Oh...yeah. We're back from Italy, btw!!!

....minds BLOWN by the journey of a lifetime.  But we've been home awhile now.  Time slips by so quickly...and I have lots on my plate.  While I've been dying to sit down and blog about our trip...it just hasn't happened.  We've been busy wrapping up our summer that has brought some welcome changes!  FINALLY, I've found the healthy, respectful and growth oriented work environment that I had been trying to manifest for 2 years.  I've moved my massage practice to a wonderful clinic of talented therapists and a chiropractor(who is also a dad at Willa's school).   After being so stagnant in a place where I just didn't fit or have much respect for my profession, I am thrilled to be in a clinic that is so supportive and encouraging!   They are providing me with continuing education in Neuromuscular Therapy and other modalities that will greatly enhance and expand my skillset.    I've been pretty busy catching up on the classes and info that I missed and I'm loving it!  My brain is on fire!
 I'm painting again as well.  I hauled all my supplies out of the house and down to the garage and cleaned out a portion to house a wee "studio".  When it's been nice out, I've worked on some pieces in the driveway.  Still not sure what I'll do when the snow flies....but for now it feels good to have my muse poke her head in once and awhile.
I think another reason that I've not taken the time to sit down and blog our trip is that....I just haven't been able to find the words.  I over-use the word,"mindblowing".  Other words just don't do what I feel inside justice.  "Life changing" "paradigm shifting" "awe-inspiring" "staggering" "humbling"....close but not quite there.  New words need to be invented for what this trip gave me...for what my soul was saying in each moment, with each new experience...
 I have been enjoying writing Trip Advisor reviews of places we experienced in Italy.  If interested IMHO:  http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/785danap
Something to get my juices flowing.....our trip in a tiny nutshell....

Piemonte

We watched the morning mist rise on an etheric blue lake ...church bells heralding the day

I drove on impossibly narrow roads on hairpin turns in the Alps

We watched the sun set over bucolic hills of the Val de Funes as the cows were called home

We flew arms outstretched through trees and over San Vigglio... tethered to a wire

We stood in awe of the Forcella Pana....the stuff only dreams are made of 

We ate fresh fruit of the gods bought from an old man's stand on the side of the road on Lake Garda

We slept in an ancient farmhouse on the top of the  medieval town of Padenghe

We swam with  children and swans in the deliciously cold waters of Lake Como

We watched an astounding thunder and lightening storm from a deck high above the lake

We ran through the vineyards and visited hill-top castles in the Langhe valley

We experienced the quiet majesty of Milan's Duomo cathedral...and the melodious onslaught that is a Pearl Jam concert

Our bodies where pummeled and rolled by the powerful waves of the Mediterranean

We climbed in the terraced mountain vineyards high above that sapphire blue sea

We found treasures offered up on it's beaches

We touched walls built before Christ in Tuscany

We whispered in the halls of Saint Francis's monestary

We wound our way through the labyrinth of Venice and were rowed on its streets of water

We ate the most incredible food

Drank fabulous wine
We had great visits with Dylan

and we met wonderful people that make us want to live a better life...be better people...

The Forcella Pana

With the summer coming to a close, school starting for Willa tomorrow, and easing into a more solid routine...I know I will find the time to sit and write of our travels at more length.  Before those small details start to drift away...so that I can always remember.
BUT!!! Not until after the 29th.  Cuz Miles and I are headed to NEW ORLEANS first!!!!!!!!  The Big Easy, baby!  MO BETTA!!!!!!  Whoo-hoooooooo!

Christmas Eve 2013...the year without a Santa Claus

We got our wish this year!....to host Christmas day diner at our house for friends.  So we spent a big part of our Christmas Eve baking, smoking, and cooking for our feasts for both nights! We were really hoping to take a break and go ski in town but the temperature on the trails was well below zero.  Not a comfortable environment to ski in, especially for Willa.  While she can keep right up with Miles and I on a moderately fast ski now, if we are really hauling ass for a killer workout and training.....or just to keep warm at 10 below, she would be left behind.  But 2000 ft up at our house it was 7 above so we opted for another show shoe across the valley.  Is was nice to get outside in the brisk cold after being in the house steamy hot from cooking all day.  There have been no big winds or warm temps to whisk away the snow from the trees to leave them bare for quite sometime now.  Everything has been covered in either thick snow or hore frost.  And it catches the winter low light colors so beautifully.  Truly a wonderland.  I hope it lasts!  I'm slowly phasing out some of our old Holiday decorations for new updated ones.  I really like a more wintery Scandinavian color scheme.  The soft grey-based arctic blues and purples that one sees outside this time of year.  I really like pagan symbology of the holidays, non-traditional natural Christmas trees, holly and berries, lots of candle light, and majestic reindeer stags-I have a nice collection of stags started....

Our house smelled like HEAVEN from morning to bedtime.  While Miles baked spent-grain bread and pie crusts, I worked on my pie filling, cranberry chutney, and oyster stuffing.  After our snowshoe we got busy with the rest of Christmas eve dinner...king crab, green bean casserole, and mashed taters.  Everything tasted incredible.....IN-CRED-I-BLE.  I actually ate so much I had NO room for pie.  That just does.not.happen.

Every year on Christmas Eve we each get a new pair of jammie bottoms and a family game.  We donned our jammies and heavy coats to take a walk around the neighborhood.  The stars where booming to the north-Saturn big and bright- and I was lamenting the fact that our telescope had been broken years before and now that we have this great new room with huge windows, wouldn't it be awesome to look at the stars from the warm inside?  Foreshadowing!  We followed up our walk with a viewing of Holiday Inn.  DAMN Fred Astaire could DANCE!

 Of course our holidays have been lacking without Dylan, but this was also the first year that we have had no Santa believin' kids in the house.  It was great when Dylan no longer believed(Actually, we had to break the news when she was 11!) because she could then join in the Santa Shenanigans of wrapping and setting up her little sister's presents.  But with Willa no longer believing...that's it.  No more Santa.  SOB!!!!!!!!  A few weeks ago, as Willa and I where decorating the tree, she paused and asked, "Are you Santa?"  Taken aback, I went right into goof mode.  Eyes wide and mouth agape I responded with, "OMG!!!  WHAT are you TALKING about.  Is the Devil in ye, Child?!?!?!?!"  She just looked at me deadpan.  "Mommy....TRUTHFULLY." 
UUUGGHHH!!!!  She played the TRUTH card!!!  I looked to Miles in the kitchen for help...I could see him watching us out of the corner of his eye.  Damn!  DAMN, damn!  "Hunny!  Willa thinks WE'RE Santa!"
"Mommy..........."
Oh, all right....SHIT.  There goes the magic.  The sneaking around late-night, putting Santa prezzies under the tree....the delight the next morning when she wakes up and walks into a candle lit room with soft Christmas music playing.....a pile of new presents under the tree(HOW does Santa get down such a skinny chimney?!)....a rockingchair and stool with cookie crumbs and half full glass of milk on it pulled up by the fire.... 

Damn kids and their "logic".

No Dylan...no Santa...those where tough things to wrastle with this year....but we still had a wonderful, wonderful time.....
And I didn't hesitate to boast, "And, ya know, ALL those presents from Santa were from ME and DADDY!!!  Aren't we the most AWESOME parents?!?!?!?!

A FABULOUS 17 year old cab... we bought 4 after enjoying some on one of our first "fancy" dates!

THANKS, Dad!!!!!

 

Something kinda wonderful:  I had been yearning to hear Handel's Messiah and looked through my dad's collection a couple of times to see if he had it(I had inherited his whole collection of hundreds of classical music CDs that I store in a couple of huge "notebook" disk holders) with no luck.  So on Christmas Eve I researched some highly revered versions of Messiah online and decoded to buy The Academy of Ancient Music-Christopher Hogwood conducting version on iTunes.  When I went to purchase, something kept preventing the sale from going through.  I was feeling pretty irritated at that point!  I was really wanting to hear this version now! It was hard to believe my dad didn't have Messiah in his collection, so I went back downstairs to look one last time.  I picked up the heavy leather CD book, put it on my lap and it fell open right to a Handel's Messiah CD.   Not only was there suddenly a disk right there alphabetically where it should be...but it was THE very same Academy of Ancient Music-Christopher Hogwood version I had just tried to purchase!!!  Crazy!!!!  My arm hairs were on end!  I put the CD in right before dinner....and it was magnificent.  For the first time since my father died, I felt like he was there with us.  A warm, comforting, loving feeling of the highest form of my DAD.

Smeeeeeeeeeeell!!!!!!!!

GLORIOUS EATS!!!!

Sillies!

Fuzzy foxes, celestial white horses, and Star Wars!

 

And to all, a good night.....

Yay! My Birthday Days!

44.......feh.

Anyhoo, the only thing NOT fantastic about my birthday this year?  It fell on a Wednesday, Dylan wasn't here, and we had already cut down our Christmas tree a week or two prior when Dylan was home.  Other then that, a very great 2 days!  On my actual birthday,  Miles and I took off work and spent the day at Willa's school helping the kiddos bake all things delicious and holiday-like to supplement their fractions unit!  I LOVED it!  We made vegan cup cakes, gingerbread folks, buckeyes, pumpkin pies and pecan pies.  The next day we came back and helped them divvy up the yummies, make icing, decorate their stuff using fractions and clean up.  I was amazed and so proud of how natural Miles was with those kids when it came addressing the class and talking about math.  It was like he was meant for a classroom-at least when it comes to math.  He was relaxed, fun, knowledgeable and truly seemed to enjoy himself.  I really lament the fact that his chance to return to school later in life to pursue a degree in education or engineering was ripped out from under him.  While we would not be as well off financially....I know his heart would be full to the brim at the head of a classroom.

It was a lovely way to spend my day......and Miles and I topped it off that night at Crush Wine Bar and Bistro.  I enjoyed a flight of Italian wine...to get primed for Italy!

Busy and happy hearts and hands

yum!

A little pre-dinner shopping at Nordstroms.  Just say NO to this shirt.

The Classico was FABULOUS!!!!

 

Cheers

This mac with a kick is to die for!!!!

For the weekend portion of my BDay, we celebrated on Saturday.  Miles made crepes with a nice choice of fixin's- lemon curd, chocolate syrup, peanut butter, maple syrup, powdered sugar, etc.  I had s'meach.  Later I napped it off while Miles and Willa made a huge batch of butter spritz cookies.  It was nice to get some cozy couch time and snuggles with Willa.  Once my crepe and cookie hangover subsided, we worked a little of it off on a snowshoe in the woods down to the river.  We stomped a new trail, singing carols, making up winter haikus, and goofing around. 

For din-din we made my once yearly allowance of Steak-um sandwiches.  Junky, terrible, delicious, horrid comfort food.  Damn straight.  A movie and Ben and Jerry's for dessert.  It's good to be the mildly ripening Birthday girl.

 

 

 

Chatting....planning....dreaming.....

 

Fukinlovem

 

 

Gentle white snowfall

Blankets our twilight journey

Woods and wonder. Home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving weekend

 

Steam.....from the COOKIN'!!!!

 

1.     Which do you like better: hosting Thanksgiving at your home, or going elsewhere?

  We have never hosted Thanksgiving dinner thanks to FOOTBALL and the fact that we don’t have TV at our house.    End of story.  I would LOVE to host but people don’t want to come to our house because either they want to host at their house and/or they can’t watch football at ours.  Feh

2.     Describe your perfect bite?

A fork full of turkey, mashed potatoes, and a bit of stuffing all dipped in cranberry sauce

3.     White meat or dark?

 OPT?  Other People's Turkeys?  Dark.  I barely like turkey as it is and I find that white meat equates to eating a wool sock.

4.     Do you buy a fresh or frozen turkey? Organic? Free-range?

 Mile’s usually wins a frozen turkey each year at work.  Just the usual run of the mill turkey that we smoke and use for soup.  I would really like to brine, smoke and cook up an organic free range hen sometime.....I may have my chance on Christmas Day this year.  We are putting our feet down and refusing to go to anyone else's house.  They can come to OURS for once.  There's no friggin football on. 

5.     Stuffing with giblets or without?  

 I like pulling out the giblet bag and obnoxiously shoving them in the kids faces.  I used to give them to the dog…..

6.     Sweet potato pie or Pumpkin pie?

 Miles makes a killer pumpkin pie that even I like!  And then we pair it with my famous cranberry/apple pie.  Tradition!

7.     Anything you won’t eat at the Thanksgiving meal?

Turnips.  GGUUHHH, my family always used to make mashed turnips.  One of the few foods that will make me puke.

8.     Carve Mr. Gobble at the table or serve on a platter? 

At the table for chrissakes…a la Clark Griswold.

9.     What side dishes are a must-have in your family?

MASHED-FUCKIN-POTATOES or Momma aint happy.

10.  Do you stick with a particular menu from year to year, or do you mix it up? 

Up until about 4 years ago, when we started going to the T’s house for Turkey/Football day, we mixed it up every year.  Since we had not yet experienced a brined/smoked turkey, the family was HATIN’ on turkey so we made some  alternative dinners!  We did fondue with homemade won tons, shrimp, and veggies….with the traditional Thanksgiving  sides a couple years in a row.  One year we roasted some cute Cornish game hens and made stuffing with oysters.  Maybe a ham once……..

11.  Are leftovers a blessing or a curse? 

Turkey Soup on a cold Alaska night is always a blessing!  Just throw the mashed potatoes in and make it thicker!  Cranberry/turkey sammiches…What’s so cursey about that?

12.  Formal table or Chinet?

 Paper plates?  Really?  Not unless we had, like, 50 guests.  My momma taught me better than that.  Lazy, wasteful, tacky and did I say LAZY?

13.  Your menu:  If I got to host?!?!

Organic free range hen.  Miles would brine and smoke it.

My amazaballs oyster stuffing

MASHED-FUCKIN-PO-TA-TOES that Miles makes to perfection

My phenomenal cranberry chutney

My Brussel sprouts with craisins and Gorgonzola, a new family fav

         Miles's homemade bread with Willa’s homemade butter

 

 

White wine, a Gewurztraminer or pinot grigio….and, of course, red wine.  Marziano Abbona San Luigi Dolcetto di Dogliani, Piedmont, 2010

14.  Extended family, friends, both or just the immediate family for dinner? 
I would really enjoy having both!  My mom and Pops and some good friends! And folks who don't have families to celebrate with....

15.  Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday in your home? 

Neither, but it’s a spiritual day.  Even if I just have to grab at the few quiet moments to inwardly give thanks and breathe in the wonder of it all….everything we are blessed with….  It’s also  a chance for me to help my children(well, it's just Willa now) find the grace in giving pause to be thankful.  A time of openly sharing what means the most to each of us, to acknowledged the TRUE origin of this holiday, to hold in reverence the native peoples of this land that have suffered at the hands of those who would conquer and destroy.  It IS a spiritual day….despite the eats, drinks, and screaming at the tube.

 

16.  After dinner, do you go to the latest movie or watch football on TV or just a turkey induced snooze?

Football before, during and after…..feh.  As much as I HATE when the chicks hang with the chicks and the guys hang with the guys at social events, this year while our men occupied the man cave, the women folk and children gathered about to play Scattegories.  We had a GREAT time, lots of laughing and silliness and some seriously creative answers!  So glad I stayed upstairs to play.  And I DID get in the obligatory after-turkey nap.

 

17.  Do you watch the Macy’s Parade?   

Haven’t watched it since I was a kid!  But EVERYTHING is so commercialized and corporatized anymore.....

18.  Christmas decorations up before or after?

The weekend after Thanksgiving is traditionally when we fuck up our backs hauling up the decs from the crawlspace.  By Sunday evening the tree is up, lit, and ornamentized and the rest of the house sporting our wacky mish-mash of holiday fare.

19.  Black Friday shopping or sleep in. 

 Fuck.Black.Friday.  You have to be a real douche to buy into that shit.  And even douchyer to go out on Thanksgiving!  What’s the popular meme this year?  ““Black Friday: Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.”   Disgraceful.  Curmudgeonly rant over.

20.  Favorite Thanksgiving memory?

So many!  The year Miles dropped a pan of green bean almondine on the floor and implemented the 5 second rule-dude’s FAST!-and then later almost caught the dinner table on fine.  …not so much Miles’s fondest memory.  I thought it was a knee slapper, though!  And when we had T-Day dinner at home, we always had a blast at the post-gorge neighborhood sledding party!  Sad now that so many of the kids are over 18….and that the hosts of the sledding party have moved.  L sigh……

       
21.  Picture taker or memory maker?  BOTH!  My drunken antics sparklin’ personality and camera skills make for lovely memories both tangible and ethereal.   ~hic....

This years Thanksgiving was almost complete...with a cold bright morning to trek over to our friend's house in, a hearty workout on the ski trails, hot showers, Baileys and coffee, happy chatter, snuggling with my hunny, kids playing, cooking, eating, football, games and the yearly performance put on by the kids.  The only thing missing was Dylan.  Our first Thanksgiving without her.  Willa burst into tears at the dinner table when our friend mentioned Dylan during grace. She really struggled not to.  I saw the corners of her mouth quiver downward like they do when emotion is making it's way up...she turned her eyes to the ceiling in an attempt to stave off the tears while Todd spoke.  She glanced over at me and I offered a knowing smile....and that was it.  I walked Willa to the bathroom where she buried her head in my chest and let out what she had held in since her sister left.   I hope it was cathartic and clearing for her.  I hope Dylan knows how fortunate she is to have so much love around her.  And that she is missed.

Halibut and shrimp turkeys for the vegetarian in the group!

The formerly obligatory, eye-rollable, VERY chaotic and off-the-cuff yearly T-Day performance by the kids was actually enjoyable this year!  I can't believe they put together a really cute musical about 3 little turkeys AND included the token boy under 10 in the creativity!  The girls also choreographed a lovely dance to Katy Perry's Legendary Lovers.  Willa isn't your typical play dress up and shake her booty kind of kid....but the dance was so sweet...the kids so innocent...it was a struggle to hold in tears.

Three little turkeys terrified of the hungry farmer!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........................


The rest of our Thanksgiving weekend was spent skiing in wonderland, seeing the Nutcracker ballet in Anchorage, playing games in front of the warm fire, making cookies, putting winterlights up outside, finishing up  the inside decorations, and watching Christmas movies.  And snuggling.  Lots of that.

 

The Game of Life.....New York Life style!

 

My favorite Holiday movie....absolutely timeless and lovely and relevant today.