I am so happy Fall is here! Queen Anne is ablaze with color, actually all of Seattle is! To heck with Halloween, I”m going to keep my pumpkins on the porch, add additional squash and leaves, give it that Thanksgiving feeling!

Things on my mind:
Find new stews and soups recipes
I need a new jacket!
More important, feet cold, I do not live in Southern California anymore – shoe solution????
I love shuffling through leaves and collecting chestnuts
Why don’t we have a fireplace dammit?
Can we still go to a pumpkin patch after Halloween? (answer no- I just learned they smash them afterwards…)
Will I ever learn how to bake a pie from scratch? It’s pie time!
Or how about pear cranberry crumble? Absolutely doable!
Even better, pear rosemary vodka cocktail (I saw this in a friggin Pottery Barn catalog – now that’s doable!!!!)
Pondering a new down comforter, maybe flannel sheets too? hmmmmm…….cats will like that too…
Taking lots of walks and breathing in the crisp fall air, ahhhhhh!!!!!!
(how about in a place like this! Thanks John for sending this gorgeous shot from Asheville, North Carolina!)

No cue cards needed for this happy Halloween Kitty – he is ready for his closeup and so is this homegrown pumpkin in my sister Lisa’s garden – what a cozy combo! Strange how black cats just seem to know….
Meanwhile, back in Seattle, pumpkins are carved and candy is bought – Happy Halloween from Cozyland!

Of course I habitually woke up super early and when I realized there was no way I was going to fall back asleep I got dressed and headed across the street for a early morning walk on the beach. Although I clearly understood why my gal pals were still sleeping ( you gotta grab those minutes when you can!) I was so happy not to miss this gorgeous and intensely serene sunrise.
If the sky and the clouds weren’t beautiful enough what really amazed me was how incredibly clear the water was showing off every hue and shape of a million little stones under it’s glassy surface.
I became possessed with looking for sea glass but alas found none. I also loved walking amongst the driftwood. The colors of the wood really inspire me – I’m obsessed with the water washed greys. One of these days I will find the right beach and gather a beautiful collection of the smooth ocean rubbed glass. I wonder where that beach will be….
The sun was up so I wandered back to the hotel and strolled the grounds in the back. A funny closed down little rustic church the side of which was covered charmingly in moss caught my eye. This really felt like Fall! And a little garden shed with several raised vegetable beds – I plucked a few ripened raspberries ( who could resist?!) and made a furry (of course!) friend. I always always meet cats when I go on trips. They just seem to know I am coming! By this time I really needed a cup of tea so I bid farewell to island kitty and since I was still on the grounds of the hotel I headed back to the scene of last night’s dinner which had started to fill with people enjoying Sunday breakfast. I sipped my tea watching plates of decadent french toast and luscious scrambles pass by until Elizabeth and Annabella joined me. Soon we would be back on the road – we had a ferry to catch followed by an airplane for them. How we missed that ferry by minutes we’ll never know but we’re blaming it not on ourselves but on how long the lady at the Outlook Inn took at the check out desk (denial much?!). We managed someone to easily kill the 3 hours waiting until the next ferry at 3:30 (Elizabeth scored at a cool antique shop and we had a nice stroll by a mini marina) but could I get them to the airport on time? Hell yeah! Pedal to the metal and watch out for smokey! A perfectly cozy weekend, down to the wire, and can’t wait till they come out again!!!

The next day we were off! I picked the girls up at the MarQueen in lower Queen Anne and set off for 1.5 hour drive to the ferry port of Anacortes. Best to arrive at least 1 hour in advance and the wait really isn’t such a bad thing. There is a place to get coffee and we had a lot of catching up to do so killing time was a breeze. The ferry ride is a big part of the whole Orcas experience!
We landed around 1pm and headed straight to the hotel – the Outlook Inn in the tiny, cute town of Eastsound. The rooms were beautiful! Spacious with full seating areas and big fluffy beds (nice long bathtubs too!). We each had the same view as Annabella does here from our balconies (not too shabby!). But it was lunch that was on our minds (of course…) and I had a new place to try – the Doe Bay Cafe (part of Doe Bay Resort).

Overlooking the water, the food here was absolutely delicious- Island chef Abigail Birreil supports the local farmers here serving up fresh seasonal fare and does a great job of it – cannot wait to come back to this place- so charming! Can anyone say blood orange Mimosas? Well – apparently we can! Is this what they mean by cross lighting? Elizabeth had the delicious frittata with seasonal delicata squash and goat cheese! The charming General Store – Doe Bay resort has a variety of accommodations from cabins to yurts to camping. Definitely on my list to return! We were having so much fun at lunch we missed the Eastsound Farmers market but not to worry – next on the list was to head over to the Inn at Ship Bay to watch Luke feed the eagles! Marc and I experienced this last time with Elizabeth and Ryan and it was not to be missed. Watching eagles swoop out of the sky to eat salmon – great. Accompanied by a glass of wine – even better! I almost thought it was going to be a no show but finally finally not one but two eagles did appear – funny enough they didn’t seem to be very hungry on that day which made the seagulls very happy – sloppy seconds no problem for them! Our happy hour continued back at the hotel in our room until dinner time. We had decided to have dinner at the New Leaf restaurant in the hotel. A GREAT decision as the food was absolutely delicious! We shared some fresh island oysters with horseradish-carrot mignonette -unusual and delicious! Elizabeth and I split the salmon special – grilled with a buerre blanc aside a local root mash (YUM!) and roasted gold and purple beets – amazing! Annabella had a Northwest shellfish pot of clams, mussels, crab claws, shrimp in white wine, garlic and herbs. And then the we shared the perfect decadent finale – a flourless chocolate cake with ganache,salted caramel sauce and whipped cream (wow!).
What a perfect dinner and even better as we are a hop, skip and a jump away from our hotel rooms! But girlfriend weekends only happen once in a while so a little more wine, a lot more conversation and even a little candy (was that necessary?!!!) all led to sweet dreams for all! See you in the morning Orcas Island…

When friends fly into Seattle for an Orcas Island weekend they usually arrive Friday night so this means dinner someplace great the night before the early departure for the ferry to Orcas on Saturday morning. Ferries are not like buses or cabs! – to Orcas you have 2 choices – either the 10:30 or 3:00. There is nothing in between so if you miss the first one your day in Orcas would be cut in half! Since we live close to South Lake Union (and Marc work’s at the Amazon campus there) we decided to finally try out Tom Douglas’ Cuoco (which btw means cook in Italian!). Here Annabella looking gorgeously straight out of Sicily and ready for some Dolce Vita! Lots of pastas to choose from and all hand made! Just a sampling of the menu. Marc and I quite happy to be with silly wonderful friends at this delicious restaurant! I chose the cappelletti, Marc the taglietella, Gavin gnocchi, Elizabeth bucatini and Annabella penne. A real sampling and All GREAT!
Delicious wine and I forgot to mention the amazing roasted fig appetizer! No room for desert and heck, we ladies had an early morning ferry to catch! Orcas here we come!

True to their word Elizabeth and Annabella hopped a Friday morning flight to Seattle and the rest just kind of wrote itself. Here is a sneak preview of the beach right across the street from our hotel – the Outlook Inn in Eastsound – that I wandered around early Sunday morning while the others were still sleeping. Sleep woulda been great but I’m sure glad I didn’t miss this! More to come soon!

As seen just sitting there on a fallen tree in Discovery Park during a hike this past Saturday. Sometimes it pays to keep one’s eyes open. Whether you have your glasses on or not! (my cat would have a field day with this tree!) Discovery Park in Seattle is a great place to hike, no matter what the weather is!