extra virgin olive oil

Petite Syrah will be no longer, sorry folks. I'm sticking with myspace and making my blog viewable only to friends, which can only be people I actually know. While there may be many kind and friendly strangers out there in the world, I've been nearly overwhelmed in the past couple days with ones that are too friendly and I need to be more careful from now on. Yeah that means no more blogging as if I were a ten year old kid writing a diary of whatever passing thought. So if you want to know what's happening at the dollhouse, you'll have to email me. I think I'll go curl up in a corner and disappear into spa magazine for the rest of the afternoon.

a Moo Cow, a Kitty, and a Candy Basket

Happy November 1st!! It rained all night and into the morning, and now it's nearly winter here. I'm posting pictures from Halloween. Since I spent the holiday with my family, I settled on being a moo cow. I thought that perhaps the Gretl costume would be inappropriate for family time, and I didn't want to go out unacommpanied. ;o)
The first photo is me and my niece, Ella, playing around before we put on our costumes. The pictures that follow are our little kitty cat that I took trick-or-treating. She's really the happiest baby ever, but we cannot often get her to smile at the camera. I think she's around 15 months. I'm not posting any photos of me in the cow costume. It's really for the best. I had never accompanied a small child trick-or-treating before, but let me tell you, the adult in such a situation gets gipped. People asked me, "Oh, are you trick-or-treating, too?" What? Why else would I be dressed up in this damned cow costume? Really. Next year miss coffey is going to a grown up party as gretl, or little bo peep. But I'm glad that baby had a good time. :o)

Mask-burning Party

Best friends are as much a matter of determined self-revelation as they are favor and destiny. How can people know you unless you show yourself to them? Though there are some things we will instinctively know about each other, how sweet is it when one offers you freely what is on his heart and mind- to raise another up, not merely for the purpose of pushing her forward but in order to hold her face to face. Yes, how much more frightening than monsters or ghosts of the past, how intimate and terrifying in the deepest sense, and yet how rewarding. This is what it means to truly be alive. How often we simply eat in the presence of others, high towers prevailing to keep us apart, rather than to truly dine with our friends. Such barriers secure us only from the prospect of truly living. It costs a little pride to call out, "Wait for me, please, I'm just behind you!" But then we can all go together. To steadily lose a sense of self-preservation in the presence of friends, to care no longer for trying to appear a certain way in the eyes of others, is to be free to give and receive love for who you really are, no longer stooping to hold up a puppet in your place. The patience and persistance of one of my oldest and dearest friends is what enabled me to finally burn many of my masks, but even with the sincerest graces of others to fall back on, it is still a difficult choice. Self-revelation is not something one can force on anyone, nor would it be nearly as valuable if one could. There is perhaps far too much emphasis placed on the chemistry of friends and lovers than on the necessity for a continued mutual revelation between them.

Fraidy Meow!

We had a pumpkin carving party tonight, and I made a meow face. I can't take complete credit for it, because my mom did help me with it. The problem is that I ate some raw pumpkin, not knowing that you're only supposed to eat it cooked, and consequently felt nauseated by the smell of pumpkin innards all evening. :o(
Below are photos take by the camera on my phone, so they're not very high quality. First is the pumpkin I carved and second is the next door neighbors' six-toed kitty cat. It's the meanest little thing. I tried to pet her, and she fratched at me with her giant paw. I've circulated pictures of this meow among my friends, and one remarked that she appears to be "an ill-tempered creature." This is true.

Rx: October

Any pizza with chicken on it demands to be eaten with ale. This public service announcement comes to you courtesy of miss coffey's kitchen. I've had the loveliest October that a girl can have and am ending the month with autumnal cleaning, fresh pillow cases, and a Jane Austen novel. I've danced in piles of yellow leaves, walked through the organic market, played some poker, visited my favorite winery, had lunch with my sister and her babyloo, and thoroughly enjoyed my work. And I am happy to report that at all times I have been safe without harm and healthy as a ten year old kid. Not believing that I could live without a certain hat-wearing gentleman of yesteryear, I spent most of August crying myself to sleep every night, distilling a more potent version of myself in the bitterly wept tears of a silly-headed maiden. The fleeting heartaches of youth quickly reacquaint a person with the value of surrender. Twas the witch's message to Dorothy in the sky, was it not? :o)

My October wine recommendation is the The Rocca delle Macie Rubizzo Sangiovese with pasta, cheese, steak, just about anything. It's extremely versatile. I had it with the seafood portofino at the Olive Garden when I went with my sister, at the recommendation of a sympathetic waitress who shared my strong preference for reds, even with seafood. My sister, the pop culture lovin' mother of a dolly-faced pincess, ordered Chateau Ste. Michelle's riesling and found that it was more sweet than any she'd ever tasted. I found it to be slightly unpalatable, definitely not something to be had with a large lunch. But to each her own. I was shocked out of my mind to discover that the baby loves Eggplant Parmigiana. It is a little known fact that fondue is the way to my heart, and my niece acted as though she was doing me a favor by eating the little bites of it that I fed her from our appetizer. But then again how could she know how I feel about fondue? She's going to get spoiled rotten. :o)

So afterwards we paid a visit to the Hauer of the Dauen, which I learned means "the first light of day." I like that. Officially they were closed for tasting, but I hunted someone down and purchased the wines I wanted for our Thanksgiving feast, and then we headed back to McMinnville. I feel like a kid in a candy store being so near to all of these vineyards. What am I going to do when I no longer live in the Northwest?

proxime accessit

Sky is calling to the steeple
As it echoes out my name
I can hear You in the air I breathe

Spanning the years that have come and gone
You roll like the ocean underneath the sun
Weaving my soul to the Holy One
Weaving on and on with love...

-Michelle Tumes "deep love"-

evidence of fratching!

Okay, so today Dixie (my mom's cat) fratched my arm and it bled! :o( I had to use two bandaids.


And secondly, it's autumn now, and we can wear striped stockings. :o)