anyway

Is what I often say- as a summary, or the end of an inner dialogue for instance...anyway...

It has not even been a whole year- but almost- since my love decided to have the rickety book case upstairs dismantled and left us with stacks of books haphazardly in the corner of the loft and on the bedroom floor, and already we have (finally) found a solution! As it turns out, there is a store where they sell the shelving system which we started with many years/moons/lifetimes ago in a far away land on distant shores...

The whole undertaking is sort of a domino effect because now we are using part of the system that currently houses the TV, and so then we had to get something else for that, and then we saw a rug, and then we went to look at kittens and... anyway...

Luckily none of the kittens looked like this one (by Giacometti of course), unluckily they were all very cute.

'The naming of the kitten' has become a multiple-day event and J even took out his phone during dinner to look up names. Vetoes were flying left and right. Suggestions went north and south. Last year we ended up renaming Lucy after settling on Alice for only a day or so. We do take democracy serious in our family.

Yes, yes, I understand, I am starting to look like the crazy cat lady- but hey, if this is my midlife crisis, that is not so bad, is it? And anyway, my love is just as bad, he even joked about getting two- or was he serious?

open

I'll confess, I am procrastinating...I need to write some work notes but I have been lollygagging around on the web in various places. I even sat myself down at the dining room table instead of lounging on the couch with the laptop to make it feel more serious. The window is open because we are having a real indian summer this week- and I am enjoying the jungle-sounds and the breeze.

 We started early yesterday morning, the picture above I took when we were well on our way...

J with the shawl (knitted by me!), V hiding in her coat, and E putting on her 'less than enthusiastic' face...they had to stand in line while my love and I were free to explore the city. We did the outdoor art first, and found a beautiful mosaic by Chagall among other cool stuff just hanging out in the streets.

Detail

Then we went indoors, even though it was really a beautiful day- and found more inspiring art and 'old friends' (paintings I am very familiar with).

William Turner, always knew how to paint a storm...reminding me of some of my workdays. Social work can be like that, very dynamic and, well, stormy sometimes.

By the time we were picking a restaurant to have an early dinner with J, E, V and bf K (who happens to study in the big city already), I definitely did not feel like this 'dancing girl' by Paul Klee anymore.

We had a lovely fun dinner, said our goodbyes to bf K, and drove all the way home.

not counting

It is not that nothing is happening or has happened, it is more that I am not inspired to say something interesting about it. Tomorrow we are going to a bigger city for 'portfolio day' for my girls, who both want to study art in college, and thus I was supposed to cram two days of weekend (work) into one.

Thus, I will start a bread shortly and finish my vacuuming  upstairs- I was chasing the dust bunnies under the bed before dinner, and there is definitely some satisfaction from seeing a gleaming wood floor instead of  gray dusty planks.

Going to the big city is always inspiring, certainly the art inside the museum and outside on the streets and in the park. Our own city is not too bad either, enough to do of whatever you may be in to.

But after visiting, I am just happy to come home to our 'wooded lot', our not so fancy but oh so comfortable house, our cats, and the quiet.

The coming week is the last of my first 'gig' as supplemental social worker. I am sad to let go but looking forward to new challenges. I am also wishing for another cat or kitten, but my love is afraid that there will be no end to my quest to rescue whichever feline walks across my path.

remnants

...is the name of V's art concentration this year. One of her paintings depicts a dead chipmunk, but there are many interpretations of the word remnants, I'm assuming/hoping. Today my love and I worked on another type of remnant, a desk that was purchased at a second-hand (or who knows how many hands) store originally for E, then ended up in our bedroom when she swapped it for another multiple-hands desk which I bought a long time ago from friends who were moving (who had bought it at a garage sale I believe).

We sanded it down, removing all the written messages that had gathered on the painted surface over the years. The top turned out to be pine wood, to which I admit I am partial- pine trees and pine wood and tonight we did have pine nuts scattered over the red bell pepper salad.

I did my walkabout in the yard, and the pictures are really sort of remnants of that experience too- I can't 'picture' the sounds of fall, the singing woods, the crispy leaves under foot, the cats rustling through the undergrowth, the wind rattling the drying leaves...

There are some plants still flowering, the catnip (see above) and the forget-me-nots, the lavender and the black-eyed-susan. I am also processing some remnants from the past week of work, particularly Friday- it was an exceptionally stressful day, a sad day too, and for the first time since I started this job I am having some trouble putting it all to rest in order to fully enjoy the weekend.

November skies in October

This morning, T had the last piece of the Engardiner Nuss torte for breakfast before he left for a visit up north where his girlfriend goes to college. This evening, my love and I had dinner put together from left-uncooked things in the fridge- I severely dislike throwing unused fresh food away.

When I look around our home, I see many pieces with memories attached, some with past histories we will never know about. To the right of me my great-grandfather's 'smoke-table', to the left of me a small chest of drawers we bought at a garage sale from a couple newly wed (I remember them because they were so much in love that I felt we were intruding on their privacy by even looking at them).

sage

I harvested some sage tonight when I went outside to enjoy the cold air- the heating gives me headaches. After dinner I washed it (I hand wash all herbs, I'm very particular) and now it is slow drying in the oven. For the holidays, I will bake a sage/hazelnut bread (if I can find hazelnuts that is).

Hopefully I can harvest some rosemary as well this coming week. Hmm, rosemary baguette...rosemary foccacia...

I am not really active in the garden/yard, I like things to just grow and that's that- but my love is more industrious than I am. He was chopping wood earlier in the day, while I was multi-tasking inside.

Obviously, I love to read all the inspiring blogs listed in the side bar, but I just want to highlight two of them- only today it occurred to me that they are in a way very similar.  http://www.kreativberg.com/ and  http://theknittygrittyhomestead.blogspot.com/  I admire the writing and the honesty of these bloggers about the highs and lows of raising young children. Both live a live quite close to nature. One writes in English and the other in German. Perhaps I like to read them because I would have liked the sort of life that they chose- although I am happy, I don't always feel that I belong where I am.

Here's what I made today- Engardiner Nuss Torte. There really is very little redeeming quality to this deliciousness, apart maybe from the nuts- it is whole wheat flour but with sugar, butter, and cream...Mmmm.

Tomorrow morning, another busy week will begin. I am looking forward to it! Lucy may start it off with her favorite early morning activity: ripping up the newspaper.

walking

Just sharing some pictures of the nature preserve. I like walking, it is my favorite way to exercise. Walking in the woods, on the beach, in the mountains...

...when it is crisp or windy...

Missing the aspen trees of Colorado...where I heard they had their first snow today...If I recall correctly, that usually happens sometime in October. I remember one particular blizzard...snow so high that our toddlers could barely keep their heads above the drifts. And then we moved here- snow so low that we could still see the tips of the blades of grass.

No, we didn't bring the wine glasses. But most likely we are going to enjoy some wine tonight. And I feel like baking something. One of the blogs I read mentioned that this time of year is powdered sugar time. Indeed!

slow

At work, I like to hit the ground running and keep it that way until I have to leave for the day. At home, not so much- I love having a slow start to my Saturday, and would like to extend that tempo throughout the weekend. My love and I had those kinds of weekend-mornings a long time ago (before kids) and now that the kids can transport themselves to whatever they are up to, we are enjoying them again.

It is one of those beautiful crisp autumn days, and while I was sweeping the path and deck to rid them of 'nature's mosaic' (as my love called it) I thought of the stereotype of the dutch housewife that people have commented to me about over the years. One of the kids' teachers grew up in Holland, MI, and thought that all dutch people were incredibly proper and swept their sidewalk on a daily basis. Ahem. Perhaps I am not dutch enough and if so, my family may set me straight, but I don't think that this is dutch custom nowadays.

The cats are enjoying the yard as well, after being cooped up inside last night due to frosty wet weather. My love and I are going to take a walk in the nature preserve. Hope you enjoy your weekend too!