Local color

We in Portland are having a gorgeous week. Those of us who have been here a while know that this is probably the last gorgeous week until February, when we'll get another week-long reprieve from the gloom. But the beauty of these weeks sustains me, season after season, year after year.

Wordless Wednesday (Signs of Fall)

Fall: from my kitchen

It's beginning to look a lot like Fall in my kitchen. Visions of pumpkin stew, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins. Yum!

More cooking and recipes to come soon—promise!

Bumps along the way

It's been a somewhat rough day or two. For me, it started with the beginnings of a cold which has morphed into a pretty nasty cough. Then, yesterday, I did what David and I have been fearing since we got here. I fell down our steep, narrow, twisty, dark stairs while carrying Anna. Thankfully I didn't have far to go and I was able to keep my wits about me enough to protect Anna's head. My body took it a little harder. I bashed the side of my face into a wall and banged-up both my legs. Fortunately the only lasting impact a day later is that my left ankle/foot is a bit torqued. I am very grateful that I can walk today and that Anna's just fine.

And Tasia, my girlfriend extraordinaire from Portland, arrived yesterday sporting a pretty nasty deep tissue infection. She's been sick for a week or so, and we really didn't think she'd be able to make it here, but that's Tasia. She decided she'd rather be sick in France than in Portland and somehow made it through a full 24 hours of travel alone, puking her guts out along the way. She's on heavy-duty antibiotics which are making her feel terrible. Hopefully she be feeling better in a few days. We had such grand plans for our time together in France!

And, alas, today is my love David's 40th birthday. The motley crew he's surrounded by today doesn't exactly make for an exciting soirée tonight. I am planning to make crèpes, and we picked up a nice bottle of Burgundy and some amazing looking treats from the chocolatèrie. Hopefully we can all rally to give him a proper fête.

Happy birthday, Love. Je t'aime.