Closing Ceremonies

Ah, NaBloPoMo, it's been lovely. My family and friends thank you (from the bottom of their hearts?) for inspiring a month of posts after a summer of drought. I thank you for making me figure out that I don't have to get fancy with pictures -- nobody seems to care if I just resize them and post as is. (And maybe if I'm lucky, I'll win one of the prizes and then I'll thank you for that!)

For my farewell post of the month I'm leaving you with some pictures of our glorious Sunday. It was sunny. Not exactly warm, but not cold. We caught the low tide and walked over to the lighthouse and found that it was actually open! So we took the tour (and rekindled my desire to be a lighthouse keeper, which I think I might have mentioned in Sunday's post). They don't let you take pictures in the house (a pity, 'cause it's very cute and snug and cozy), but here's a taste of the Del Norte coast on a sunny winter's day:

Darcy marched herself right across the causeway and then up to the top of the island.

Darcy measuring bull kelp.

Now, as Darcy says to seagulls whenever she meets them...

Shoo! Shoo! There will be no post here tomorrow! Shoo!

Roast Fairy. Fairy Stew. Fairy Soup.

Before I get to the main attraction of this post -- fairy recipes -- I'd like to share an exchange Michael and Darcy had as they prepared to do battle on the CandyLand board after dinner tonight:

Michael: I'll be blue because I love you!
Darcy: I'll be red because you have a beautiful head.

She's a rhymer!

On to fairy recipes:

As I may have mentioned, we get to play fairy a lot. "Get to" has less implied mandatory-ness than really exists. "We are forced to play fairy a lot" would be more accurate. And so we do. Darcy likes to re-enact the most harrowing scenes from the three Tinkerbell movies most often. They involve a hawk chasing Tinkerbell, sprinting thistles (weeds!) chasing Tinkerbell and other fairies, a multitude of "dirty" rats chasing Tinkerbell and Terrence, and a rainy cat trying to attack Tinkerbell at the beginning of the third movie and then chasing many other fairies near the end.

In other words, we get to play the villains in the form of a hawk, weeds, rats, and a rainy cat while Darcy runs, hides, and squeals while generally trying to avoid getting caught.

But on Sunday, we discovered (or created) a new variation on this theme. We were all (ok, Michael and I were) trying to be lazy in bed. Instead of being willing to chase and catch, I suggested that I, as the hawk, wanted a change of pace and was going to roast the fairy. Darcy played along. I cut up imaginary onions, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, rutabaga, and salsify and spread them over her. Then I wrapped all of this in a blanket and rolled her back and forth chanting, "Roast the fairy. Roast the fairy. Roast the fairy." Then Michael and I enjoyed roasted fairy. Yum!

So after doing a few variations on this theme (spring veggies, winter roast), I stewed the fairy. After every iteration, Darcy would grin and say, "Let's make another fairy recipe now!"

Today, after dinner, she initiated the fairy recipes again, first being roasted and stewed herself and then making me into stew. When the fairy stew was done, she "carried a bowl" of it to Michael, saying (long before she was in his hearing), "Daddy, I have some food that I think you will find really delicious!"

In the second round of fairy stew-making, however, she decided that she did NOT need to cut up the fairy (which she did thoroughly the first time) because it was just in there for flavor. You know, like a bay leaf.

So if any of you happen to be cooking fairy any time soon, give us a call and Darcy will provide you with any number of recipes for your fairy-eating pleasure.

End Of The Long Weekend

Well, four stay-at-home days later and we're all exhausted. Today was a gorgeous sunny day and we caught the low tide just right and walked out to the lighthouse. They were open for tours, so we finally got to go inside the house and tower. I want to be a lighthouse keeper! The stone walls are so incredibly thick that it's quiet inside even though the surf was crashing on the rocks right outside. They take volunteers for two months at a time, but you can't have another job. Maybe someday.

Darcy and I both crashed for afternoon naps (she was reluctant, I was happy) while Michael was the Energizer Bunny and collected some firewood from a friend's house, cleaned out the car, did an oil change, and got laundry going. He's a star.

Swimmy And Waggly and Fin And...

Pets in the house! Pets in the house!

For Darcy's birthday, Michael bought all the components of a small aquarium. We're not going back to the craziness of the marine tank (I only wish! I miss my live rock dancing worms!), just to some tropical freshwater cuties. Of course, the tank had to sit around "cycling" all week long before fish were allowed to enter, but today, we headed to Oregon to a couple of small fish shops to buy the livestock. Really. That's what the creatures that live in fish tanks are called in the biz.

Michael didn't want to overload the tank all at once, so we brought home five cardinal tetras. And a piece of driftwood. And three fake plants. And some fish flakes. The fish seem to have made it home in one piece, although they're not looking too lively right now. We're letting them have a relatively stress-free night and we'll hope that they're all very happy and schooling around in the morning.

Darcy has started to name them. I voted for the same name for all five, being that they're basically identical, but Darcy has other ideas. That one is Swimmy. That other one is Waggly. There's Fin. And I think the other two are waiting for inspiration.

Consider us petted.

Aaarrghh! Does November Never End???

Ok. It's not that I don't like digging through our photo archives for cute pictures of Darcy that you've never seen before. I do. I promise that I really love doing that for you. And I know that really, I've just barely made up for a summer of seriously limited blogging. But won't this month ever end?

I finish my part of putting Darcy to bed and I think it's time to relax, but no! I have to blog! I have to find some pictures or think of a story to tell you or beg forgiveness for a lame post.

I'm ready for NaBloPoMo to be over!!

Luckily, it will be over in just a few more days. Enjoy the daily posts while you still got 'em!

I'm Thankful For...

...the sweetest rainbow girl in the world...

...my dear husband who did yardwork all morning...

...and the view from my kitchen window. Redwoods, ferns, and sunshine!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

So I'm starting to figure out a cooking schedule for tomorrow. We're having a grain-meat roast (I love their sausages, so I'm very excited to try the roast), stuffing, creamed spinach, salad, roasted potatoes, and cran sauce. Darcy came home from preschool today and announced that she had pumpkin pie for snack and loved it and wants one for dessert tomorrow. So now I'll be making a pumpkin pie -- my first, because I don't love it. I had planned to make a lovely cranberry/apple crisp with organic, local cranberries I bought at the Arcata Market and apples from our tree. I might still make that. It depends.

Oh, and I have a loaf of no-knead bread rising now.

What are YOU making or eating? Comments?