Oatmeal for breakfast

Oatmeal with leftover cream and honey, which was some consolation.  

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? It was a beautiful day in Seattle, sunny and bright. Made even better with good company, thanks to Betsy, Paul and Dave. The turkey dinner, if I don't say so myself, turned out great-- practice makes perfect.

Yes, I feel like I've made a thousand turkey dinners, but I can't be that old. I enjoy making that big meal (once a year) because people always seem to appreciate it. You don't want to mess with tradition, so the individual dishes are't hard or complicated.

For young cooks, the daunting part is getting everything on the table at the same time. Now I just cook all morning, so it's more of a coordination challenge than a last minute rush. Guests always want to "help," but I have a square yard (maybe) of working counter top and the kitchen has room for one medium-sized cook. Not very gracious, but I tell them go have a glass of wine and come back when it's time to tote dishes out to the table :-)

So, Black Friday. I can't think of a single thing I need to buy, but I just looked at my Amazon Prime account, and they beg to differ.

Eat, drink and be thankful

I just sent John out for half n' half, and he came back with two enormous bunches of flowers. What a nice man!

I've been cooking since 6am, and the turkey has already been in for several hours. The house smells great. I can just hear Mom saying, "Grammy would be proud of me."  Maybe they're both keeping an eye on things from up there?

We have an early dinner this year, and delighted that friends Betsy and Paul could join us at the last minute (their dinner was cancelled due to flu in the family, oh, dear) and of course, my brother Dave.

Dear family and friends, have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Let there be light

Last night (or rather, afternoon) I closed the blinds at 4:30. So early, but I don't like that goldfish bowl feeling in the winter. There are many more people on the streets these days and now that it's so dark, you can see the big new apartment buildings lit up all around. It shows just how densely populated the neighborhood has become.  

We have a single exterior outlet on the deck, so the arbor is the only place I can realistically put up lights with just a tall stepladder. It makes the kitchen more cheerful.

A few years ago, they started selling these "fairy light" strings that run on batteries and are great for lighting up dark corners. And I bought a pretty ivy wreath at Trader Joe's yesterday that included a little string of lights.

The Thanksgiving weather news for Seattle is COLD and sunny. All the really nasty weather is down in Oregon, although the Cascade Mountains are rough going today and it's snowing in eastern Washington. Much as we miss them, we're glad Amanda, Tom and the girls aren't traveling the passes tonight after work.

I'm making a pumpkin pie this morning, then bundling up and walking to the store for my afternoon shift in junk-land.

Safe travels if you're hitting the road today.

On the borderline

You can drive yourself crazy, trying to figure out people's motives for doing strange things.  For example, the Great Wall of Washington project, slowly progressing next door.

The 8-foot laurel already gives us both privacy, so why dig a trench and build a heavy duty fence up against it?  A not-so-subtle property rights message?  To keep us from crawling under and invading the weird country next door?  (No worries there.)

Laurel is a rampant grower, and someone will have to squeeze between the wall to trim it back.  Often. Well, it won't be my hedge cutters anymore.

Quite a stunning storm (bomb cyclone) headed for Oregon and California tomorrow.  That blue and purple mess is south of us, but is is going to get windy and extremely cold for several days.  Winter arrives early-- it was nice knowing you, geraniums.

Eye candy

Who could resist a giant jar of absolutely perfect whole peaches? Hope they taste half as good as they look. I'll open it later when the girls are here, and in the meantime enjoy the sight sitting on the counter. You gotta love Costco sometimes, and they sure have that impulse purchase thing down to a fine art.

My freezer, fridge and cupboards are always well stocked, but even people who like cooking run out of inspiration sometimes making the same old variations on pasta, stir-fries, tacos, chili, soup, stew, cutlets, so on.

So last night, for a summery change, I made a garbanzo bean salad with a lemon vinaigrette. It was tasty and healthy, and we probably should have stopped right there...

But no, to go with it, not so healthy but also tasty lamb burgers from PCC market. It wasn't raining so I actually made them on the grill in the dusk, which was a good thing, because these are a fatty mess if you fry them on the stove.

With that wonderful smelly smoke wafting around the neighborhood, I bet people were wondering about the new Greek restaurant.

It's snowing in the mountains now, and temperatures are about to take a real dive in the lowlands. Cold turkey week.

Amanda, Tom and the kids are staying home this year so it will be a quiet holiday. I'll make a turkey dinner for John and my brother Dave, and we'll have a relaxing day.

Looking back, looking forward

 2018

One of the best things about a picture blog is looking back over many years, and remembering little things that would otherwise be forgotten.  Like Nova, basting the turkey last year.

Frankly, at my age, all those past Christmastimes and Thanksgivings tend to morph into one big similar holiday.  Not so, just take a look down memory lane...

My kitchen buddy, 2017
We still miss you, dear Roger.

In 2016, a rare and welcome break from cooking. We had an elegant Thanksgiving dinner with friends, and the hostess sent me home with the real prize: a carcass for next day soup.

That's Maya, sweetly underfoot in the kitchen in 2015.

Wow, it snowed here in 2014

In 2013, we braved a winter mountain drive for the holiday weekend in Twisp.

Ditto 2012, when Maya was a newborn babe.

Here's little Nova in 2011, setting the table.

Tom and Nova in 2010, with another snowy Thanksgiving. 

And way back in 2009, the year I started the blog, Amanda and Baby Nova with her cousins (now all grown up) at a family Thanksgiving in Seattle.

A fine mess

A couple years ago, someone wrote a Yelp review about the Stop n' Shop that said it looked like a "hoarder's living room." Well, that's actually pretty accurate.

However, thrift store types seem to enjoy rummaging through random junk looking for buried treasure. If not, they would just go to Target and buy that colander new for about the same price.  Our prices (I think) are expensive, but then it's a high rent location, and of course, the proceeds all go to support the Senior Center programs.  At least that's what I tell people when they try to bargain.

I went in Friday morning just to organize new Christmas stuff that was strewn all over the shop.  Enough to drive a neat freak insane-- ornaments stuck in with pots and pans and so on.  The elderly volunteers tend put things wherever there's a little space amid the general clutter. Who can blame them? The store manager is interviewing now for that open position and perhaps the new retail specialist will improve the store ambience. Or not. There's only so much you can do with junk.

It's almost time to start defrosting that frozen turkey.  I'll probably buy a 67-cent a pound Jennie-O at QFC today. Here we go again. November, never one of my favorite months, at least is whipping by and we're almost in full holiday frenzy.  Black Friday has morphed into Black November.

Speaking of the Senior Center, The Ukes are entertaining again at the holiday lunch and I managed to nab one of the last tickets for John before it sold out. A turkey plate and a live ukulele Christmas carol concert?  Surely the highlight of his Christmas season. Ha!

Wordless Wednesday

Gather Ye Rosebuds, While Ye May

John Waterhouse

The Perfume Makers

Rudolph Ernst

Destiny

John Waterhouse

Old Cottage near Church Stretton, Shropshire

David Woodlock

Erato, Muse of Poetry

John Poynter

Get on with it

November 19th is "Have a Bad Day Day." Everyone has a bad day now and then, but this is a copyrighted holiday (whatever that means) created to stop salespeople from endlessly repeating "have a good day."  So much for that.  I say it all the time at the store and people don't really mind. Shallow social conventions are comforting.

Speaking of rigid social expectations, Series 3 of "The Crown" is finally streaming on Netflix.  Elizabeth II is now middle-aged, played by the actress Olivia Colman. So far, it's excellent.

The series starts with her wonderful stiff upper lip comment on aging: 

The Gloom Index

Those "Best Places to Live" people have now come up with a gloom index, ranking major U.S. cities on cloud cover, hours of daylight, and days with precipitation in November, December and January.  Woo-hoo, we win! Seattle and Portland are #1 and #2 on the list of 50 cities.

Statistically, November 19th is the wettest day of the year in Seattle, raining 72% of the time since 1945. From the looks of that satellite loop, tomorrow should not disappoint.

What a sad sight. Clearing out the tangled mess of suckers around the base of the fig tree is one of the worst jobs on the homestead in the fall. Akin to cleaning out the chicken coop, if I had one. Trees send up base suckers when they're stressed and over the years, we've sure tortured the heck out of the top.

But it was dry midday Sunday, and felt good being outside doing anything. It's been relatively warm so far, and we're into that November false spring, when plants get tricked into growing. The birds and insects are still busy. I've always loved these lines from The Waste Land:

What is the late November doing
With the disturbance of the spring
And creatures of the summer heat,
And snowdrops writhing under feet
And hollyhocks that aim too high
Red into grey and tumble down
Late roses filled with early snow?

T.S. Eliot 

Other than the usual weather complaints, it was a good weekend. We had dinner with old friends on Sunday. On Saturday, we found a swivel desk chair (the naugahyde was peeling off my old one) that actually fit in the door of our small house.  Most office chairs are big enough for the Supreme Court, or could hold a 300-pound bombastic politician. Hum.  I'll leave it at that.
 

There are sleep overs...

And then, there are SLEEP OVERS!

Lucky granddaughter Nova, chowing down with her friend at a crab feed last night. The smile says it all! Yes, we are jealous.

"Dear me, what if the cat had seen you?"

"If she had seen you, 

I should never have seen you again, that is all,"

replied Mamma.

We were relaxing downstairs last week, peacefully watching a television program, when we heard a scritch-scratching in the ceiling right over our heads.  Dear me, indeed. Yes, this is the time of year when "they" seek shelter indoors.

We're not alone in our shame.  The hardware store has an entire aisle devoted to a bewildering variety of rodent poison and other contraptions.  Now, what you would do with a mad rat stuck on a piece of sticky cardboard is beyond me?  Not for the faint of heart.

So I did the usual, that is, bought some fresh poison pellets and a new trap for under the kitchen sink, if they dare to come upstairs.  So far, they haven't helped themselves to my make-shift pantry in the corner of the basement, which is a good sign. At least they can't open wine bottles.

Long ago we had a couple of excellent mousers, "Puss" and "Cowboy." I miss them.  Our last cat "Vino" spent his time gallivanting and mooching around the neighborhood.

Many farmers consider a good ratter/mouser the most valuable animal in the barn. Breed is a factor, but kitty temperament and "upbringing" is more important in the making of a good barn cat.

Cosmic Crisp

There's big anticipation about a new Washington apple variety called "Cosmic Crisp," that should hit the market in time for Christmas.  Washington has bet the farm on this apple, planting 11 million trees in just three years, the fastest ramp up of any apple variety ever.  It took 20 years for the the popular Honeycrisp to reach that volume. Cosmic Crisp growers are ripping out less profitable varieties as fast as they can.

In old-fashioned Red or Golden Delicious orchards, there are about 100 very large trees per acre. But as we drive through the Wenatchee area these days, we see more small trees growing on upright trellises. These trees have a dwarf rootstock, so the growers can plant up to 1800 per acre. The Cosmic Crisp is bred for this dense planting, and 1,500 acres can accommodate a mind-boggling 2 million trees.

If you have time, there's an interesting article about developing the Cosmic Crisp in Seattle Business Magazine CLICK HERE.

Of course, Cosmic Crisp will command a premium price, much like the Honeycrisp. But it has competition from other growers around the country, who have also been busy developing new apple varieties.

Really, they must hire English majors to name these apples:

Ruby Frost, SnapDragon, Crunch Time, SweeTango, EverCrisp, Rave, Kiku, Opal, Koru, Aurora, Smitten, Juci and Autumn Glory, to name a few.

If that doesn't make you want to eat an apple today, nothing will.

All about me

The "Pioneer Woman" has a cooking show on the Food Network. She must be popular, because she also has her own magazine. I had one of those $7 introductory offers and subscribed just for fun.  She's not a bad home cook, but her most famous recipe is 7-Can Soup.

The magazine, of course, is all about "Pioneer Woman," from cover to cover. Her beautiful Oklahoma ranch, her perfect cowboy husband and kids, her designer kitchen, what she wears, how she feels about this and that. Where does that kind of ego (Oprah, Rachel Ray, Martha) come from? No one my age was brought up thinking they were the center of the universe.

But wait a minute, maybe the pot is calling the kettle black? How about Feathers and Flowers? Dear little group of readers, hopefully I can occasionally touch on subjects other than myself.

Here's a picture for you this morning, sweeter than anything in a fancy ranch magazine:

Maya, "Nica" and "Millie" relaxing in front of the wood stove at the end of a long day.
Thanks, Amanda!

Yes, a mess

But at least the fig leaves all come down on the same day. Yesterday afternoon was dry, and I got most raked up. It's a miserable job when they're soggy and wet. I'm laying in bed right now listening to the rain beating down. November has finally arrived.

In fact, I might stay in bed all day plucking fretfully at the coverlet, reading "Wuthering Heights." I got a high-dose flu shot yesterday and my arm hurts and I feel yucky. The information sheet says one of the common side effects is a feeling of malaise.

What a wonderful word, meaning: a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease; a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.

Anyway, back to the tree. There's the usual big crop of useless green figs. The starlings eat some, but most fall down and rot on the ground. In early spring, John cuts the tree branches all the way back and I clean out the mess that sprouted up underneath. Goodness, that tree is a lot of work, considering what it gives back!  And it's probably going to outlive us all.

In other local news, this has been a tremendous week for sports.  The Sounders won a championship game on Sunday, the soccer equivalent of the Super Bowl. Fans have been celebrating in Pioneer Square ever since, and today there's a big rainy victory parade downtown.  Then on Monday night football, in a nail-biting, wild overtime game, the Seahawks beat their arch rival, the undefeated San Francisco 49's.  Pride comes before the fall, but for now, we're doing some gloating. 

Back to Heathcliff and Cathy. 

Veteran's Day

Hat's off to veterans today.  This is our dad Sam, who served in the Army during WWII. When he was drafted at age 18, he had never spent a night away from the farm, or even traveled outside Bucks County PA.

And like so many of his generation, he left home as a boy and came back a man, four years later.  Soon after, he and mom were married. And the rest, as they say, is history.

“Times were tough but when you’re young and have a loving family,

 you know that you will all get through it.”

Bob Richardson, "Just Right! A Veteran's Life: A Snapshot of the Greatest Generation."

Friday

The "fall back" time change is a little easier than "spring ahead." It also helped that we've had sunny days and bright sunsets this week, so the afternoons weren't so darn dark. Sunset is at 4:45, but I fired up the grill last night to dry it out, and we had those thin cut New York steaks that cook in about 4 minutes. We ate them just about as fast.

Tolling finally starts this weekend in the new tunnel going under downtown Seattle. People got a free ride since it opened in February, and 80,000 cars go though daily, about the same number that used the old viaduct. They're predicting that about half of those people will take surface streets now to avoid the $2-$4 tolls.

That is not good news for us, trying to get downtown to the Symphony from West Seattle.  Especially if there's a Sunday Seahawk game at the stadium. Of course, there's also a plan in the works to toll city surface streets. We love our taxes here. Maybe we'll be taking Uber drones before long.

It will be almost 60 today, unseasonably warm and dry. I'm planning to drive out to North Bend to ride with my old friend Dolly. It's about an 80 mile round trip, so quite a big day.  One of Dolly's friends kindly offered me her horse "Easy," to ride. (I like horses with names like that.) "Easy" is a gaited Rocky Mountain breed, so that will be a new experience.  I'm always wary of new horses until I get to know them and miss reliable old "Moe," who I've enjoyed so much on Vashon Island.  Unfortunately, his owner took him away to a different barn.

Last but not least, I have some excellent family news this morning.  Our sister-in-law Rebecca is making a good recovery from her stroke, and going home from rehab today. Just in time for freezing weather at their rural Ohio property. Hopefully she and Dan will soon be basking at their condo in the warm Mexican sun.  Sorry you're so cold back there!

Have a good weekend.

One for the record books

Ho hum, another sunny November day. We haven't had rain since October 25th, and Seattle has never gone the first 10 days in November dry. No one is really complaining, but it's getting a bit creepy. Just watch, now it will probably rain every day in December. They call this "weather persistence" and it seems to be the new normal in the Northwest.

So, it finally happened at The Stop n' Shop.  They asked me yesterday if I was interested in working "in the back." Nope, not because of my dumb cashier mistakes, but because they offered me a paid, part-time position at the Senior Center. I guess my performance at the register wasn't bad as I thought. Ha.

Anyway, not exactly a glamour job-- processing and pricing the piles of new donations (yes, grubby) and running the store on weekends.  I was flattered at an opportunity to start a new retail career, but honestly, at this point in life, I'd much rather be a volunteer. Taking pay changes everything. Besides, working in the back, I'd miss my crazy customers.

And 3 hours a week is just about enough of this.