Last Sunday we got back to our longstanding practice of Le déjeuner dominical (it has been jokingly called le messe du ventre – the mass of the stomach). Tricia and I both cook, I resist using the phrase “cooking duties” as that implies a burdensome task; for us it is a pleasure. The Brits use a term “washing up” for our “doing the dishes”, another task seen as unpleasant by many, yet I really don’t mind doing the washing up. So last Sunday Tricia did most of the cooking, except for the aperitif of polenta fries which I did, we both did the washing up.

While she cooked I sketched the view out our window. This was the first time that I have done ink and watercolor in a while, it still works.

Tricia makes risotto that would do well at any risotto cook-off, yes they do have them. Her’s beats the majority of the offerings I get at restaurants, even from culinary trained chefs. This week it was mixed seafood with peas and asparagus. I finished the meal with un café.

That evening we watched A Place in the Sun, I sketched Jasmin.

The Portland Rose Festival is winding down so the military ships are heading back to sea, this is one military parade that is inspiring. I caught the CG Eagle as it was going under the Broadway bridge heading down the Willamette toward the Columbia and on to the Pacific. As I write I see that it is in Astoria.

Fall and winter are my favorite seasons so their colors slip into my work even in the summer, I am sure Frued would have something to say about it.

On our last trip to the beach we discovered Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area (odd name for a stunning place). Tricia wrote about it a week or so ago. It has one of the most recognized lighthouses on the Oregon coast.

Yesterday we had asparagus soup with Parmesan toasts and a salad.

I did this painting inspired by a line from The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: “Another is a bare forest by moonlight but a single tree is alive with golden leaves.” Loving this book, Alexis, our daughter, says it is one of her favorite books ever.

Life is a journey, so I leave you with a quote from Jack London. I used a portion of this as the last line of my book, Let It Be Hot.

“I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”