We stayed out by the fire for a long while, and didn’t end up going in until right around midnight. Our nap had given us a little more energy, so Liz and I stayed up until around 1AM, eating potato chips and watching cable TV in our little nook. A very lovely end to a very full day.
In all honesty, the H.S. Clay House was just a phenomenal place to stay. Had we done nothing else at all over the course of the weekend, had we not gone to any wineries at all and just stayed at the house? I would have been perfectly content.
My meal, which was a pile of berry cheesecake flapjacks. Which were pretty much what you imagined they would be: “cheesecake in pancake form.” I was happy to not succomb to my normal habit of coming here, and then ordering something heartier like an omelette. The sweet breakfasts are the main pull for the Bongo Room, and I’m glad to have indulged.
In addition to some of the sewing-related purchases she made (buttons, fabrics), she also brought back a lot of chocolate, some cookies, and of course some macarons. This box was all for me, and I have little shame in telling you that I ate them all in one sitting. I do feel a slight bit of shame, when thinking about how quickly I went about eating them though.
Arrival areas are awesome, and that goes double for an international arrival area. So many people and languages, so much happiness.
I left work a bit early today, to meet up with Liz at the Blue Line. This may be news to some, but she is heading off to Paris for two weeks (and I’m staying in Chicago).
My final drink: Edison Square (warm, pistachio, ancho, caramel, rye, cognac). The way this drink is brought out is really amazing. It’s bottled up, and then when the server opens the top up… smoke just billows out everywhere. Pretty much everyone else in our immediate area stopped what they were doing and watched.
I stumbled across some old photos, back when Liz was going through some of her old artwork. I’ve included a lot of her childhood work here on the blog (all of it is gold), so make sure to check out the links after the post.
What’s crazy is that for the last four or five days, we’ve been able to feed the rabbits 100% with things from the garden boxes (and from a few herbs planted along the fence). They’re getting a bit less that they used to get, but the quality is definitely much higher.
Another milestone, for my Grandma Phoebe – as family and friends gathered to celebrate her 105th birthday. Lots of dim sum, birthday cake, balloons, photos, and no small amount of face swapping on our mobile phones. A fun day catching up with cousins and nieces and nephews from all over (and technically all over the world).
Gently removing the squash and sling. Liz mentioned that you wanted to leave part of the stem on, as the squash would continue to draw nutrients from it, even after being taken off the vine.
After we finished building and setting up the garden boxes… and after we filled it with soil and Liz put in all her plants, I started taking pictures.
It’s funny that, once upon a time, the entire backyard was essentially a jungle. Which we then cleared. And then built garden boxes. Which we are now turning into into mini-jungles.
After work on Tuesday, Liz and I decided to roll up our sleeves for some time in the backyard. Though we were sluggish after the long weekend off, today was going to be cooler than the rest of the week… so we decided to work.
On Saturday, Liz and I ventured out to meet up with Jake and Anais for some drinks. The spot we were to meet was a kind of weird one – the directions we had were vague, and had a series of steps, as opposed to an actual address.