I have become a lunch lady. Not a lady who serves lunch, but a lady who often goes out to lunch, with other ladies. My current work schedule provides me with two days off in the middle of each week and they are mine to fill with all sorts of activities. I tend to be a hardcore “get stuff done” list maker, without much relaxing built into my schedule, so I largely spend those two days “being effective,” as we call it here. Or, rather, I am effective during the time that Lily is in school on those days. Lately, though, I have had the immense pleasure of going to lunch with various friends on those days and enjoying both their good company and some really good food. My lady friends amaze me with their intelligence, humor, and kindness, and I am indeed grateful for them.

Sometimes I spend those days off in the middle of the week trying to catch up on sleep while Lily is at school. As I’ve mentioned way too many times before (sorry), I rarely get enough sleep and there are lots of boring reasons for this that go way back. One current reason is our dog Happy. I don’t think I’ve written about her much here, but she is a huge presence in our lives and a beloved member of the family. She is also EXTREMELY needy and works my last nerve.

"Uh oh, do I hear a noise?"

Poor Happy is afraid of loud noises, especially fireworks, thunder, wind, and rain. If you live in this area, then you know that the past couple of weeks have been all about wind and rain in large amounts all the time never ending. Loud wind. Loud rain. Occasional thunder. Poor Happy has very little ability to deal with this scary, scary weather. She yips and barks and pants and trembles and drools and freaks out for hours. We have resorted to giving her anti-anxiety medication on occasion, prescribed by her vet, because she can’t calm down and she is basically destroying our house with all of her fretting. And, as you can guess, preventing us from sleeping. It breaks my heart to see her so upset and I don’t want to drug her all the time. So, we leave the radio on most of the time, quite loudly, to cover up the noise that the weather makes, which helps, and try to keep her company as much as possible. If Happy is on one floor of our little house and I go to another floor, she often starts pacing and barking. So, those naps I try to take while Lily is in school almost never work.

It’s all very exhausting and unfortunate. Happy loved our almost rain-free summer. This fall, though, is wearing all of us out. Good thing Happy is such a sweet and loving dog, despite her neuroses. We probably would have found her another home long ago, otherwise. (Sorry, Lily. I know it’s horrible to admit that, but you know how I am about that honesty stuff.)

Other than lunching out and coping with my sad Happy dog, I’ve been cooking and baking some wonderful fall food (recipes to come), reading Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem (which is taking me a long time, but is worth it), hosting a brief visit by my mother-in-law (who kindly came here to attend Grandparents Day at Lily’s school), making arrangements for my family to get a variety of flu shots (which is much harder and time consuming than I ever could have imagined — I’ve never felt as victorious as I did when Lily finally got both an H1N1 flu shot and a seasonal flu shot), attending Jonathan Irving’s reading at Third Place Books with Joe and Lori (we should write about that, he was fascinating), and going to that awesome Raphael Saadiq show that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Plus, you know, working and parenting and stuff.

Now, though, because I don’t have a lunch date to attend, I’d better go be effective.

The kid in this video news clip from CNN is my new hero.

I cannot possibly describe how smokin’ the Raphael Saadiq show at the Showbox was last night, so I’ll let Spin magazine do it for me.

More from me soon, friends.

Love and kisses,

Hannah

I fell in love over the weekend.  While Joe was out helping friends move Saturday, and press apples into cider with Nathan yesterday, I wasn’t feeling well and cuddled up, somewhat guiltily, with Julia Child’s memoir My Life in France, and I fell in love with her, her husband, her life.  Over the summer there was a newfound interest in her, with the release of the movie Julie & Julia, and a friend loaned me the Julia memoir and said she thought it was something I’d like, and was she ever right.  From bringing back my own reminisces of our sadly-short week in Paris to the picture of her poussiequette (pussycat–and I will always say it the French way from now on)  on the kitchen counter and subsequent cat stories, to her detailed descriptions of all their meals, I loved it.  (The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the promotional pictures plastered all over the cover for the above mentioned movie, which didn’t feel right to me, seeing Meryl Streep as Julia on the outside and filled with real pictures of her on the inside. But, hey, it’s not my book.  Were it my choice, I would have gone and bought an original.) 

Amazingly, I do not own a Julia Child cookbook in my collection of nearly a hundred cookbooks, (my son hasn’t shaken his head at me and counted them lately, so not sure on the current number)  nor do I recall ever seeing her cooking show The French Chef — not my working mom’s type of thing.  I’m afraid I probably didn’t know much about her until Dan Akroyd’s skit of her on SNL.  Oh, I had a Trivial Pursuit kind of knowledge of her, “Woman most noted for popularizing French cooking in the US,” or something like that, and a mighty respect from an amateur kinda-gourmet cook’s view, but now I feel like I really know who she was.

The book is essentially a love story, beginning with her newfound passion for all things French, in particular food, and her newlywed husband.  The book evolves into her love for teaching and writing, too — what she called working on her “cookery-bookery” —  but what truly opened my heart to this book was her relationship with her husband, and how I felt this poignant parallel with her marriage and my own.  For one, her husband is creative, and a photographer, as is mine.  He’s supportive of her every move, from deciding to take classes at Le Cordon Bleu to writing a cookbook.  In every new place they move into he outlines all her pots and pans on a pegboard and hangs it up for her, her batterie de cuisine, and one time when she’s spent all this time on a special cake for a party she gets frustrated with the final decorating touches and he steps in and does it for her. That is so Joe (and Lori)!  They were a great working team, calling themselves “Pulia.” They were unable to have children, but just went forward loving each other and the life they had, like we did.  When they had people over for dinner they went all out, “treating them like royalty” and I believe that’s what we try to do.  But what almost made me cry was when I turned a page and there was a two-page spread of some of the Valentine’s Day cards (they always ran out of time at Christmas)  they made and sent out to hundreds of friends each year. A portion of one is on the original book cover up there. I ran outside to sticky-fingered cider-pressing Joe and said “Look, look, they did cards like our Christmas cards!”   I was rewarded with a steamy (literally, as it was cold outside) kiss and a deeply dimpled smile, and left with a need to cook something French.

Last year's Christmas card.

John, Joe, Heidi, Lori, Scott & Kevin

 

RS:  First off I have to let you know I caught your debut the other night at your Halloween party, and I must say, you guys put on quite a show. How did it feel up there in the spotlight?

L:  Well, there were a lot of friendly faces, and we were in costume, too, hiding behind a mask, as it were, so it wasn’t so bad, really. Kinda hot, mostly. ‘Course that could have been the dancing beforehand, or the beergarita, or, now that I think of it the Scooby Gang brought those tasty Jello-shots…

RS:  Yeah, the crowd loved it when you were demanding Jello before you even started.

L: Jello is fun.

RS:  Ha! Right!  Tell me about the white vest you were wearing.  What’s it called?

L:  Well, I haven’t really thought of a name for it yet. (long pause) Oh, you mean the product!  GlowFur.  It’s faux fur that glows, get it? There’s a little 9volt battery in a pocket inside that keeps that baby glowing for hours.  Me too!  Very popular on the Playa at Burning Man this year.

RS:  Oh, were you there?

L: No

Blake, guest spot, & John

RS:  How did you come up with the name The Basementeurs?

L:  There’s a funny story to that, really. The original band, John the bass player, Kevin the lead guitar, and Joe on woodwinds and vocals, called themselves the Shed Hacks.  When they got together again about a year ago, with a new drummer, Scott, they sweet talked me into playing with them because they needed some rhythm guitar on Ballad of John and Yoko, and they needed a fresher name.  We were the Scallawags for a while, then were unofficially calling ourselves Scott Free because the drummer quit. But we had to scrap that because our new new drummer is also named Scott.  Finally I came up with a great one everyone could agree on, only to find after a Google search a week later that it was already taken, and by a local band, even! 

Kev!

RS:  What was that one? 

L:  Dix Deluxe.  Isn’t that great?  But another band had it.  There was a lot of trash talk among the Basementeurs about them right away, ‘… Dix Deluxe sux!’ that kind of thing, you know.  So, what do you think of the platinum hair? 

RS:  Nice, nice.  So, I see by your set list you’re doing all covers right now. How about originals?

L:  Well, even though I sing and play the guitar, – I can’t decide which is scarier, by the way, not that you asked – my true passion is writing. I like to think of myself more as a writer; a wordsmith.  Like you!

RS:  Oh really. (long pause)  What songs, if any, have you written?

L:  The most recent would be one I wrote while Joe, my husband, was unemployed for five months, Sugar Mama Blues.  Before that I wrote a rock song inspired by my son called Mama Used to be a Rock Chick.  Then there was Lesbians to Polyblends…the only one with music; a lot of good flute in that one.

RS:  And what inspired that song?

L:  What do you think of the name Trixie for my GlowFur?  Oh, it was based on a tangential conversation.  The song.

RS:  What do you see for The Basementeur’s future?

L:  Would you like a cookie? 

Andy, Hannah, Lori and Joe "Horndog"

Ohmigod! I am eagerly awaiting the regrowth of Joe’s beard!

GlowFur vest and 'magenta' velvet boots! We're stylin'!

And we were the party hosts, people.  Would you take a homebrew from this man?  Would you take anything from this man?

Foxy couple!

I can’t believe we didn’t get a shot of Hannah’s shoes!  They were truly towering. My son Nathan (no good shots of the elusive lad…) was doing the greatest imitation of her the next day during cleanup, prancing around on his toes “I’m so tall, I’m so tall!!”  My equally tall leopard platforms became unsoled; fortunately Hannah was there to catch me as I fell, and I had a back-up pair, though not as tall as Hannah’s.

Crowd pleasers, The Scooby Gang!!

Joel, our brother-in-law Kevin, Joe’s sister Mary, and Tracie. These guys were the Flintstones and Rubbles last year; Daphne on the right there was Bad Betty. And to be honest, I would be bad if I had legs like that!  I did get even with her biting Joe’s Luchadore nipple last year by biting her back this year. I won’t say where…Isn’t the pose awesome!  I’m thinking dark Goth theme for next year.  Maybe they’ll be the Adams Family?  Kevin would be the best Lurch!

I tell you, it’s not a party if my tongue isn’t hanging out at some point. I love how serious Andy is here, and then, there’s Joe…The next day I was going to tell him he could get the rest of the eyeliner off with a Qtip, but…ummmm…. forgot.

This photo’s a little soft focus, as there may have been movement involved, so I’m putting it in a bit smaller than the others.  I just needed to add it, because I wasn’t sure if all these other photos convey just how much fun Hannah was having.  She’s either laughing or singing here, both which equal happy.

Andy took these right before we left for Lori and Joe’s amazing Halloween party. I hope there are some photos of us at the party, you know, without my big coat on (although I do love that coat)!

I cannot overstate how awesome Lori and Joe’s 70s-themed Halloween party was on Friday night. I had the BEST TIME EVER!! I’m sure we’ll both post about it in the near future (I’m sorry, but I’m short on time at the moment). For now, let me just say that I am in awe of Lori’s ability to play guitar and sing in front of a live audience. I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of anyone in my life. Here’s to Lori, who REALLY is a rock star!

Check out the logo on the new shirt I got in the mail on Saturday. I saw an article about it in an ALA-related e-mail message I got last week and ordered the shirt right away. Here’s a link to the site in case you want to buy one, too, or if you want to know what those Latin words mean.

I had another excellent week librarian-wise last week, so the shirt arrived at the right time. Lori and I attended a wonderful event at Third Place Books mid-week, featuring Nancy Pearl and several local-ish authors. Then, I went to Seattle Bookfest yesterday and watched my friend Linda do an outstanding job of moderating a panel of local book reviewers. I took notes at both events and hope to carve out some time soon to type them up and share them with you.

I also read some fabulous new books last week. Fall, glorious, fall. I love you! Thanks for the opportunity to wear tights and turtlenecks again, the chance to kick through all colors of leaves when I walk to work, and for bringing so many amazing new books and authors to our lives.

Okay, you can’t say you weren’t warned. This post is about soccer. I need to rave about three soccer-related events right now:  the Seattle Sounders FC qualified for the MLS playoffs, baby; the U.S. men’s soccer team qualified for the FIFA World Cup, which means I finally have a legitimate reason to post a topless photo of Landon Donovan; and a new movie about a former coach of Leeds United (a British soccer team, or really, an English football team) is opening in Seattle this weekend.

We are big-time soccer nuts here at our house and let me tell you that this is an outstanding time to be a soccer nut. Did you see that Seattle Sounders/Kansas City Wizards game on Saturday? What a roller coaster. My boy Freddie Ljunberg was THE MAN. He got two assists and was his usual Tasmanian devil out there on the field. He is the one who makes it all happen — offensively, defensively, and emotionally. His generosity is unbelievable. His vision and tenacity are awe-inspiring. He’s like a moving tree trunk out there — when players run into him while he’s dribbling or try to mow him down he remains upright, defying physics. My only gripe is his need to get up in the ref’s grill so often. Maybe it’s a psychological thing he needs to do, to pump himself up and psych out the players, but I always worry that he’s going to pick up more cards in the process and get booted from the game.

The Sounders could have very easily lost that match on Saturday. Even though they were up 1-0 fairly early on, I was nervous. I told Andy, “this feels like a 3-1 loss to me, with the Sounders losing.” And, sure enough, the Sounders were down 2-1 before too long and Freddy Montero was choking like crazy. He missed two dead-easy gimme shots that had me screaming like a maniac at the TV, “Take him out of the game, Sigi! Pull him now!” And, I’d like to thank you now, Coach Schmid, for listening to me and yanking Montero out of the game because that turned the game around. Roger Levesque came in, focused, and ready to score, thanks to an assist from Ljunberg. Then, Nate Jaqua scored, again thanks to an assist from Ljunberg, and the Sounders ended up beating the Wizards, in Kansas City, 3-2. That makes the Sounders the second MLS team ever to qualify for the playoffs in their first year as a team. What a beautiful season this has been. Thank you, Sounders.

Thanks to a 3-2 win over Honduras on Oct. 19, the U.S. men’s team is now guaranteed a spot in the next World Cup tournament, to be held in South Africa next June. We had dreamed of going there in person, but have decided to stay here and watch it on TV instead. Early notice to all of our soccer friends — we’ll be watching as many matches as possible that month and you are welcome to join us here, at all hours. Thank you, Landon Donovan, for scoring that third goal to clinch the U.S. team’s spot in the World Cup and for giving me a good reason to include this photo of you.

And, finally, Andy and I hope we get a chance to go see The Damned United this weekend. I’ve read that it doesn’t feature a lot of actual soccer playing, but it’s an excellent behind the scenes look at Leeds United and British football at a specific time (late 60s, early 70s). In other words, during the soccer scenes, the shorts will be very short.