter now!

And in kid news, Noah is checking out the local real estate listings.

Benjamin likes to entertain Noah on Noah's playmat.

We tried to take Benjamin to get a haircut on Friday, but the salon was too busy so Frederic and I made another attempt ourselves... better than last time, but still too short in the front. (The above photo is pre-haircut.) I guess we need more practice, but not til it grows out in about 6 months. Ok, maybe a little less.

Frederic's cousin Nathalie and her 19-month-old daughter Nina, and his aunt and uncle came for lunch today. (And when I say lunch, I mean a French lunch; they arrived around noon and left around 6 pm.) We enjoyed a nice visit with them, and it was cloudy but didn't rain on us so Benjamin and Nina were able to play outside on the swing set for a while.

Emmanuel stayed and joined us for a nutritious dinner of accras de morue, brownies, and cheesecake before Frederic took him to the train station so he could go back to Paris.