Trick or Treat!

We met Dave and Kaila at Mill Creek Town Center tonight for Trick or Treating!  It was a very nice night (for Halloween!), and the weather was dry with mild temperatures.  After collecting candy from the merchants, we went to dinner at Boston's and got caught up on everyone's week, and planned Dave's birthday party in November, and Thanksgiving.

Graveyard Cake for Halloween

Here's my Graveyard Cake!  I had such fun tonight making it.  It started with a 9x13 chocolate cake, with dark chocolate frosting.  Then I decorated a few Pepperidge Farm Milano and Bordeaux cookies to look like gravestones, and imbedded them into the cake.  I crushed chocolate wafer cookies to look like mounds of dirt in front of the graves, and then bordered it all with chocolate 'fence posts' that were chocolate Pirouette cookies. Yum!  This will be so much fun to serve with coffee tomorrow on Halloween!

Another Rhubarb Pie

Fortunately we froze part of our abundant crop of rhubarb this year, and it's so nice to be able to make a pie with these summer flavors in the Fall.

The aroma of this pie baking in the oven last evening called everyone to linger around the kitchen!

Scary Halloween Cake

Last evening, I assembled all of the ingredients for my Halloween Graveyard Cake.  I baked the 9x13 chocolate layer, and let it cool overnight.

Tonight I will frost and decorate it.  I hope it looks really scary once it's completed!

Kaila's Halloween Costume

This year, Kai is assuming the persona of a character from "Monster High", "Dracu-Laura"!  Isn't she cute as a high-school-aged female Dracula?

Saturday Night Dinner at Pen Thai

After a long day of working in the yard, we went to our favorite Thai Restaurant in downtown Bothell, Pen Thai.  It's a beautiful place, and the food is always exceptional.  It was a nice way to end a weekend evening.

 

 

Cornucopia Cake

I made this lovely cake for work last week for our dessert buffet.  The mold is from Williams Sonoma, and I won it in a White Elephant Gift Exchange a couple of Christmases ago.

It's a beautiful dessert for Autumn and Thanksgiving, and I make it several times to take to dinner parties, and serve it at my own gatherings here at Crabtree Cottage in Maltby.

Autumn and Pumpkin Spice Latte

Here's Alex enjoying a Pumpkin Spice Latte after lunch last Sunday.  It's truly a drink that celebrates that best of Autumn flavors, and is hot enough to wrap your hand around it while you sip!

Autumn Leaves

Here's Kaila taking a walk with me last weekend in the neighborhood.  We collected leaves to make Fall projects with, and I showed her how to dry them and then make greeting cards.  The goal of our walk was to find the most colorful and perfect leaves.

The Vintage Cafe in Everett

Last week, we attended a continuing education class together, and during the lunch break, we ventured out to find a place to eat.  Everett has done a lot of restoration of old buildings in the last decade, and we found the Vintage Café in a lovely restored old brick building.  The lunch was great, and the sun came out, showing off all of the antique furniture to best advantage.

Pumpkin Carving Party!

Last Saturday, Dave and Kaila arrived at 11 a.m. to kick off our annual pumpkin carving time together to prepare for Halloween.  We picked up two large orange pumpkins at the Yakima Market in Bothell earlier that morning, and had the garage set up to accommodate the process of creating our pumpkin masterpieces.

Kaila picked out the pumpkin she wanted, and drew a face on it.  Dave helped her get the pumpkin cutting started, and she did a good job creating her idea of a Halloween pumpkin.  The garage was decorated with strings of pumpkin light and music, and even Nala the dog joined us after we tethered her leash to the utility table we were working on.

Here are some pictures of our morning together. After all our hard work, we feasted on pizza from  Maltby Pizza and Pasta , and topped it all off with brownies fresh from the oven!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Father

My father, Robert Hantel Arnold, left this earth 40 years ago today.  He's been a large presence in our family during all of these intervening years, and not a day goes by that I do not think of him fondly, and remember all of the good times we had in my first 23 years of life.  This is the last picture of the two of us that I have, taken in 1970 at my wedding.

Nala, the Traveling Dog

Nala the Dog travels everywhere with us, and has logged many trips to Seabrook, Oregon, and various locations in Washington.  Here she is in her 'dog hammock' in the backseat of my car, on our way to Vancouver last weekend.

Graveside Service for Grace

This last weekend, we traveled to Vancouver, Washington, to say farewell to Grace, mother and mother-in-law, who passed away last November at age 94.  We had a graveside service performed for the family by Grace's pastor. 

 

 

 

 

Pictures of the Grant House on an Autumn Afternoon

Here are some shots I took of the Grant House before dinner this afternoon.  It's restoration is complete, and it's a beautiful place, with elegant rooms, manicured lawns, and a porch that wraps around the entire mansion.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner at the Grant House

Dinner this evening was a lovely time of fellowship after a rather emotional day of gathering together for the graveside burial of the ashes of my mother-in-law, who died last November. We gathered to remember her life this afternoon, and Grant House was a fitting place to gather, since the family lived just a few houses down from Grant House on Officer's Row for 18 years, in a mansion similar to our dinner location.

Grant House has been completely restored to its former glory, and the restaurant itself is elegant and very large.  The food was incredibly good, thus earning its current reputation as "The Best Place to Eat in Vancouver".

The Grant House, Officer's Row, Vancouver, WA

Officer's Row on the site of the original Fort Vancouver boasts 34 beautiful houses dating back to the 1850's. They have all been completely renovated, and now are a part of the Historic Fort Vancouver compound.

Ulysses S. Grant was stationed at Vancouver garrison in the 1850s as a Quartermaster. He returned as a visitor to Vancouver Barracks in 1879, after serving two terms as President of the United States. The Grant House, constructed as the commanding officer's quarters, was the first house built on Officers' Row. Though Grant never lived in the house, he frequented it many times as a young officer. It was renamed in Grant's honor after he achieved his military and political success. The oldest building remaining at Vancouver Barracks, the Grant House later served as an officers club for over a quarter century. Today, the building is open to the public and houses The Grant House Restaurant.

 

 

 

 

Late Summer Flowering Borders in Vancouver, Washington

With the hot, dry Summer this year, and a very mild Fall, the annuals have an extended period of beauty that I am still enjoying, both here and at home.  I admired this lovely display yesterday at the Heathman Lodge.  Evidently this is an area sheltered from the lowest of the night temperatures, allowing the plants and flowers to thrive in the moderate temperature.

Totem Pole and Koi Pond at the Heathman

 I love this totem pole and shady area at the entrance to the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver.  It's a great place to sit for a few minutes, drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying the large Koi swimming in the pond.  For mid-October, it was a warm and pleasant day to enjoy all of the sights.

 

 

 

The Heathman Lodge in Vancouver, Washington

We arrived at the Heathman Lodge Friday afternoon.  It was a beautiful trip, with warm, sunny weather, and light traffic.

The Hudson Grill is a favorite family gathering place, and we had a lovely appetizer, salads, Corn Chowder, and bread.  Comfort food is done well there.

An Autumn Afternoon

I love walking down the gravel lane that borders our property in Maltby.  Fall is a glorious time of year out here, with the grass still a verdant green, leaves turning to hues of gold, yellow and scarlet, and the birds still singing everywhere, postponing their flights south to enjoy this transitional time of year.

A Perfect Apple

We had a very large crop of Liberty Apples this year!  They are beautiful, flawless-looking fruit that delights year after year.  They are good to eat off the tree, and even better in apple pies and other dessert recipes.

Here is the largest, and most perfect, apple to date.  I keep it on the sideboard in the kitchen to remind me of the pleasures of gardening, of tending an orchard, and of the Slow Life in Maltby.

The Gate

The front gate is decorated for Fall, and the colorful wreath blends in with the leaves that are beginning to fall.  This gate invites you in to shuffle through the fallen leaves, and lets you admire the rose bushes that will soon be cut back.  There are flower boxes on the picket fence that are filled with primroses that stay green and bloom all year long under the shelter of the ornamental cherry tree.  This gate leads to another gate into the back yard, filled with more lovely places to sit, read, and pause a moment on your way to doing something else.  "The Gate"--who knows where it will lead?

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere!

Look at the choices for pumpkins and seasonal gourds!  There are so many different varieties and colors, and I've already been to Bob's Corn and Country Market, Flower World, and now the Yakima Market.  Fall is such a lovely season for color!

Autumn Shortbread Cookies

Here's a sample of seasonal cookies--decorated shortbread from Hillcrest Danish Bakery in Bothell.  They're wonderful with a cup of good coffee, a comfortable chair, and a weekend afternoon.

Decorating the House and Yard for Fall

Yesterday, I visited the Yakima Market in Bothell to finish buying colorful squash and pumpkins and corn stalks to decorate the house and yard.  It was also a beautiful day to put all of the summer furniture, flower pots and yard decorations away until Spring arrives.

The greenhouse is full of all of my summer flower pots and garden posts and supports.  Since most of the new lawn furniture this year is made of recycled plastic water bottles, they can stay outside all year, cutting down on the storage space I need to accommodate the remainder of our outdoor 'accessories'.

Here is a picture of the entrance to the pasture, decorated with corn stalks.  Since all of my flower baskets are still blooming in the yard this year, I have sort of a 'cross-over' look between Fall and Summer, and I like it!  This doesn't happen very often.

The second picture is a still life on the new pine dining room table, which is the focal point of every meal.  On these cooler and darker evenings, the scented candles from Country Village complete the ambience of autumn comfort-food meals.  A fire in the wood stove completes our cozy evenings.

 

Autumn at Bob's Corn Maze and Country Market

Bob's Corn Maze doesn't open for another week, but we got in the car to visit the Country Market and load up on homemade produce, jam and syrups.  It looks like all is ready for the grand opening September 28!

Wellington Golf Course in Woodinville

For years, these lovely 18 acres existed as Wellington Golf Course, just two miles from our Maltby home.  In 2013, the golf course was removed, and the land reverted to a community park.  At this time, no ball fields or any other park-like structures have gone up, allowing the neighborhood to enjoy this lovely expanse of land.  It's a great place to walk the dog during the day or evening, and it's very quiet and out of the way.

Nala the Dog loves this new park, one of many places for her to get out and exercise.