sarah bastien: Fall Update

My chicken is in the oven and the green beans are now missing their tails, and I have a moment to sit and write a few words before I need to check on dinner. I have neglected my blog recently but I'm not going to apologize because I don't think mothers should have to. Mothers are very good at the whole mother-guilt thing, myself included, and I'm attempting to be, well, more forgiving of myself.

What have we been up to?? Raking leaves and eating heaps of chard from the garden, making soup (yes, with chard in it!) and reading lots of books in the warmth of our little house. We also had Halloween, during which Maia turned into a fairy princess for a change, and Kieran was a very convincing little Bam-Bam with his head of blonde hair and his habit of bashing everything in sight. We still have two large bags of candy sitting atop the fridge. Maia has decided that these are yucky and too sweet and that the dill pickles she made with her friend are much tastier. Definitely her mother's daughter.

And last weekend we escaped to San Francisco for four days to visit my dear friend Amie who is a bit of a brain and is doing her fellowship at Stanford in radiology. She had warned me that it would be cold, and so we arrived with touques and wool sweaters. These were left, untouched, at the bottom of our suitcases and we all came home sunkissed and feeling like we had REALLY been on holiday. Amie fed us lovely meals and took us around Palo Alto, Stanford, and the wharfs of San Fran. I fell in love with the Mediterranean light there.

I just checked on the chicken and it is starting to smell divine. Michael and Lorenne are here for a visit and there is nothing better than a house full of family and the anticipation of something good for dinner. I can't wait for Christmas when the house will be bursting with people and smelling of turkey and stuffing and mulled wine. I must be hungry.