Em's Weekend Report

We had a lovely, mellow weekend at home with lots of fun visits and surprises. Saturday, I got to see my friends Michelle and Rachel for a quick coffee. It was too short, but so nice to see them. Michelle just finished her first semester of grad school – which she aced by the way - I’m so proud of her. Rachel is considering taking that plunge soon, herself, so we had lots of interesting things to talk about, plus I also saw Josh and Adrienne and Lorelei quickly, who were sitting at a nearby table. Then Patrick and the boys and I went to the Americana Mall, which is a strange, swank outdoor mall that they built in Glendale, of all places. It seems a little odd to build a shrine to American consumerism in the midst of a deep recession, but the boys love their fountains and outdoor play ground, so we had a good time.

After that, we celebrated the cool, Autumnal weather by making an inaugural stew in the beautiful sunshine yellow Le Creuset pot that Patrick and the boys bought me for Mother’s Day. There’s a funny video on the Williams Sonoma website with the Frenchman who own the Le Creuset company where he explains that everyone thinks the French are such fantastic cooks, but it’s really because of their pots. He swears that Le Creuset pots can make anyone a great cook, which must be true, because my stew came out pretty good. Also, in spite of the grey weather, summer fruits are everywhere, so to go with the stew, I made our first berry crumble in the beautiful pie plate that Molly made for me for Christmas. Yay! Summer.

We are ridiculously excited that our friends Julie and Thor and Scarlett will be moving in to our apartment complex soon. Julie and Scarlett stopped by this morning to show us their new townhouse, which, as it turns out, is facing the townhouse that Amy’s friends are moving into next weekend, as well. (No pressure, guys.) Jamie was an especially good sport. He just had his wisdom teeth out and the medicine he’s on is making him feel wonky, but he still played with the boys in the pool for quite a while. Patrick said it’s beginning to feel like Sesame Street around here – a feeling which was reinforced by the boys’ impromptu T-ball game in our play park and by our swimming and berry extravaganza with Amy, Jamie and Felix.

Check out Jack's form...

And Finn bringing it home.

I’m getting a little out of order here, but we also took the guys on the live steamer trains in Griffith Park. For anyone who hasn’t been to the live steamers, they’re a funny organization that Walt Disney started in Griffith Park which is now run by a bunch of retired set designers and train enthusiasts. They have working steam engines and electric trains that they run every Sunday for a few hours. We haven’t been there for a while, but Finn and Jack love them, so we figured we’d swing by. I’m so glad we did, because just as our turn came up, Thomas the Tank Engine pulled into the station. For the boys, that’s pretty much the equivalent of me being able to sit on the stage and watch Jimmy Hendrix play a concert – they practically wiggled out of their skins from excitement. Speaking of Jimmy, Patrick finished up the weekend by playing a set with Dan out in front of the Fresh & Easy Market in Eagle Rock. I love to hear Patrick and the whole band play whenever I can, but I still think Patrick and Dan sound their best when they play in a small, intimate setting like that where they can just be the wandering minstrels that they are in their heart of hearts.