National Pasta Day

 “Pasta doesn’t make you fat. How much of it you eat makes you fat.”  Giada de Laurentis

The problem is, who eats a half cup serving of pasta?

Useless factoid of the day:

There are about 600 shapes of pasta, and no surprise, the most popular being spaghetti. The rarest shape is called "Su filindeu" from Sardinia, meaning "God's yarn."

Made from a simple semolina dough, the threads are painstakingly stretched by hand into a weave mimicking fabric. 

Good grief. Looks like a recipe for aggravation. 

Speaking of which, tickets for the Mariner's game this afternoon have dropped from the $1000 range to about $150.  Oh ye of little faith...

Well, Friday rolls around again and it's going to be a rainy weekend up here in Seattle. Have a good one.

 

A blowout

 

 

As Yogi Berra famously said, "It ain't over until it's over." 

But the rout in Seattle last night means the Mariners aren't headed lickety split to the World Series after all. 

At 2-1 now with the Blue Jays, it's far from over. Hey, it just means more games. We don't have cable, but if they're broadcast on antenna TV, John has a Rube Goldberg set up with cables and antennas to pull in the Fox signal. No go on that last night, which in retrospect, was a blessing in disguise.

Here's another good quote:

"A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into 9 innings."

Robert Real Wilson 

 

Once in a blue moon

 

 

Perfect autumn weather in Seattle this week with no rain in the forecast until the weekend. As luck has it, our West Seattle ukulele group is scheduled to play outside on Sunday afternoon at the Fauntleroy Fall Festival. 

Once in a blue moon, the Costco geraniums survive the winter, but doubt that will be the case this year. We're going into a La Nina pattern, trending to wetter, colder and snowier than average (whatever average means these days.)

Anyway, the fall colors were so vibrant yesterday when I was out and about. The trees in Seattle are at their peak. 

As you've probably noticed, the fall and Halloween decor (except for tons of candy) is almost gone in the stores. I went to Home Depot yesterday looking for winter blooming pansies and the nursery was already shut down, with full on Christmas inside. They did have a nice final display of chrysanthemums outside the door. Of course the yellow pot hooked me. 

Since Tom painted the shed door many years ago, I've been attracted to that Viking yellow. It's a garish color for sure, but cheerful and improbably it looks good with blue.

There is a BIG baseball game in Seattle tonight. 

I'm not going to jinx it by talking about it.  

National Dessert Day

 

 

The Pennsylvania Dutch tradition was to put the pies and cakes on the table with the savory food, rather than serving it after the main course. It was a generous, smorgasbord-style meal. I remember many an uncle's plate filled with Lebanon baloney, shoo-fly pie, potatoes, pickles and bread-- at the same time. 

 

The old "seven sweets and seven sours" tradition meant serving a variety of sweet and tart dishes, including desserts and pickled vegetables to balance out the flavors. Salt and pepper were pretty much the only seasonings. 

 

 

Looking back, the food was heavy but wholesome. Sunday dinner especially seemed to last a long, long time, with the adults eating slowly and talking. There was no rush for anything. Of course kids were expected to sit quietly at the table and listen until excused. After dinner, the men went in the living room to smoke a cigar while the women cleaned up. 

 

Pie was cheap and filling and they made it from just about everything, including Funny Cake (above) a weird but delicious pie/cake combo. 

 

When we were kids in the 1950's, there was always some sort of dessert right after dinner: jello or pudding from a box, fruit cocktail or peaches from a can. On lucky nights-- pie, cake or ice cream.

 

 

Have a sweet day. 

 

  

The grey and the gold

 

 

Grey skies and golden roses-- on Saturday I picked the last ones before the rain ruined them. It was a wet and chilly weekend, with the first snow falling in the high mountains. 

Tom and Nova were over on the west side of the state this weekend, also our friends Karen and Bruce, who sent this white knuckle view of the North Cascades Highway yesterday afternoon. Everyone got home safely. 

Here in the Emerald City, we were glued to the television watching sports. The Seahawks and Mariners both won. The Mariners play a second game in Toronto this afternoon before heading back to an ecstatic Seattle. Many baseball fans were not even born, the last time we had a championship team!

Oh my, the darkness descends rapidly up here in the left hand corner of the map. The decline in solar radiation especially noticeable in October. A few golden battery lights help keep the late afternoon gloom at bay. 

 

So let us go on, cheerfully enough,
this and every crisping day,

though the sun be swinging east,
and the ponds be cold and black,
and the sweets of the year be doomed.

From "Lines written in the days of growing darkness" by Mark Oliver.

 

 

Burned

 

The Labor Mountain fire near Blewett Pass has burned 42,000 acres and still counting. We expected to see more devastation along the highway, but it reached the road in only a few places on the north side. That's a tribute to the firefighters who have been working this area since it was started by a lightening strike on September 1.

Anyway, we stopped at the flag point, settling in for a long delay, but no sooner had we reclined the seats when traffic started moving. Lucky timing.  A few minutes earlier, they opened the highway in both directions  

An unhealthy stop at the Diary Queen in Cle Elum (involving onion rings) and we were home by early afternoon. 

Big baseball game in Seattle last night, did you hear?  I tried to stay awake through all those innings but didn't make it past the 10th. I went to bed expecting a heartbreak finish anyway (Oh ye of little faith) but they're ff to Toronto next week.  Go Mariners. 

 

 

The pear farm

 

Big family news! This is the charming farmhouse that will soon be a new home for Amanda, Tom and the girls. Their offer was accepted and the property is still on track to close in a couple of weeks, fingers crossed. We wish them all the luck in the world. What a big, brave and exciting move. 

John and I drove by yesterday and took a peek from the road. The rural setting is lovely, only 6 miles outside of Twisp, but a different world entirely, with the farm nestled up against the wilderness. 

More pictures and information soon on the orchard and farm life to come. Green Acres is the place for me!

We're headed back to the big rainy city today. 

Quiet day

 

It was a good drive yesterday in perfect weather. The fall colors were beautiful and the "Larch Madness" frenzy in full swing in the North Cascades. Parked cars lined the highway for at least a quarter mile in both directions around the popular trailheads. Probably more people than larches up there...

The clock is running out on fall weather in the high country, and the first mountain snow predicted this weekend. Here we go again. Our usual route over Blewett Pass is open, but with delays and a pilot car moving traffic through the burn areas. 

Downtown Twisp all decorated as usual, with a collection of creative scarecrows on the street corners. Monopoly Uncle Moneybags parked in front of city hall. 

 

We dropped by The Confluence Gallery to check out their new show called "Rhapsody in Hue." I really liked this blue bowl and bought it! Something I rarely do so that’s exciting. I’ll pick it up in November after the show closes. In the meantime,  other people can admire it. The local artist called it "Galaxy Bowl” which is perfect. 

Tonight we celebrate Maya's birthday. Karen and Brice invited us over tomorrow, then back to Seattle Friday. 

 

 

A good gig

 

Lately Nova has been working as a horse sitter, sometimes even spending weekends alone at ranches doing chores while the owners are away. It can be a lucrative gig, but lots of responsibility, to say the least. At sixteen, her confident way with horses is impressive, and safer and more skilled than many adults I've seen at horse barns over the years. 

Nova also works at Methow Valley Riding Unlimited after school, and has been a student of the formidable Annie B. since she was a toddler. Annie is a tough and no-nonsense teacher to put it mildly, but she has taught Nova well. 

We're headed over to Twisp today via the North Cascades Highway, because our usual route over Blewett Pass closed due to fire. Just a short family visit for Maya's 13th birthday tomorrow. 

 

 

Happy clouds

 

 

We left early for the Symphony yesterday, and even had time to stroll around Seattle Art Museum before the concert. The cute lobby display is called Little Cloud Sky. 

It was a good program, although (whew) Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 is about an hour long, not including the standing ovation. 

Unfortunately, this put us on the street right when the Seahawks game ended, horrible timing, with scooters darting everywhere and swarms of people crossing against the lights without a care in the world. It reminded me of a wildebeest migration. Although they might be smarter. 

 

The Seahawks lost by a field goal after a late game interception, so no happy cloud faces in that herd. 

Well, at least we didn't waste the afternoon in front of the television.

 

Taming the beast

 

 

What is gardening, but a balance between nature and human intervention, the wild and the cultivated?  Learning when to let go is just as important as hard work. Today I hacked back the tomato plants, clematis vines and dahlia, but most everything else in the beds can wait until early spring. There's nothing I like better than getting outside on a quiet February day. 

Having said that, sometimes you can show some tough love in the fall. This time last year, I pruned the scraggly hydrangeas almost to the ground, a no-no if you want flowers the next summer. 

 

As expected, few blooms, but healthy, strong, rejuvenated shrubs that should be gorgeous next year. But who knows? Hydrangeas are finicky things, like lilacs. 

A big sports weekend in Seattle, with BOTH a Mariner's playoff and Seahawk game on Sunday afternoon, bringing tens of thousands downtown, including us, for the Symphony concert.

Our route to and from West Seattle goes right past T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field where all the action is. That will make for some interesting traffic. 

Have a good weekend.
 

 

Interesting afternoon

 

 

Alexander Malofeev b. 2001

We watched this piano prodigy rehearse the "Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganni" with the symphony yesterday afternoon. This is a very difficult piece, requiring advanced technical skill and mastery, but the youngster whipped right through it. Alexander looks a little older than in his Wiki photo above, but not much: cute mop of curly blonde hair, t-shirt, baggy cargo pants and Crocs. 

It's fun seeing the soloist and symphony members show up for rehearsal in flannel shirts, old jeans and tennis shoes. On Sunday afternoon, everyone will be in their concert hall attire and we'll hear the Rhapsody again, along with Rachmaninoff's Symphony Number 2.

We enjoyed the rehearsal but it only lasted an hour.  Everyone was expecting about two hours, but the rehearsal went so well the conductor dismissed school early. The symphony members were happy, the audience not so much, having made the trek downtown. We planned to have dinner afterwards, but it was too early even for us.

Since we took a taxi downtown and were in no rush to get home, we walked through the Pike Place Market. On a weekday October afternoon, almost deserted. 

Unless locals have out-of-town visitors to show around, most of us avoid the market like the plague during tourist season. Cruise ship season is over, and it was nice to actually be able to walk around, instead of being carried along in a sea of humanity.

I know I'm out of touch with price reality, but who actually shops here? $100 a pound for King Crab legs? Will people buy those before they spoil? I worry about things like that.

We stopped for a beer and snack at Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar, an old market institution tucked away at the end of a dark corridor. I ordered the broiled oyster plate with Parmesan cheese and bacon. The oysters were large and fresh and didn't need that much flavor help, especially the red cocktail sauce-- but they quickly disappeared. 

Then we walked back to the Wild Ginger restaurant where we had planned to have dinner. Go figure, they were closed for a special event. I was too full anyway, having eaten 4 of the 6 oysters. And so much for the "let's take a taxi downtown" experiment-- it was long ride home in the back of a stinky old Prius. I'd rather endure gridlock in our own car.

Hard to beat

 

A perfect roasted chicken is a fine thing, especially compared to the 5 buck Costco. This Ina Garten's signature simple recipe: the cavity filled with whole cut lemon, thyme and garlic cloves, slathered with butter then roasted in a very hot oven. Yes, Stovetop stuffing embarrassing aside a nice chicken. But good. 

We're going downtown this afternoon to attend a free Seattle Symphony open rehearsal. Our new music director, Xian Zhang, started her position in September and we'll get to see her in action in front of the orchestra. 

Open rehearsals are interesting, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. Although you wonder if the rehearsal vibe is the same when the conductor is being observed by a live audience. We went to one once before, and it was frustrating because we could only hear the conductor mumble. Hopefully Xian will be miked this time.

More later. 

 

Spoke too soon

 

 

That new Moderna Covid vaccine knocked me flat after all. The fever finally spiked and broke last night and I'm feeling better this morning although a painful lymph node popped up on the side of my neck. Hopefully I've earned some powerful immunity after that ordeal. 

I spent yesterday napping and reading "The Code of the Woosters" by P.G. Wodehouse, considered one of his best books, although all the tales of Jeeves are delightful reading. The wonderful witty dialog and absurd English humor-- what's not to like?  Good comic writing is an extraordinary talent. 

That's all the news fit to print. It's a rainy week in Seattle. Tomorrow October starts, along with any illusions about summer lingering on. 

Rain returns

 

The rain held off until this morning, so it was a good weekend for fall chores. I tidied up my desk area and got the clutter under control, at least for the time being. Maybe some new workspace helps kick start the inside hobbies.  

I'd like to take a watercolor class, but everything is way across town and/or at night, which isn't going to happen in the winter. Since there's excellent instruction on YouTube, I don't see much point in paying for an online class. As they say, just do it. 

 

The jade plants are crammed inside again after a nice summer on the porch. My secret for keeping jades alive in low light is infrequent watering, meaning just a few times all winter. (That's right, Wendy :-) 

No doling out water in weekly dribbles--the pots go in the sink (or outside) for a good soil drenching every couple of months. And they don't like to be fussed with or moved around much, the leaves break off. Just let them feel sorry for themselves until spring. 

 

I picked the last tomatoes and brought our "holiday tree" around to the front porch. After Thanksgiving, the orange lights swap out for Christmas white. We've done this for the last few years, and the lights help cheer up the long dark time.

 

For once, I've not much to complain about. We have a new dentist, she is very sweet, and my appointment went fine on Friday. Those little gum line fillings can be unpleasant but she did a gentle job. 

 

I also got a Covid shot yesterday at Safeway. So far I just feel tired, another nice surprise. Well, after that Shingles vaccination, nothing seems too bad.

 

Believe it or not, neither of us have ever been sick with Covid. It's quite possible (even likely) we've had a very mild or asymptomatic case, but whatever-- I hope luck holds for another year. 

Thanks a bunch

 

That's not my car, but you get the picture. It happened twice this week, and yesterday in the gym parking lot, I had to contort myself to climb over the console and get in from the passenger side-- not fun, but guess I'm happy I can still do such a thing. 

Backing out was more nerve-wracking, inches from cars on each side, with mine beeping hysterically that I was about hit one of them. Anyway, what can you say about West Seattle these days? Too many people crammed into too small a space. 

Maybe everyone is distracted by the good sports week in Seattle, with the Seahawks winning Thursday night football and the Mariners headed to the playoffs. 

Friday is here with no particular plans, except a dental visit this morning and covid shot on Sunday. Not much to look forward to in the short term! The weather is still dry and mostly sunny, but we put the furnace this morning to take the chill out of the house. 

I'm trying to arrange my desk into a multi-purpose craft, sewing, painting and computer area. Come winter, this old house starts to feel dark and small. A nicer word is "cozy." No wonder we turn inward for the dark time. 

Have a good weekend.  

September song

 

 

Let's take a trip down September memory lane. Do you remember 1978?

New ones

 

 

Many of you already know that John had cataract surgery this month, and the second eye was done yesterday. We knew more what to expect this time, although they warn you each eye can be different. 

I wouldn't call cataract surgery a "piece of cake" but the newer protocols make it easier. For example, eye shields and bandages are considered old fashioned (at least by some surgeons)  also the previous strict restrictions on movement and exercise. They basically tell you to "take it easy and don't rub your eye." Patients walk out of the surgery blinking with amazement through brand new lenses. 

The annoyance of managing several kinds of eye drops has been consolidated in one (very expensive!) drop four times a day.  

To say it went well is an understatement. He could see better instantly, even right after surgery with his eye still dilated. He's worn glasses since fifth grade, and says he’s not had vision like this since he was under 10. 

Yes, it's strange watching him get in the car and drive off without glasses-- he was practically blind without them! He will still need glasses for reading and to correct astigmatism, but now he's enjoying the novel experience of almost 20/20 vision without. Being John, he already has a collection of readers to see him through until he gets a new prescription. 

Sure, I'm jealous. I've also worn glasses since 5th grade. But my turn will probably come, as it does for many of us lucky enough to live that long. 

The age of miracles has not passed...

 

 

September 2015

 

Ten years ago this month, Nova was off to first grade and Maya preschool. Now Nova in 11th, and Maya middle school 7th. 

Nova learning the ropes with Little Blackie and Annie B, the instructor she still works with. 

Now at sixteen and almost thirteen, long past the cute sister snuggle stage. 

The 2015 September outing with family at the Mazama suspension bridge, the same place Karen and I walked last week.

Dolly and I enjoying a fall ride in North Bend on Belle and Spanky...

And most poignant, this photo taken by my sister of Mom and Dad at a Cripple Creek restaurant, celebrating Dad's September birthday. They sure made 91 and 90 look good.  We miss you both so much. 

“Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not.”
― Stephen King, The Green Mile