A hack job

 

 

This amazing stretch of October weather goes on. It really feels more like September. 

 

I went nuclear option on that flower bed yesterday, using the weed eater to whack off the tops of invasive violets and Creeping jenny. I haven't kept up on the weeding lately, so that was a visually satisfying quick fix. Of course the roots grow back, but that's a problem for another season.  

 

 

It's been warm and still, so lots of stuff needs to fall down and make a mess, including the pecked figs left from the starling feeding frenzy. The squirrels are busy, busy, busy in the yard. Our resident window spider, Charlotte, gets fatter and fatter. They know something is up. This weather can’t last forever. 

 

Today is National Nut Day. BTW, walnuts are the oldest cultivated tree food, dating back to around 10,000 BC. 

 

Our grandmother made a good, heavy black walnut cake, a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty. I should try this recipe, something you can't make from a box, so Maya approved. Walnuts have a complex and memorable flavor profile. 

 

John had a wonderful slice of walnut cake once at the Tate Museum Cafe, and you can bet he never forgot  it. That may have been the highlight of our London trip for him, certainly in regard to food, most of which was memorable in another way. 

Cool or creepy?

 

John got an iPhone 18 Pro for his birthday, and he likes to show off the new features, compared to my old 17 model.

The reader mode which he uses for articles now has a new summarize feature. This is powered by Apple intelligence and it condenses large amount of text data, giving you an instant summary. Kind of like an automatic Cliff Notes. 

It also works on my individual blog posts, and yesterday it came up with the summary below. Since I never actually wrote "time and age has mellowed me" (which may or may not be true) I found it somewhat creepy how it made that conjecture from a narrative of sitting outside looking at the garden. 

Summary

Time and age mellowed the narrator, who now accepts a decaying garden in Seattle’s warm October. A spice cake with walnuts prompted laughter about Maya’s baking standards; John eats it. Past energy on the land contrasts with present quietude.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time changes all

 

 

Including us...

 

I was sitting on this bench yesterday afternoon and thinking about how I can't remember ever doing that in mid-October. By now, the dark wet curtain has usually slammed down in Seattle. 

 

It's been a warm and dry October. Who knows what winter brings our way, with that giant Pacific El Nino lurking offshore. 

 

 

 

 

I also thought about how 20 years ago, I could have never sat there on a fall afternoon, enjoying the slanting light and languidly looking out at that mess of a fall garden. 

 

For years, I would cut everything to the ground then covered the beds with layers of leaves all carted over from across the street. Many carts. Oh, the energy I've put into that postage stamp of land. 

Now I can appreciate the sight of a gently decaying garden, sad but beautiful at the same time. And wintering birds and insects love it. Time and age mellows us and hopefully, we finally let go of unimportant things. Or maybe we just get lazy. 

 

I did cut off the flopping dahlia and pulled out the straggly tomatoes pots-- too depressing a job come February. Speaking of February, those first false spring days are my favorite time to putter around outside, cleaning up the mess. Hopefully I'll be doing it again in a few months. I take nothing for granted these days.

 

 

 

It was a quiet weekend. We are getting to be such homebodies. I made a spice cake gussied up with toasted walnuts on top. We laughed about Maya, who puts her nose up at cakes from a box. Our granddaughter is the master baker in the family and a bit of a cake snob, for good reason. 

 

But John will eat it, and it's better than anything from Safeway. Those of us who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s had moms who took full advantage of convenience food and hungry kids gobbled it down without complaint. 

Speaking of baking mixes, I wrote a blog once about the history of our local Krustez brand. Wish I could still buy that flatbread pizza mix. 

Keep playing

 

That's a screenshot from a Seattle Times article featuring our West Seattle Ukulele group. Unfortunately I haven't gone much this summer, between travel and health issues, so it was nice being there yesterday, although chilly sitting outside on the patio at C&P Coffeehouse. A hardy group-- coffee and beer helps. 

WSUP started four years ago with a handful of people looking for a safe outdoor place to play during the pandemic. 

It was informal and we airdropped the music to each other, calling out song requests. Now the group uses a slick app called "SongPro" with playlists put together in advance by our leader. He's partial to 80's pop songs, some of which sound better than others arranged for the uke. But all in good fun. My playing ability has neither improved nor declined-- these days, I'm happy with stable anything. 

Over 50 players often show up for the Thursday jam, and the group performs several times a month at different venues and events. There is no lack of opportunity to hear (or play) ukulele music in West Seattle. 

 

It is apple pie season for sure, and I made one yesterday with a recipe from the NYT that called for cooking the filling first, instead of piling crunchy raw apples into the crust. It was good, although like many recipes from the NYT, involves some extra fuss and bother. 

Have a good weekend. 

The owl and the pussycat

 

 

Amanda says this Great Horned Owl visits the farm each day at dusk. They are year-round residents in the Methow Valley, and use a "sit-and-wait" perch strategy to hunt small mammals, rodents, and birds. 

Yes, that includes Chihuahuas, chickens and cats, although Georgia is a rather hefty mammal for a three pound owl to haul off. Cats also fight back, so they're not the first menu choice for owls. Still, life on the farm has its risks for the plump and complacent residents. 

We had an easy drive yesterday and the fall colors were beautiful on the mountain passes.

Fleeting moments

 

My last peaceful river sit until next year? 

The Methow Valley is true perfection on a warm sunny day in October and we're enjoying the wildlife parade outside the front window. Who needs TV?

Tomorrow we say goodbye to our "wild" friends and head back to big city life.

"How blessed is he, who leads a country life, unvex'd with anxious cares, and void of strife!" 

John Dryden, 1631-1700 

A nip in the air

 

A moody and chilly sunrise this morning-- down to 28 degrees tonight.

 

And muted colors on the farm as winter closes in fast.

The pear harvest (that no one seems sad about ha ha.)

And Yoko, ready for Halloween in her new costume. 

And speaking of cute, Maya and her delightful friends at a cake decorating birthday party this afternoon.

 

 Crazy girls on the loose in the orchard! Fun times on the farm.

 

Unfamiliar sight

 

Hello to our old friend rain...and the official end of a dry summer.  

We're headed over to Twisp tomorrow for a short visit. Wintry mix on Snoqualmie Pass tomorrow morning here we go. 

And there's some celebrating to do-- Maya turned 14 this week!

 

 

Sticker shock

 

 

Our cherry tomato plant is still producing and I'm picking every one. We once joked about the cost of home-grown tomatoes (the plant starts, potting soil, fertilizer, tons of water) because it was cheaper back then to just buy them. 

Now a tiny plastic container of cherry tomatoes is about $6 in the grocery store. Our one plant could have filled 50 of those this summer. 

Fuel and grocery prices are shocking, aren't they? Maybe even more so to the older generation. I won't bore you with stories of 25 cent gallons of gas and loaves of bread. 

A modest package of sirloin steaks was over $70 at Costco yesterday. I couldn't bring myself to spend that so I bought Aidell's chicken sausage, pork tenderloins and a bag of frozen shrimp for less. I'm our mother's daughter, for sure.  

 

My sou chef sliced some pork for stir fry and it was better than a hunk of charred beef. (Or so we told ourselves.)

 

That's about it in the complaint department. I was walking around the neighborhood thinking there is something magical about fall in Seattle. The days are crisp but can still be beautifully sunny in the afternoon. That's about to change with a wet weather system headed our way tomorrow. Goodbye cherry tomatoes. 

   

Muted colors

 

These last little flowers are the sweetest.  

So far our October weather has been perfect- foggy mornings with the sun breaking out by afternoon. The garden is still dry and that dark rain curtain yet to descend on Seattle. It's coming...

 

The hydranges were the stars of the show this summer and fading now to these beautiful muted colors. I have quite a dead-heading project ahead, but they're still too pretty to cut back. 

We are settled into a fall routine, making soup, watching football, cozy covers back on the bed. Give me the simple life. 

Speaking of simple. This is called an "apple buckle," the recipe from the New York Times. An easy and indulgent little treat, it contains an entire stick of butter and a cup of sugar. Oh yes, and then ice cream.

If that doesn’t say fall?

 

Our fine young horsewoman

 

 Nova and "Izzy"

Nova is doing a special high school project on horse rehabilitation. How cool is that? 

Izzy, an 18-year old Thoroughbred jumper, arrived last week on loan. I don't know her injury, but nice that Nova can gently ride her. 

After years of work with Annie B (the toughest instructor in the Valley) Nova is a confident horsewoman and excellent rider. She's even starting to give lessons to the younger kids. We are proud. 

Looking down the years, maybe this was meant to be? 

 

 

About 18 years ago, my wise horse Sizzle and pregnant Amanda. 

And then a few months later, Baby Nova when she sees a real horse for the first time. Precious memories these. 

Well, it was an uneventful trip home Saturday. Santa Rosa is a laid back and hassle free little airport.

Our flight wasn't until 5, so we stopped in Sonoma on the way to the airport to have lunch on the plaza and visit the old mission. We were able to get a table at The Girl and the Fig, and I had this delicious, souffle like quiche Lorraine. 

It was a nice morning and the Sonoma Mission on the Plaza is always peaceful...

We have multiple pictures of John sitting on this very bench in the courtyard,  going back to the film camera days. It was a nostalgic trip for us, remembering all the good times. 

Now that we found a new place to stay, we'll go back again to "take the waters" in Calistoga. I'm not sure why we stayed away for so long?

 

“The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments.” 

(But money helps in the Napa Valley ha ha.)

 

Full of beans

John, perusing the selection at the Rancho Gordo retail store in downtown Napa yesterday. We’re big fans of these specialty beans and often order online, so this was a pilgrimage right to the source.  

If you spend $50 (not a problem) they ship for free so we piled up a selection to send home. Which beats dragging 20 pounds of beans through the airport.

It’s hard to find alternatives to the Best Western experience for one night stays, but we lucked out. The RiverPointe Napa Valley Resort is truly unique, with rows of tiny houses furnished with complete kitchens and other nice amenities.

This is birding paradise. I counted 11 varieties on Merlin in 5 minutes.

View of the quiet Napa River from our resort. They are in the process of building a flood wall with a walking path that will eventually give easier access to downtown from here. 

The city of Napa, once pretty boring, is quite nice. In the old days, people just blasted through here on their way up to the Valley. There wasn’t much reason to stop. Now there is a river walk and a restored downtown area with good restaurants and shopping. If so inclined, you can even take a gondola ride on the peaceful river. 

Sadly, vacation wraps up today. We plan to stop in Sonoma and visit the mission plaza on our way to the Santa Rosa airport. 

Ciao.