Cool. - Empty Nest Repost #8

I have to admit I've wondered ever since I wrote a certain piece a few months ago, if I'd have occasion to refer to it again. The opportunity to say, "Yes......that happened. I hoped it would.....and it did." Well, tomorrow evening it will. Tomorrow evening Marc and I are heading into Seattle to hang out with a couple of our boys at a concert. They WANT to go with us. The only difference between tomorrow's concert and what I originally wrote about is that we'll be seeing someone current and not from our......you know......and oh, I-can-hardly-say-this-because-it-makes-me-feel-sort-of-oldish-and-uncool, but......our 'era'. 

I've had warnings that 'It will be loud, Mom........and long', but except for the fact I'll be missing the one of ours that now lives in New York......I don't care. It'll be cool.

Click here to read the original post:  Cool.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

Warmly, 

Margaret

Year One

I'm kind of big on anniversaries, those reoccurring dates that serve as both reminder and motivator.  I take advantage of the framework they create to make plans, resolutions and decisions. Use them as markers to look back at where I've been and see what direction I'm headed. When certain numbers show up on the calendar, I'm tempted to take a deep breath and turn in a circle with eyes wide open in order to view with greater clarity where I stand at that very moment. I want to pause and figure out how it is that I ended up on this exact piece of ground.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my first post on this blog.  I'd been considering beginning one for quite a few months before that. By the time I punched Publish Post for the first time, I had already spent time outlining and figuring out my font, format and header. I had thought a lot about why I wanted to do it. Why it would be good for me. What I wanted it to focus on and be about. What I wanted to focus on and be about. 

In the very beginning I was nervous. None of my family, friends or acquaintances had blogs at that point......that I knew of anyway.  And of course, I wanted to let them know what I was up to, because......well......I wanted at least a few readers, followers and viewers. I wanted at least a little bit of feedback. Even though I'm comfortable with being an independent thinker, feedback really does help. There is always risk in putting oneself out there and I knew I ran the risk of making a fool of myself to varying degrees. Realizing that those I know and care about might not 'get' or understand whatever it was I planned to 'put out there' made me queasy, and for a few days pages I had already written stayed safely put, safely private, locked inside my computer. In the end, I followed my heart, my passion and my gut, and pushed that darn button.

I have to say now......a year out......that publishing This Friendly Village has been a great discipline. I have learned a lot. I've become quicker with the decision making, the thought process, the pictures and the posting.  I think I've become a better writer and photographer.  I have become more brave. 

The transition from one stage of my life (parenting) to another (an empty nest) was made easier when I gave myself permission to share. By committing to photographing, documenting and posting while exploring a few things I'm passionate about, I've been able to define what more I might do with my time......now that there is more time. To see, as I chose topics and subjects, what rose to the top. Should I have been doing this all along the way during the past 24 years? Maybe. I am definitely aware of how much I would have loved it if certain aspects of the Internet had been around when our boys were much younger. (Not to date myself...but I didn't discover blogs until a couple years ago.)

I've spent some time wondering if I have used my time in this space in the way I hoped I would. Did I find new things out about myself? Confirm what I have already known? Have I discovered new interests and met new people? Learned more about my relationship with my camera, keyboard and computer? With those I know and love? There have been a few dead ends for sure, but overall, the answer is 'yes'. And now that I've completed my first year, I'm looking  forward to the next.......few. It's made a difference in my life. I hope that in some small way it has made a difference in yours too, for we are all in whatever it is we're in.....together.

Warmly, Margaret

September

My birthday was this past week. Maybe that's why crisp fall days and I get along so well. The air smells different. Leaves turn color and crunch. Cooler weather is around the corner. I know I'll talk to the people I care about most in the world. The day reminds me to savor the past year and look forward to the next one. 

Marc doesn't do a lot of our baking, although he's definitely capable and good at it when he does.  Possibly this is because baking is one way I enjoy spending my time...... and you know what they say about having too much of a good thing. 

The one day I know for sure he will be standing in front of the mixer creaming butter and sugar together, adding eggs one at a time and mixing in dry ingredients alternately with some kind of liquid, is my birthday. Each year one of his gifts to me is a cake. He asks well ahead of time "What kind will it be this year"......and is a good sport about whatever I choose. Its always from scratch. Always eaten after dinner. Always served with candles and a song. I'm not ashamed to tell you that every year the remains of those frosted layers end up as my breakfast until they're gone.

I have my favorite flavors and so therefore am pretty predictable, although this year I through him off a bit and asked for Chocolate with Chocolate Frosting. Since this is the cake I make most often for other members of the family, I rarely request it for myself. Usually its  Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting. I love this one. How the scent while its in the oven kind of ushers in a new season. Pumpkin puree, buttermilk, vanilla, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg baked into three layers, then slathered with a cream-cheesy mixture laced with more pumpkin and orange zest. Now why didn't I ask for it this year?

Hope you had a good one!

Warmly, Margaret

Saturday Morning

Saturday breakfast (brunch by the time we make it out of the house)  is what we've been doing for our 'just the two of us' dates lately. Weekend evenings are dinner at the Ale House with friends, but Saturday morning I think is just for us. I love that it's a good day and time to catch up on the events of the past week and for some reason I find the weekend morning atmosphere of a restaurant kind of festive. Neighbors running into neighbors. Tall people and long arms reaching for little hands up-stretched. Chatting with whomever happens to be closest in line. Scanning a lively room to see if  a wood topped table will open up. The room rustling with those making plans for the next couple of days balanced by those intent on making no plans at all. An unglamourous meal that is simple to show up for simply because it is just that.  Maybe it's the fact that daylight through the windows works well for photos or that we're both morning people, but it has worked its way back into our weekends.

During our early days together, because we worked different shifts or when Marc was in school, breakfast out seemed to be what we did. While we wondered what the future held it was an affordable outing and the timing worked. We had so many long conversations at Julia's 14 Carrot Cafe over mugs of coffee and Tahitian Toast with fruit and yogurt. Dressed up dinner dates were fine and special and fun....but  not more so than the mornings when we were the real 'us'.  A pricey evening at a good restaurant was a rare journey. It was practical and comfortable to decide to hang out where we could afford to.

When the boys were little they were allowed to be their spirited selves a bit more at breakfast than if we ventured forth at the dinner hour......and we felt like we got out of the house. Stacks of pancakes, bowls of fruit, a few books or small toys and we had a little break. A meal served. No dishes. A psuedo-date. During years filled with homework, sleepovers, sports and busy kid activities, pancakes and eggs served by others were edged off the calendar.  I'm thinking we miss the noise of a full house because for the past few weekends our routine has been morning coffee at home and a quick discussion about where to go. This week we ended up at the Portage Bay Cafe. Organic food, really good coffee and they bake their own bread. The good kind that's a little crunchy on the outside, softer on the inside and sort of begs to be topped with jam from the jar on the table. Employee's t-shirts ask us to 'Eat Like You Give A Damn."  OK.  I ordered hash with lots of veggies (which included both sweet and white potatoes) and a little bacon. I have no idea what Marc ordered......I was paying too much attention to my own meal.  And to the family with the rambunctious boys at the next table. And to the holding-hands couple at the counter.  The ones who at first glance I thought were our age until I realized they were twenty-something years younger.

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