Oh, really nice days. I still don't feel like we've quite settled in — still a lot of visits and a lot of activity at the house — but I think we're getting there. The days do go quickly, as everyone says. She is an incredibly happy, laid back, c...

We are each growing and changing so much every day. Outside our windows, autumn leaves shine bright — it's the prettiest autumn I can remember here in a long time.We've been getting out for a walk every day since it feels like only a matter of minutes before ...

The days are filled with so much now. They are both long and short and not like any others. Everything feels full and sweet. Amelia sleeps as I write. She is awake much more now, but at this moment: quiet, quiet. Outside the windows the season has definit...

The air conditioning was on, and then it was off. We sat in the river almost all day on Friday (the hottest), but by Saturday it was strangely cool and weirdly gray and wanted to rain (though it never really did). I sat in the dining room working and drinking hot chai in a long-s...

For her birthday, I made my sister a lace-weight crocheted Alpine Frost shawl. It was more the color of alpenglow. I was extremely pleased with and ridiculously proud of it. One of the top five things I've ever made, I think. I gave it to her last night at dinner (the four of us went h...

Our dear sweet Violet left this world on Sunday afternoon. She was eighteen years old this summer. We'd gotten her when she was a tiny kitten. She used to sit on my shoulder, like a little bird. She'd wake me up by sitting on my heart, and staring at me. Our sweet, sweet friend. The angel of o...

Oh yeah. Bring it.

A little dinner party on Saturday night with our dear old college friend Kurt and his darling wife, Sheena, who were in town briefly from San Fran. For coffee and banana cake, we went outside to the chairs. Within a half an hour, the sky turned from beautiful, bright sunset gold to pew...

Should you find yourself in the Rose City, here are a few suggestions for you. No list could be comprehensive; I compiled this one from this blog's local reader comments (thank you!), and added several of my and Andy's favorite places and activities. If you have further suggestions, please lea...

I've got problems.

Breakfast at Wapato Greenway, 2/18/12.

Oh, my sweet little poet. I think she's writing villanelles in her mind. She's very serious. Sensitive. So sincere. My Clover Meadow. I love her so.

Crocus blooms : : A big pancake : : A bosom friend : : Yarn I don't like : : Taking the chair cushions in : : Making garden plans : : My Aestlight, finished a year ago, well-worn, just photographed : : Late nights up talking : : Watching American Pickers : : Pretty plant names : : ...

A night, a morning, a day, a night, and a morning at a little cabin in the woods.

Thank you for all the nice house tour comments! You guys are all so sweet. So sweet. Thank you. I guess our house has changed quite a bit since we started redoing things last year. Redoing the windows and then the bathrooms was a pretty major event for us. We were not redoing-type peop...

Very, very excited about all of the sampler enthusiasm — thank you so much! I am thrilled. We will talk! It's my birthday tomorrow, so I made myself a wee little birthday cake. And took a big huge picture of it. :-)

When I was little, I used to like New Year's Eve. My dad was a musician and usually worked that night, and my mom would go to wherever he was playing. We three girls would spend the night at our grandma and grandpa's, and that was my happy place: The house was overly warm and almost new. E...

We wish you a truly happy Christmas, filled with love, hope, warmth, good food, gentle times, and quiet joys. Thank you for being a such a sweet part of our days, and our lives. We love you guys. Love always, ...

We got a new table and haven't stopped talking about it. It's a big old oak rectangle. I was wondering if it had been in a school — when we got it home and turned it over we found ancient chewing gum on its underside, so probably. I think it's the table of a lifetime — I've been waiting fo...

I'd love to show you the quilt, but now the kitters has claimed it. I'll see what I can do.

I explained that it was time to make the quilt sandwich, and she wasn't allowed to get on the quilt yet. She explained to me that she wasn't actually on the quilt. . . . No, not actually. Kind of a literalist. Mwah. Right on your big ol' nose, you. Precious love.

Just peppermint tea and a gingersnap.

Lovely, dark fog this morning in the yard. Frost on the rooftops, on the dried leaves in the yard and the grass. I can hardly see the tree just down the street; it's muffled in its cloud, and I like it. I'm in a nightgown and kneesocks, thinking we should go o...

Logs around a hearth. I haven't stacked them right. I think you're supposed to do them in some kind of order. I always forget. I think I might use wool batting instead of cotton. More on that later. I've got some Liberty lawn in these squares. Probably a mistake to use different fabric weights...