Falling back into the future

I decided to kick off this posting with a favorite picture of mine taken some years ago in Denver when a group of radical faeries (of which I am on and thus have the name Snowbear) gathered for a heart circle and in so doing made this wonderful mandala of many seeds and flowers and rocks plus candles. It was all assembled on this huge flat boulder and was a delight to see come to life in only minutes really. Oh what creative energy there was that night. My work is on the far right where the work dropped down to a lower level and I work hard to make it all look right. Another reason I so love the arrival of this time of year with all the colors nature has to offer. Enjoy and now it is time to get along with the posting and do take time to let me know if you are enjoying it...

Boy the nights are arriving early now that we turned the clocks back last night...yes, I know it was this morning at 2AM, but I did it last night before turning in for the night. Who knew I had 9 clocks to deal with, but thankful that 2 adjusted automatically. This was a weekend that allowed me to reconnect with my living space. Yeah, it sounds weird, but all too true. Have been traveling way too much these past several months and more trips are in the making, but to have a weekend where I got to really do things in every room and sort things out and change over including:

laundry sheets and towels

flip Halloween to Thanksgiving in decor

restock the frig with breakfast stuff and salad makings

write notes and vote

take time to read and catch up on New Yorkers

These simple chores really allowed me to feel like I live here again and having all my clothes on hangers again and not folded ready to go into a suitcase. It really does get old after a while to be sure. So the weekend also allowed for some socializing that was long overdue. Mick and I had our usual breakfast at The Shanty Cafe. If you are ever in Seattle and want a good solid breakfast without all the fluff and hype, this is the place to go. Amy is great and the coffee is good. Mick's usual is a Western Omelet with an English Muffin and Hash Browns with a side of Hollandaise Sauce. Yes, he takes the English Muffin and puts it under the omelet and then puts the Hollandaise over the top. Oh my. But then am I any better? Sometimes. But not yesterday. I ordered my "usual" and it is scary when Amy can write it all out without asking a single question. It is a waffle combo (waffle with scrambled eggs and 4 strips of bacon) and a side of country gravy. So, then when it arrives, I build my breakfast by placing the 4 strips on the waffle and then the eggs and pour the gravy on top...but wait, there's more! I take the syrup and drip a fine line around the perimeter of the waffle for that sweet and savory flavor. And of course since it was Halloween, we ordered one pancake - why? They were pumpkin/pecan. I had a couple of bites, but the waffle had done me in so I let Mick enjoy the rest. Yes, we groaned. By the way, when I am being good I order the regular which is 4 strips of bacon with scrambled and sub hash browns and toast for cottage cheese and tomato. Love that too! But I was feeling like I wanted to be wallowing in comfort yesterday, so go figure.

After that it was off to get gas in the car and home to do chores. So I need to share about Friday night. Got home and was puttering about and decided to order in pasta for the night. Had not use Amante's in a while and so called them and ordered a Fettuccini Carbonara which you get to pick soup or salad and I like their soup and it was cold and rainy. Also ordered a Pepperoni Oven Grinder to have for lunch on Saturday. So they tell me it will be 45 minutes. No worries. And badda-bing it is delivered 30 minutes later at 7:25pm. Cool.

Paid and tipped the driver and go to enjoy and what is this? No soup? Yes, no soup. Bummed, I decide that while I don't expect a special delivery, at least make them aware of it as I had not tried them in a while since they had messed up that last time. Called and let Demitre know what had happened. Found out he was manager or something. Cool. He wants to make it good so sending out with next order. No problem. An hour passes and I am so done with dinner I call to let them know to just let it go. Bummed, but hey, there you go. Now they are all sorry, sorry we want to give you 20% off next order, we are going to make this right...ok whatever. Catch you later, bye-bye.

Fast forward to 10:25pm and my phone rings...it is the front door. I KID YOU NOT! Yup, the driver showing up to deliver soup THREE hours late. And he is like "what the problem?" as I stand there fricking sleepy eyed and going "What the F*$K?" So enjoyed soup with the sandwich on Saturday - and it was good! Too mucking futch for me!

Now, take that and let's fast forward to this day and what an amazing day it was. Glorious and sunny, just crisp and beautiful. Boy, how I love this time of year. Cool nights and great sleep and then the sun is low in the horizon...so I host four friends who show me how to play Catan. It is an amazing game. If you have not heard of it, you need to. It is all about collecting resource cards and building things. There are online versions and the board game versions. We did the board game and it was a blast. A game lasts about 3-4 hours. http://www.catan.com/ will give you more information. The goal is to get to 13 points first and well, call it beginner's luck = I won! It was just too much fun and I can see playing again. I also have to say I enjoy Risk and Monopoly, but this is a great game.

Afterwards, we headed over to my favorite Chinese restaurant in Seattle. It is called Shanghai Garden and who knew they have a sister restaurant out in Issaquah of all places. For those outside of Seattle, Issaquah is a town east of here and is considered a bedroom community. Anyway, I had called yesterday and we got to enjoy Peking Duck. It was to honor David and Moonsong's 30th anniversary kick off celebration. What fun and we all agreed it had to be some of the best food in a long time.

Peking Duck - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Peking Duck, or Peking Roast Duck is a famous duck dish from Beijing that has been prepared since the imperial era, and is now considered one of China's national foods.
The dish is prized for the thin, crispy skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook. Ducks bred specially for the dish are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The meat is often eaten with pancakes, spring onions and hoisin sauce or sweet bean sauce. The two most notable restaurants in Beijing which serve this delicacy are Quanjude and Bianyifang, two centuries-old establishments which have become household names.

It is a dish I can see having again and it was a joy to share it with friends. We also enjoyed chicken with ginger and garlic, Mongolian beef, dry-sauteed green beans, Shanghai dumplings that they make right there plus pork fried rice. Oh my we had fun plus we had enjoyed appetizers at the apt of a sampling of sushi and shashimi during the game so it was an international meal of enjoyment for all. Even introduced an unsweetened green tea to Tyler
who loved it! What fun to get people to try new things.

And so I look forward to reconnecting to more people in the future and in so doing taking time to look back at all the fun I have been able to have. Hope the week ahead is a good one and that Tuesday sees elections turn out for a positive future for all! Cheers!