end of season mulch

Finally!  The weediest spot in our garden was attacked by my brother-in-law in early August.  A few blades of grass crept back in over the last month and a half, and were finally eradicated by my husband.  To add to the no-weed look I like, he put down landscaping cloth and then went to buy bark-chips.  End-of-season bark chip selection is not top knotch - we got black... which looks a lot like dirt.  Oh well.  At least there isn't any chance of grass growing under that bench!  Next year I'll put a few pots on the broken bench and have flowers cascading down off of it.  It'll be so pretty!  Thanks for all your hard work Ty & Austin & Scott!

'puter games

Who knew playing typing on the 'puter (or a placemat in this case) could be such fun?  L came up with this idea and Scott jumped on board, and then E and my sister got in on it as well.  Pretty soon there was the Coast Guard against a Secret Society bent on taking over the World!  I missed out on most of it because I was busy working (on a real computer, not a wooden placemat) while all this imagining was going on upstairs.  Never a dull moment when the niece and nephew are in town!  Even Maggie (our dog) got in on it (she's in hot pink on the back of the sofa basically ontop of Scott).

French Boulangere

Who knew they'd have a French Boulangere in the middle of Sonoma?  Tres Bien!  Not only was it on the shady side of the street on a 96 degree day, it had nice tea and Mum enjoyed her coffee.  We even got to people watch a group of people looking for an address that apparently did not exist.  They kept wandering back and forth in front of us looking for this elusive spot.  Pretty funny.

I wish I could come back to this spot every week for tea & a snack.  We had a cookie and a scone, and there were so many other tasty-looking things to try.  That's the trouble with vacations... you can only do so much.  But if I lived in Sonoma (and trust me, it's on my list) I would visit this place on a regular basis.

the Yeti

This is me enjoying (what else?) butter chicken at the Yeti in beautiful Glen Ellen California.  Fellow food lover (Cafe Trix blog writer) suggested we eat here at least once while we stayed at her place and took care of her cats.  So we did.  Everything was mildly spiced so Mum could eat it as well, and did you see the size of that naan bread?  And peeking off to the right is Mum's mango lassi, which she had never had before.  All I can say is YUM!

The samosa didn't look like your average samosa - it was more bread-like in texture, and I'm used to a more flaky version.  It was very tasty still.

I would totally recommend the Yeti if you're in Glen Ellen.  It's in the Jack London Village, which is incredibly quaint.  You'll have a great time no matter what you order!

family visit

L and her other Aunties

As a favour to my brother-in-law I sucked it up and drove with my sister and her two kids to Vernon to visit the other side of the family.  Kidding!  I love those kids & getting to spend more time with them is a blessing, so I actually jumped at the chance.

It was nice to see the other side of the family again.  I've known K (the woman looking at me taking the photo) since I was 18, and met her sister B shortly afterwards.  So we were all friends and my sister knew her mother-in-law before she even met her future husband.  It's a tangled web we weave, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

L was just enamoured with J, who is K's little boy.  And E visited with his much older cousin S, who was incredibly tolerant of all the little ones and their lack of understanding about personal space.

We laughed, we cried, and A got incredibly sick, and then the kids got a little ill, and I even managed to attend a scrapbooking class and visit an old friend.  It was a great start to the summer visit, and as a little payback, my sister helped me get my studio back in order from the renovations.  I know, I know.  It's been a long time coming!  But having my appendix removed, and then myomas removed, and then a 3 week vacation to Sonoma, and then... well, you get the idea.  I didn't do much this summer in the studio.

I did make up for my lack of actual work by taking a boat-load of pictures.  Here's a couple more from my time in Vernon.  I hope I get back out there next summer.  What a fabulous little town!