A Lovely Surprise!

I had a truly wonderful weekend and so far, the post-holiday week is trending fairly well also. The sun is shining bright, the air is warm, life is good.

Aside from the parade and other Azalea festival events on Saturday, my best friend from Eugene decided to pay me an impromptu visit on Sunday. Nothing could have been better than that! He arrived mid-afternoon, left Monday morning, and while it wasn't a long visit, we had a great time and I am SO glad that he was here. I needed that contact -- needed to see someone dear and familiar to me. We didn't do much -- a couple of shops to visit in town for him, then lots of good food, good wine and good conversation. I hated to see him go, but more happy that he came at all. So, thank you, my friend. It was wonderful sharing my new home with you.

And speaking of my new home, it's finally beginning to actually feel like home. I expect part of that was because with a guest in the house, I finally needed to use my kitchen for some real cooking, and of course, share the results with someone I care for. I bought some tulips to brighten up the place, and was happy to find them this late in the season. Today, as you can see, they're opening up and still looking quite lovely.

I made a wonderful soup for dinner. A few weeks ago I read in the NY Times web edition about Rancho Gordo, an heirloom bean company down in Napa, and ended up ordering some. Along with the article came the recipe for Rustic Rancho Gordo 'Yellow Eye' Bean Soup. My only complaint is that when you order the beans they come in one pound packages, about 2 1/4 cups of beans, and the recipe calls for 3 cups of beans. I know -- the world has bigger issues. Still, rather than try to re-proportion the entire recipe I used it as-is but with fewer beans. It was wonderful! Anything that has 2 whole heads of garlic in it can't be all bad, really. We enjoyed it with some fresh-baked southern buttermilk cornbread and I have lots left in the refrigerator and freezer for future use. Yum.

I'm heading down to visit friends in Napa soon, and hope to get some more of those beans while I'm there. They're a bit pricey, but worth it. Besides, if they're good enough for The French Laundry (home of Thomas Keller, about the most famous chef and restaurant in the Universe), they're good enough for me. I tried the pinto beans first, and let me tell you, I've had a LOT of pinto beans in my life so I didn't really expect any surprises. I got them anyway. Who knew pinto beans could be so much better when grown and packaged like this, and sold about as quickly as they can get grown and dried. Highly recommended.

I love this bay window in my living room, especially when the sun starts streaming in early in the morning. I tried the table and chairs in the 'dining' area of the room, but it didn't work for me. This works.

I'm still awaiting a call from North American Van Lines regarding delivery of my furniture from IKEA. I can't say I'm happy with them. Last Wednesday the IKEA people checked with them and relayed to me that they had a firm delivery date for last Friday and would call to set a time. When Friday morning rolled around and I hadn't had a phone call, I called IKEA again -- and North American gave them a different story this time -- said they'd be calling me this week for delivery this week. OK, it's only Tuesday and they would have been closed yesterday, but still no phone call. My guess is that my stuff is sitting in a warehouse maybe in Grants Pass or some larger city waiting for a convenient time for them to make the trip over this way -- or a truck headed this way. I'm not a happy camper on this issue, but will continue to bug IKEA as needed. With any luck, by the end of the week I'll be able to show you new pics of the living room. I want my footstool! Everything else is less important.

Anyway -- the sun is shining and the air is warm. Life is good. Stay tuned.....