This Time Of Year

This time of year......

Busy.  Fun.  Exhausting.  Joyful.

Earlier in the week Marc strung lights around the outside of our house and onto some of the landscaping in front. He placed the lit wire moose (my favorite holiday item) in between two of the ancient maples in back. Last night we got our tree. This weekend we will finish decorating and look forward to the boys arrival one by one.

This past Sunday we met up with some family for a lovely holiday brunch at Volterra. The rest of them sipped Peach Thyme Bellinis, while I sipped coffee. I know the breakfast cocktails would have just made me sleepy, but I did take a taste before my order of chestnut pancakes came to the table, and they were delicious.

Afterward, we took a walk through the Ballard Farmer's Market, one of the few local outdoor markets that I know of that operate at this time of year. We wandered in and out of the interesting and eclectic mix of shops in Ballard. Noted a few gift ideas. Picked up a few things.  There were carolers under a gazebo where the streets meet up. The passing shoppers were chatty and festive. A friend commented that it seemed like a scene out of a Christmas movie.

This week I will bake and put the finishes touches on gifts that I'm making. I'll wrap and pack boxes and ship. I will hope to finish up the shopping I still have left to do and plan to figure out a Christmas card, photo and letter.

I'll visit with friends. Exchange cookies. Hand deliver a few gifts. Hopefully make time to watch It's A Wonderful Life. Light Advent candles, take a deep breath and try to remember what this time of year is all about. It's the Christmas season and I can't escape the work and busy-ness...nor would I want to. But I also want to be sure to appropriately reflect. To remember to pay attention to why we do all that we do to celebrate.

 (A note: The ornaments pictured above can be found in Souvenir on Ballard Avenue. They are handmade, unique and exquisitely beautiful. Any photograph could not do them justice! The photographs were taken inside of the shop with the owner's permission.)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

XO Margaret

Seattle

Seattle was where I moved after college in order to complete an internship and was where I decided to take my first job. It is where Marc and I met, dated, fell in love, were married and began life with our boys.

Although we've lived in a small town east of the city for a number of years, there are days when I miss it. Days in which I feel the need to touch base with this part of my/our history. Every once in awhile we make the drive in......for a concert, a sporting event, for dinner. Every so often we feel the need to revisit places that we know and love, or to try out something new.

A couple of days ago it was time.......for a walk around Greenlake and a bowl of clam chowder at Duke's across the street.

September

My birthday was this past week. Maybe that's why crisp fall days and I get along so well. The air smells different. Leaves turn color and crunch. Cooler weather is around the corner. I know I'll talk to the people I care about most in the world. The day reminds me to savor the past year and look forward to the next one. 

Marc doesn't do a lot of our baking, although he's definitely capable and good at it when he does.  Possibly this is because baking is one way I enjoy spending my time...... and you know what they say about having too much of a good thing. 

The one day I know for sure he will be standing in front of the mixer creaming butter and sugar together, adding eggs one at a time and mixing in dry ingredients alternately with some kind of liquid, is my birthday. Each year one of his gifts to me is a cake. He asks well ahead of time "What kind will it be this year"......and is a good sport about whatever I choose. Its always from scratch. Always eaten after dinner. Always served with candles and a song. I'm not ashamed to tell you that every year the remains of those frosted layers end up as my breakfast until they're gone.

I have my favorite flavors and so therefore am pretty predictable, although this year I through him off a bit and asked for Chocolate with Chocolate Frosting. Since this is the cake I make most often for other members of the family, I rarely request it for myself. Usually its  Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting. I love this one. How the scent while its in the oven kind of ushers in a new season. Pumpkin puree, buttermilk, vanilla, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg baked into three layers, then slathered with a cream-cheesy mixture laced with more pumpkin and orange zest. Now why didn't I ask for it this year?

Hope you had a good one!

Warmly, Margaret

A Couple Favorites

A few things have gone on this past month and I wrote about a couple of them for the website Make It Missoula.

First, we moved Joey back to Missoula for his second year at the University of Montana. I love that place. The school is such a good fit for him and he's happy there. As a parent, I couldn't ask for more and am so thankful. Hard not to think about This Time Last Year when we moved him in for the first time. Always a little hard to let go.....

I also wrote about a favorite place we've been visiting for years, Big Dipper Ice Cream. Super tasty scoops, homemade in small batches......and the flavors range from the traditional to the very nontraditional. Always fun to check in with them when we're in town and see what they've come up with! A couple of my favorites: Tangerine Sorbet and Chocolate Espresso Chip. Thank goodness we walk a lot while we're there!

Hope you'll take a quick read! I've provided the links.

Cheers!
Margaret

Only So Many Minutes in A Day......

Yesterday I returned to my previous post and added a favorite recipe for Banana Bread.  I originally meant to include it, but didn't seem to have time that day. I also spent a few minutes updating my recipe page by linking ones I've included so far with their posts. You can now click on each one and it will easily lead you where you want to go.

Getting both of these things accomplished were simply  functions of time......or lack of it at the moment that I needed it. Or thought I needed it. They might not seem like huge things or of great importance but they made a difference. Getting to them made something I started feel finished and complete.....and to me, that feels good. 

Today I had lunch at a favorite restaurant with my family, followed by dessert.  Afterward we walked into a bookstore and I saw this peaceful banner strung the width of the ceiling. In a few minutes we'll head out for a hike. Making time for good food, important people in my life and almost any activity out of doors makes me feel good too.

I sincerely wish you a wonderful, peaceful and satisfying weekend!

Warmly, Margaret

Unpredictable

I've had a chance to spend time with each of my boys lately. During the past couple of weeks they've all been home. Connecting with them is a bit different now than when they lived here full time. Face to face interactions are priority. It's a treat not to have to communicate by cell phone or the Internet. When they're around I clear my calendar to just hang out with them. When they want to talk, I stop what I'm doing to hear what they have to say.

Last night we took the two that are here this week out for dinner.  It started out as a typical spring evening, with sun drenching the pavement in between downpours. On the way home it began snowing so hard that it became difficult to see. Huge silver dollar flakes landed on the windshield and soon after we arrived an inch or more was built up on our patio. I have to say......I enjoy the unpredictability of it all.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Saturday Morning

Saturday breakfast (brunch by the time we make it out of the house)  is what we've been doing for our 'just the two of us' dates lately. Weekend evenings are dinner at the Ale House with friends, but Saturday morning I think is just for us. I love that it's a good day and time to catch up on the events of the past week and for some reason I find the weekend morning atmosphere of a restaurant kind of festive. Neighbors running into neighbors. Tall people and long arms reaching for little hands up-stretched. Chatting with whomever happens to be closest in line. Scanning a lively room to see if  a wood topped table will open up. The room rustling with those making plans for the next couple of days balanced by those intent on making no plans at all. An unglamourous meal that is simple to show up for simply because it is just that.  Maybe it's the fact that daylight through the windows works well for photos or that we're both morning people, but it has worked its way back into our weekends.

During our early days together, because we worked different shifts or when Marc was in school, breakfast out seemed to be what we did. While we wondered what the future held it was an affordable outing and the timing worked. We had so many long conversations at Julia's 14 Carrot Cafe over mugs of coffee and Tahitian Toast with fruit and yogurt. Dressed up dinner dates were fine and special and fun....but  not more so than the mornings when we were the real 'us'.  A pricey evening at a good restaurant was a rare journey. It was practical and comfortable to decide to hang out where we could afford to.

When the boys were little they were allowed to be their spirited selves a bit more at breakfast than if we ventured forth at the dinner hour......and we felt like we got out of the house. Stacks of pancakes, bowls of fruit, a few books or small toys and we had a little break. A meal served. No dishes. A psuedo-date. During years filled with homework, sleepovers, sports and busy kid activities, pancakes and eggs served by others were edged off the calendar.  I'm thinking we miss the noise of a full house because for the past few weekends our routine has been morning coffee at home and a quick discussion about where to go. This week we ended up at the Portage Bay Cafe. Organic food, really good coffee and they bake their own bread. The good kind that's a little crunchy on the outside, softer on the inside and sort of begs to be topped with jam from the jar on the table. Employee's t-shirts ask us to 'Eat Like You Give A Damn."  OK.  I ordered hash with lots of veggies (which included both sweet and white potatoes) and a little bacon. I have no idea what Marc ordered......I was paying too much attention to my own meal.  And to the family with the rambunctious boys at the next table. And to the holding-hands couple at the counter.  The ones who at first glance I thought were our age until I realized they were twenty-something years younger.

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Food and Snow Days

It was a short work week so Marc and I revisited Mae's Phinney Ridge Cafe, one of his old post-soccer breakfast places. Check out the homemade cinnamon rolls. And Huevos Rancheros, my personal favorite almost anywhere. Finally got my computer back yesterday and while waiting...... enjoyed every single thing about the recent cold and snowy days. Logan, too! Have a great weekend.

Warmly, Margaret