I’m sensing hints of Fall. Our mornings have had that misty marine layer that does eventually burn off to blue skies (and, of course, blue water!) and warmth, but the sun is at a different angle now and there is an underlying coolness to the breeze. I have enjoyed this summer and the lovely deck pots and the delicious cherry tomatoes on our happy tomato plant, even though it’s been mostly a pass-through season, which it typically is not. I LOVE summer here in the Pacific Northwest and I look so forward to it throughout the rest of year’s seasons. But with the pandemic and the godawfulness of trump and the worry of the upcoming election (because he WILL cheat), it has not been a relaxing summer. Add to that the death of John’s dad, our doggy Bailey, and the shocking unexpected passing of my cousin, Craig, it’s also been a brutal summer. We’ve also learned that one of our closest neighbor’s cancer has returned and it does not look good. It has been a brutal, horrific year, period.
The cats have treated our house and our adoration of them as a pit stop in the past weeks, especially Wylie. We see her briefly as she stokes up on wet food and water, gives us some purry wraps around the ankles, and then ZOOM. Gone. Since Nikki was sick, she has (thankfully) been more of a homebody. But they are taking these dry sunny days for granted. It will all change soon. Expecting noses out of joint.
I was so excited to hear that the kids wanted to come and stay for Labor Day weekend, which we thought was THIS weekend. Earlier in the week, John and I planned and started house cleaning and grocery shopping and then when I touched base with Nate about when they might arrive on Friday, I was “informed” that I was a week off! Snort. Jeebus. So…we have that to look forward to THIS COMING WEEKEND!! (We’re just not into “labor” these days). We’re also all going to visit the wild cat sanctuary on the island and that should be a lot of fun (keeping Quinn away from the leopards and cougars and tigers that he’ll want to pet…)
He’ll be 3 years old on Sept. 18th. It blows my mind because I swear he was just a newborn. I swear he was just learning to walk!
I continue to be a reading fiend, and we had our book club this week—this time on Facetime. Honestly, it worked out much better than it had the past couple of book clubs on Zoom. Easy peasy. And one of our members was in Reno! It worked out great.
We also had a relatively social distanced lunch (outside on their deck) at our neighbors’ yesterday and it was a ball. It felt so normal to socially engage with friends (just us two couples) and truthfully it was hard to be aware of the pandemic. We didn’t do masks, but we were outside the whole time around a big table. In our county, we are able to get together in groups no larger than 10 people, so I feel we were A-OK. It was SO much fun. We have made choices—we get together with Nate and Sandra and Quinn now and then; John visits his mom now and then; Helen comes to visit now and then (time for another visit!); and good neighbors one-on-one now and then. It will be more difficult when the bad weather arrives. Outside is much safer, I know, and that window will be closing soon.
I received my Butcherbox order and I’m impressed! Get a load of all this meat!
The prices are very reasonable, and it arrives on dry ice (solidly frozen). I’m going to try a pork sirloin roast tomorrow. I assumed this would be prohibitively expensive, but I’m quite impressed, especially having it delivered to our door out here in the boonies! I just wish I could get my favorite wine delivered. (And hey, after all these years, it now has a screw cap instead of a cork. I’m not entirely sure what to think of that. It does make it easier to open…)
