the sea sings to her in wind tossed whispers

Hello friends and internet denizens! We have returned from our Fall Getaway, our annual September-ish escape to our Oceanside hideaway for an extended weekend. For those following along at home, we make this trek at least four times a year -- extended weekends in spring and fall, longer vacations in the winter and summer. We try to make it to the coast at other times, too, even if only for the day, but having those four getaways proverbially circled in red in on our electronic calendars are our talismans against the humdrum of life that can wear a soul down with routine. Of course, returning to said routine can be a bit harder in those initial days, but it's a price worth paying.

From Friday night until Monday morning, we escaped to a cozy little cabin and holed up together while weather raged outside. It was a particularly -- awesomely -- stormy weekend, with buckets of rain and intermittent wind, yet freakishly warm. Especially for the coast.

We didn't bother taking a whole lot of pics since it was mostly gray, gray, and gray (though beautiful!). But the sun did peek out for a brief time near sunset, because even Nature isn't above showing off from time to time. So we did snag a few to memorialize yet another wonderful retreat to our beloved Oregon Coast.

It all made for the perfect atmosphere for curling up under blankets and watching movies and reading books and nibbling on many yummy things. Hence my lunch today....

breakfast, pink strawberry sidecar:

• Honeycrisp apple
• Bartlett pear
• Reliance grapes

lunch, laptop lunch:

• meats: Niman Ranch ham, herb roasted turkey breast, Applegate Farms pepperoni; cheeses: Mahon, Jarlsberg, gouda, smoked mozzarella, Cotswold, maple smoked cheddar, Dubliner
• French batard slices and carrot sticks
• more French batard
• Honeycrisp apple and Reliance grapes

ahoy, mateys!

Sunday be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, the finest holiday o' the year!

If yer lookin' to buckle yer swashes, heave to the starboard side fer the 5th Annual Portland Pirate Festival! Ye olde festival be this weekend in me own port-of-call, Cathedral Park (under ye olde St. Johns Bridge). Bring all yer landlubbin' mateys fer a weekend o' singin' sea shanties, plunderin' fer treasure, and drinkin' down the best grog o' the Seven Seas. Thar be lots more swashbucklin fer the whole crew (even the littlest scalawags) and ye can even shiver yer timbers with an actual ship-to-shore cannon battle! Hope to see ye thar, ye scurvy dogs...ARRRR!

[BTW: Having trouble accessing our site the last few days? Have you been getting an error when you try it during the day, and then it'll work later in the day/evening? Yeah, I don't know what's up with that but I'm trying to sort it out. In the meantime, please bear with me and keep checking back...we're still here, I promise!]

I haven't been posting pictures of breakfasts lately since I've ended up eating them in meetings a lot recently, and get enough grief about my "fancy meals" as it is without snapping pics of my food with everyone sitting there at the conference table. (Well, grief isn't the right word. There sure is a lot of interest whenever I open my bento boxes, though. One coworker even comes into my office for the unveiling each day...I think she'll be purchasing her first box any day now. Muwhahahahahaha....)

breakfast, cute animals sidecar:

• heart molded egg -- well mangled egg, really...the shell broke while I was boiling it and I had trouble getting the shell off when I was peeling it, so
• apple slices -- no idea of the variety...Chris and Nolan picked apples at one of the old public apple trees on Sauvie Island and included them in this week's shares as a treat
• cashews and raisins

lunch, black strawberry:

• star molded egg
• smoked sausages
• rainbow carrots
• cherry and lemon drop tomatoes
• apple slices
• maple smoked cheddar
• cashews and dark chocolate raisins

Yesterday was overcast all day like it would be for rain, but there was none and the air was heavy and muggy. It finally started sprinkling a bit late in the afternoon, and by early evening, was steady. And then last night...oh, last night. Steady and heavy, but the air so incredibly temperate and fresh that I had every window in the house thrown open as far as it would go. This, this is the weather I love the best, in the season I love the best. I baked chocolate chip cookies and sat at the kitchen table with the door open to the back porch, listening to the sound of the rain in the trees while I worked on my art journal.

It should come as a surprise to no one that I'm a water sign.

i am the heart that you call home

The Decemberists, "The Engine Driver"This Saturday was the Decemberists concert at Pioneer Courthouse Square we've been looking forward to for months. And it was everything that is awesome about The Decemberists, Portland, September, and people in general.

But first -- today's bento, using a box I haven't broken out in awhile.

lunch, deli club:

• herb roasted chicken
• pan sauce Sally made last night from pan drippings (pork chops for dinner), onions, and basil
• baked potato with sour cream and butter
• cucumbers and cherry and lemon drop tomatoes (from our garden)
• Gala apple slices and red grapes

Except for the tomatoes, the veggies are all from our share, the fruit from our bin delivery. This has been a terrible year for the garden, and everyone we talk to says the same. Seeds from last year's end-of-year tomatoes that got composted got spread into our garden as a result, and they completely took over both beds, strangling what few things were able to make it through the months of cold and rain we had in May and June and into July. But of course we had hardly any hot weather this summer, so we have two beds chock full of insane tomato plants absolutely covered with green tomatoes. (And the majority are cherry and lemon drop tomatoes, so they're far too small to justify the time of making green tomato relish.) Sigh. The vagaries of nature, I suppose.

So anyway, the concert! Was awesome! And I still love The Decemberists the mostest! Like of all the things in all the world!

Pioneer Courthouse Square on a perfect September daySaturday was actually part of MusicFest NW, which is 200 bands at 20 venues in 5 days. The Decemberists played at Pioneer Courthouse Square, known locally as "Portland's living room" because it's smack in the middle of downtown and there are always events and rallys and concerts and activities going on there. The weather was absolutely spectacular -- clear and warm -- and just being there, in the center of our city on a gorgous September evening with our favorite music right there, live...well.

Weinland, who were awesomeThey had three bands opening for them, starting at 4 PM with Weinland, who were fabulous. Blue Giant followed, who we liked but didn't love, and then Laura Veirs with Hall of Flame. They were okay, too, but totally the wrong vibe right before The Decemberists. Which, I get why she got that billing because of her collaboration with them on Hazards of Love, but it was music better suited to a coffeehouse than pumping up the crowd before the main act at an outdoor venue.

another side of Pioneer Square, the view directly behind where we were sittingWe opted to sit on the bricks toward the back of the square (one side of the square is an amphitheater-style series of sloping walkways and steps) rather than stand on the square closer to the stage. Not so great for being close to the band and hard on the keisters after 6 hours, but our ears and our feet thanked us for choosing that option. We were at just the right range to see everything on stage and enjoy the music without hurting our ears or needing ear plugs.

taking the stage with "The Infanta"By the time The Decemberists came on stage (7:30), our butts were sore and Laura Veirs had sucked our will to live right out of us, but as soon as they came on, it was totally worth it. Colin Meloy was adorable and hilarious as usual and they sounded terrific. They launched right into "The Infanta", followed by "Billy Liar", so things were hopping in short order.  The set list:

The Infanta
Billy Liar
Yankee Bayonet (w/ Laura Veirs)
Rise to Me (new song off their upcoming album)
Down By the Water (new song off their upcoming album)
The Engine Driver* (and yes, I flipped out, and got a vid, and multiple pictures)
O Valencia!
16 Military Wives
The Rake's Song
Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)
The Island

Encore:
June Hymn (new song off their upcoming album)
Sons and Daughters

closing out the show with "Sons and Daughters'That last was such a fitting tribute for the day that it was, and I appreciated that instead of some kind of long monologue about 9/11 or choosing to cover something as a commemoration -- neither of which is their style -- they opted instead to simply acknowledge the day and that there's nothing that can be said, really, and then play the song that has so much to say about events that define us and generational grief, asking us to join in as harmony with "here all the bombs fade away".

I took a million gajillion pictures and several short vids, so be thankful I didn't post them all. (I would've liked to take advantage of my Droid's capability to do long vids and shoot at least a few minutes of a song or something, but they had security people roaming all the damn time, so I couldn't do more than 10 or 15 seconds at a go. But I did get them singing my two favorite lines from "The Engine Driver", so...score.)

*from "The Engine Driver", for readers who aren't familiar with The Decemberists**:

I am a writer, a writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home

**(and to you I say: OMG WHUT GET THEE TO A MUSIC PROVIDER OF YOUR CHOICE SRSLY WTFBBQ)

i'll point in the direction you sing to me

I could swear the weather man said yesterday was going to be in the 80s. Which means he basically lied or doesn't know jack (or I'm mistaken, as vanishing a possibility as that is), because yesterday? Was hot. Not surface of the sun hot, but when you're expecting 80s and you get mid 90s, that's not good times, y'all.

Which means the dinner I'd planned to make for myself had to be scrapped because I have no desire to eat anything when it's hot, let alone cook anything. Which meant no leftovers, and thus, today's lunch of randomness. Like that's anything new.

breakfast, pink strawberry sidecar:

• half a Granny Smith apple
• blueberries
• blackberries
• slice of (homemade by me!) zucchini bread

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• ham rolls
• cucumber slivers
• smoked gouda
• cheese crackers (Annie's organic bunny crackers ftw!)
• the other half of the Granny Smith apple, sliced
• another slice of (homemade by me!) zucchini bread
• blueberries
• dark chocolate covered raisins

Needs some more veggies and a carb/starch, but oh well.

I've been on the hunt for a CD by a short-lived band called Blue Merle, and didn't want to have to resort to Amazon* if I could help it. Stopped by Everyday Music downtown last night, but they didn't have it, and it showed as backordered (read: unavailable for order) on their computer. The guy offered to call their other stores and thankfully, the store on Sandy had it (and put it on hold for me), but I wasn't in the mood to slog through rush hour traffic down Burnside to the east side and through all that construction where they're diverting Sandy onto Couch.

*(No iTunes, either, unless I'm desperate and/or lazy. I HATE that they make it difficult or impossible to burn (some? most? all?) songs as MP3s on a disc (vs. being able to make a regular audio CD...so nice of them to "allow" us dirty peasants to start doing that finally) so I don't buy much music on iTunes, unless I'm sure I won't want to make a big mix MP3 CD with it. I'm a slave to all things tech and electronic as much as the the next geek girl, but don't fuck with my music, for that way lies badness.)

So I texted Sally to see if he wanted to head over there with me after he got home from work. And this is reason #65,782 that Portland is awesome, because Everyday Music is not only open, y'know, every day, but they are also, ALSO open until midnight every day. We've taken advantage of this very feature many times in the past, and I was quite pleased to be able to last night, because I really wanted that CD nowish. I know! What is up with me and this instant gratification thing? It's like I'm five years old.

Sal picked up the new Mumford & Sons while we were there, and we had a nice drive home listening to new music with the windows rolled down, cruising through our nighttime city.

I've been all over the place with music lately, which is generally an indication of my mood. So I guess that means I've got a lot knocking around in my noggin of late. Broken Bells, Fleet Foxes, Aimee Mann (of course), Cat Power, Mirah, Blue Foundation, Bon Iver (I can't imagine ever tiring of them) and then randomly, early No Doubt and Journey(!) and Nirvana. Wtf, brain?

Oh, and I'm obsessed with that new Brandon Flowers single, "Crossfire". (And revisiting The Killers because of it, along with Pet Shop Boys, because holy crap, do they sound like each other.)

Weirdly, though, I haven't been in the mood for The Decemberists lately, which has me a bit freaked out, frankly. (Though I expect my burning love will be reignited after the concert in a couple of weeks.) I mean, The Decemberists are my constant! What happens if I get caught between time dimensions and my nose starts bleeding and then the smoke monster comes for me? What then?

a feeling of fall in the air...

It's not even September yet and already it feels like fall. Last week's heat wave came (thankfully) to a halt with the cooler weather of the PNW that we know and love, and it seems like the switch has been flipped into fall, even if the calendar doesn't say so. This happens to me every year, the feeling that fall is coming by the end of August, and with it, a deep-seated drive to get the winterizing done before the first frost in September.

Which is hilarious, really, because if we get any frost at all, it won't be until November/December, and we have months of warm weather and beautiful days ahead of us still. What can I say, 27 years in Wyoming, those old instincts die hard. But the vine maples do start changing right around this time, so it's not entirely without premise that I would be sensing that autumnal feeling in the air. Although I did hear on the news last night that we're not done with the heat yet...another 90 degree day coming up tomorrow, supposedly....

Regardless, a roast/stew in the crockpot yesterday seemed just the thing. And I did a bit of baking to use up the zucchini and summer squash that've been in our share for the last few weeks now. So I'm ready for fall, even if the mercury has decided to make a few more jumps upward.

lunch, Ms. Bento:

• stew: potatos, carrots, onions, green & royal burgundy beans, chard, and tomato with a pork shoulder roast
• onion sesame crackers and some gouda
• fresh-picked blackberries* (with a few leaves of greens for contrast)
• homemade zucchini bread

*We had a wonderful, wonderful family weekend with Sister, Guy, and the Fabulous Miss M, which included berry picking at a nearby farm. More about that hopefully tomorrow, when I have a couple of pictures that we took together.

(NOTE: I fixed the issue that was making the small pictures unclickable. Now when you click it, the small image above should open up a larger version.)

heat and the marking of a decade

This weekend was the kind of hot I loathe, the kind that sucks every last bit of will and energy you have and spits it out on the baking sidewalk to sizzle into oblivion. We had exactly two things on our to-do list for this weekend -- 1) washing the Prius, and 2) washing the Camry -- and accomplished neither of them.

But! We do get to sleep on the back porch when it gets hot like this, and we have a perfectly idyllic backyard to enjoy, so there are things to be thankful for. Plus -- and I do feel guitly about this -- as hot as it's been and is forecasted to get, we've had an insanely cool and mild summer while the rest of the country has sweltered. So really, I have no business complaining.

lunch, blue bunny & moons

• grilled Thai peanut chicken skewers
• jasmine rice
• green and royal burgundy string beans
• rainbow carrots
• cherries
• Babybel cheese with sour cream & chive bunny crackers as gap filler

Yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary since we packed up our possessions and left Wyoming for our Great Oregon Adventure. Tomorrow will mark 10 years since we became Oregonians. Ten years. It seems simultaneously like it was just yesterday and like it was another lifetime.

and the stars, they fall, but they burn brightest then

After Sal got off work last night, we packed a small cooler with snacks, a bag with warm clothes, grabbed the camp chairs, threw it all in the trunk, and around midnight, headed to the Gorge to catch the Perseids. Last night (early this morning) was supposedly the best night for the shower and they were forecasting as many as 188/hour at the peak.

taken on our daytrip; this is the view from the lookoutI'd had the idea to try a lookout on the Old Columbia River Highway -- it was fresh in my mind after our daytrip with Cat a couple of weeks ago -- called "Portland Women's Forum" (yes, I know, it's a weird name for a lookout point). The lookout point is actually on a hillside so the entrance is at the top, there's a long driveway with parking along its length, and then a turnabout at the bottom, with fir trees on the western edge and a vantage that looks east toward Vista House and across the Gorge. We figured there was a good chance that either 40 billion people had the same idea, or that it hadn't occurred to anyone and we'd have the place to ourselves. But it was only an hour from the house and would be a great vantage point and we were on an adventure, so we figured we'd give it a shot.

Well, we didn't have the place to ourselves, and there were cars parked along the highway leading up to the lookout point, but it wasn't bad at all. We didn't have to park far from the entrance and after a short walk, found a nice spot at the bottom of the hill to set up our chairs with some space all around us. There were probably a few dozen people at the bottom of the hill with us, spread out across a clearing that's a few hundred feet in diameter, so it wasn't crowded at all. And then we just settled in facing east/northeast, munching on snacks and enjoying the show.

Earlier in the evening, the stargazing n00bs (or straight-up dumbasses) did the usual n00bery of driving the whole length of the parking lot as if they're going to magically find a spot that all the other people parked up on the road didn't find, and blinding us all with their lights -- or, god help me, fog lights -- and generally earning the ill will of a hundred strangers. The morons who'd parked directly across from us and left about 45 minutes after we got there will never know how close they came to a messy demise -- they piddly-dinked around their SUV for about 10 minutes while they were getting ready to leave, the SUV's rear lights and brake lights on the whole entire time. They were apparently oblivious to shouts from the crowd to turn off the effing lights, so they fail at not only stargazing etiquette, but also, basic common sense and general courtesy.

But dumbasses notwithstanding, it was great fun. People talked and laughed softly and there was a kind of low-key party atmosphere about the whole thing. Whenever a particularly good meteor streaked across the sky, there'd be a collective "Ooooooh" all across the lookout area. At one point, some wit hilariously quipped, "Double rainbow!" which had Sal and I busting up for quite some time. Ah Internets, what was life like before you?

from the NASA websiteThe night was beautiful and calm and perfect for watching the meteor shower. Which was breathtaking. We saw quite a few meteors and in between, just sat in comfortable silence enjoying the moment and being together and thinking how incredibly lucky we are.

We left at 2 before it really ramped up because we had an hour long drive back and had to work today. So worth it, though! We hadn't done that kind of thing in a long time -- way too long, in truth -- and we were reminded how much we enjoy them, love being able to throw some things in the car at midnight and take off somewhere...I think there'll be more night time jaunts in our future.

it takes a village

Today was our neighborhood block party. There was lots of food and a bouncy house for the kids, and a makeshift stage for neighborhood musicians, chalk for the kids to draw to their hearts' content and a plant exchange and a map for us to mark neighborhood assets for trade and barter, or neighborhood activities: "Mike and Michelle -- garden with veggies for trade, flowers to share", "Ivy and C -- chicken coop, eggs to barter, cob structure sauna", "Mona -- textiles, music", "Paul and Pete -- carpentry and woodworking, foreign language lessons". Like that.

click to see more picturesBut the main event was the "intersection repair": painting the intersection down the street with a big compass rose design created by a collaboration of neighbors. There were buckets of recycled paint in nine colors and a chalked out design on the street. Everyone brought a brush and spent this gloriously beautiful day painting the hell out of the intersection. Mother Nature herself was completely on board, because she called a temporary stop to the weeks of rain that've put a damper on even the hardiest Pacific Northwesterner's spirits and even intermittently shut down the annual Rose Festival. Until late afternoon yesterday, no one was sure if this long-planned street painting project was going to happen.

But happen it did. With kids running about and a band rocking out in the background. And the end result? Pretty damn awesome.

We stuck around for a bit, but decided to skip out on the evening BBQ even though we'd spent the earlier part of the day making potato salad and cookies for the occasion. We love our neighborhood to itty bitty bohemian pieces, but it was a lot of people, and we already don't get a lot of time together as it is. Plus, with the first nice weather we've had in weeks, our little backyard sanctuary was calling to us.

We were sitting there watching the goings on after the painting was finished, just soaking up the moment and the lovely weather, and Sally said, "Sooo...do you still want to stick around for the potluck?" I grinned. "Do you?" "Not really." I had to hug him at that moment, because that's what you do when someone reads your mind and understands everything without you having to say anything. "Me neither."

So Sally threw a few skewers on the grill and I drizzled some fresh asparagus with a bit of oil and sea salt and pepper, then set the little table on our back porch. While we waited for the coals to get going, we did some trimming of the roses in the back corner and walked around the yard and marveled at how much it's changed in the 8 years we've been here.

Then we kicked back on the porch and talked while we took our time enjoying our dinner -- spicy marinated pork and Thai peanut chicken skewers, my famous dill and vinegar potato salad, and grilled asparagus -- the new star-shaped curtain lights for lighting and the local jazz station on low volume for atmosphere.

Not a bad day. Not a bad day at all.

i vote for three day weekends every week

How was everyone's weekend? Did you get to do something fun and relaxing?

Ours was nice -- a good combination of fun, productive, and relaxing. We spent Saturday and Sunday in the yard working on our To Do List to get it ready to enjoy for the summer. We didn't get everything on our list done, but we accomplished a lot:

• weeded the back bed and cleared out of the last of the spring bulb plants that have died back, which were beginning to choke out some of the other stuff trying to poke up through all that decaying vegetation; we've gotten so much rain that everything was slimy and squishy...yuck!
• Sal trimmed the apple tree, including a lot of trimming and shaping of the under-canopy
• raked the patio and the areas under the apple and Japanese maple trees
• Sal trimmed the rosebushes in the front; I trimmed and re-directed the canes of the climbing rose in the back -- we're going to need at least one more trellis on the back fence this year because that bad boy is going completely bananas
• Sal trimmed the lilacs, part of a 3 year plan to get them whipped into shape after several years of not tending to them like we should've
• back porch cleaned, swept, and mopped, including the screens all the way around and everything set up so we can now sit out there and walk around in our bare feet without turning the bottoms of our feet black
• yard decorations (wind chimes, lanterns, etc.) unpacked and set out
• install my new star-shaped curtain lights from IKEA (that I bought six months ago and completely forgot about until I unpacked the yard stuff)

And all of that despite the gray days and wet weather. Actually, it was pretty great working-in-the-yard weather Saturday and Sunday -- not too hot or cold, didn't really rain, and it was gray (not just overcast) so we didn't have to worry about sunscreen, with some nice sunbreaks here and there. However, despite wearing two thin, long-sleeved shirts, pants, gardening gloves, and work boots, I still managed to get bitten all to hell by mosquitoes. I have about a dozen quarter-sized welts on my legs that are going to drive me mad for days.

Left to do:

• plant the salvia that mom gave Sal for his birthday
• plant my annuals that we started when we did our veggie starts
• put up the twinkle lights in the trees
• weed the sidewalk strips
• replace a few of the plants we lost over the winter from last year's landscape-o-rama (namely, the jasmine and one of the clematis)
• get two more metal bins from IKEA to store a few things on the back porch
• oil the front porch swing and rocker

There are other things we want to do, of course, but once we've taken care of those items, we'll be able to call it good for enjoying the yard whenever we want this summer

But working in the yard wasn't all we got accomplished this weekend. We relaxed in the evenings watching movies and cuddling under blankets with the kitties on the couch. And yesterday was reserved for non-work or chore items: Sally brewed another batch of beer (his third batch this month!) and I spent the day writing. Also a productive day: he got his batch put up AND the last batch bottled, and I reached a milestone of my own.

happy birthday, sally!

I'm excited about the prospect of all the produce we'll be getting this summer, what with our regular bin delivery, our vegetable garden, and the CSA we signed up for this year. May have to scale back our bin delivery until the garden and CSA peter out in the fall, as it's entirely possible we'll be overrun with fruit and veggies, but that's a good problem to have, no? Still a few weeks yet until we'll see anything from the CSA, though, and it'll be a couple of months before the garden gets going, so no need to panic just yet.

But it does mean that every other Monday, my bentos tend to be a little forlorn as they await the arrival of the next delivery. While we had the grill going last night, I had Sally throw on a couple of chicken basil sausages to use in lunches this week.

Breakfast, cute animals sidecar:

• oatmeal, with Braeburn apple chunks underneath
• butter, brown sugar, and raisins in the mini-sidecar to mix in

Lunch, black strawberry box:

• chicken basil sausage
• julienne cucumber and carrot strips from the weekend's sushi party (see below)
• grilled potato with butter, sour cream, and green onion, leftover from last night's dinner
• Braeburn apple slices
• yogurt and dark chocolate covered raisins
• garlic dill cheese curds

Is there anything better than a gorgeous weekend in the Pacific Northwest? NO NO THERE IS NOT.

All weekend we had temps in the mid/high 70s, blue or mildly cloudy skies, and not a breath of wind. Our roses exploded all over the place in the last few days, and combined with the rhododendrons and azaleas and irises, I'm so in love with our house and our neighborhood I could burst. Next weekend we'll be doing some yard work -- weeding the back bed so the plants my mom put in don't get clogged into oblivion, trimming back the lilacs, pruning the apple tree, planting a few new and replacement things, and putting up the twinkle lights in the trees -- but the yard is in good enough shape already that when Sister, Guy, and the Fabulous Miss M came for the weekend, all that was needed was to set the patio chairs out for us to while away some time soaking up the gorgeous, gorgeous weather.

They came for Sal's birthday -- which is actually today; Happy Birthday, Sally!! -- and we had a nice, easy-going time with family to celebrate. Did a bit of running around Saturday-- to Portland Nursery to pick up the gift certificate and two black and blue salvia my mom had reserved for his gift -- then to Steinbart's so the boys could get all atwitter over brewing supplies. We stopped for lunch at Grilled Cheese Grill, which Guy hadn't yet been to, and though we had to wait in line thanks to the street fair going on down the block, we managed to have a yummy lunch all around. Back home to put Miss M down for her nap, and we passed the time at our wonderful table under the apple tree, which is all you really need in life, frankly.

After a run to New Seasons for supplies, and back home for a snacky interlude of bread and cheese while Miss M ate her dinner, she was off to the pre-bedtime ritual of jammies, storytime, and a goodnight song. Meanwhile, we got things ready for Sal's requested birthday activity: a sushi-rolling party! Great, great fun and lots of laughs while hoovering up plates of sushi in every combination we could think of. When the last of the sushi rice was rolled up, we retired to the living room to finish off our plates and watch Louis C.K.'s most recent stand-up show and finished off the evening with four mini-cakes, complete with candles and a rendition of "Happy Birthday".

The next morning, Guy treated the chef (and the rest of us) to a fabulous breakfast -- yeasted waffles with lemon-poppyseed creme -- and then it was time for them to head home. Afterward, I retired to the nook for a bit to edit while Sally read some of his brewing books out on the front porch. We moved to the patio, where I did so more editing, though mostly I just kind of sat there in contented silence, trying to absorb just how absolutely perfect the day was. We grilled for dinner -- steaks and potatoes, with some steamed broccoli and green onions from our bin. And though I had website work to do, I did absolutely none of it, opting instead to watch a movie and fold clothes (I am determined to stay on top of the laundry, dammit!), get to bed relatively early, read for a bit, and get a good night's rest. Website work will be there tomorrow, and anyway, I knew it was supposed to rain today. How's that for procrastination?

a house in order is a mind in order

Busy but productive weekend. The house had gotten to such a state that I was nearing a nervous breakdown if it wasn't dealt with post haste, so we got up (relatively) early Saturday, resisted the pull of the glorious weather, and busted out an impressive To Do List. It meant missing out on the St. Johns Parade and Bizarre (not Bazaar), unfortunately, but I knew if we didn't get to it, we'd regret it.

The house is gloriously clean again, all dishes washed and put away, our bedroom/attic restored to order (and thus our sanctuary-within-a-sanctuary is once again available), all laundry folded and put away, floors swept and vacuumed, etc. etc. We also got the porch rocker and swing put up, the patio raked, and the yard generally tidied up -- still need to put the decorations out, string the lights in the trees, and clean/sweep the back porch so we can use that, as well, but we're off to a good start for the summer.

When we were done, we scrapped plans to see Iron Man 2 in favor of staying in and enjoying our lovely home. I indulged in a bath and one of my bath bombs with the local jazz station playing in the background, used another of our new towels and just generally pampered myself, and then we had dinner and started a new show. (Jekyl, which is really fantastic. Kind of a cross between The X-Files, Memento, and Dexter, if you can imagine such a thing. With British accents.)

Sunday was our fun day. And another day of really fabulous weather. Sal brewed another batch of beer, I spent the day writing and editing. And finished off the day with a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that Sally made. Not a bad life, not a bad life at all.

black strawberry box:

• spicy taco-seasoned chicken breast with spinach leaves and cheddar shapes for garnish
• green onions and more cheese in the cups
• all of the above are meant to be heated and combined in the flour tortilla (packed separately in a ziploc) to make a taco
• broccoli for gap filler and a bit more veg
• braeburn apple slices and orange sections (I know, try to contain your shock at the absence of the ubiquitous dark chocolate and yogurt covered raisins...)