As we enter into the holiday season filled with red Starbucks cups and aisles of Thanksgiving and Xmas – I am drawn to reflect on the amazing October I just experienced. For the first time in the 8 years some my oldest and best friends came to visit from Minnesota and new friends from California and Idaho arrived to brighten life.
Like a proud parent I took them around to my favorite and best parts of the city. We enjoyed fine food from beautiful sunny early October backyard BBQs, oysters and pie to a rainstorm on the waterfront with hammers, kids and crab legs.
Seattle offers visiting friend colors, fresh bounty of the saltwater sound, and our friend the Fremont troll.
Most of all – beyond my bright and shiny personality – Seattle offers yummy food. I took my friends from Duluth to Cafe Campagne – masters of simple french cuisine and we ate ourselves stupid on duck confit, cassoulet and this pork dish that literally came with slabs of bacon.
My friend from Boise led my household down the street to Pie where we discovered the joy of savory and sweet in small packages of crust.
We took walks and discovered the beauty of pedestrian travel through residential neighborhoods.
As the days get darker and colder and the autumn colors fall to the ground leaving nothing but bare trees standing starkly in the grey days of this land of diffused winter light – it is time to warm oneself in the light of appreciation. Looking back at my October – this was one of the most wonderful autumns of memory because of the people I have the priviledge to know and the opportunity to spend time with.