After yet another week of hot temps at home, I was happy for another weekend escape - this time up into the mountains. Friday night after work, I headed east to join my parents at their cabin, and after a short drive I was greeted with a mai tai and a dinner of homemade tamales. Since Sunday was my dad's birthday, I baked my all-time favorite cake for dessert. Growing up, my dad's birthdays were always celebrated at the family cabin, and his birthday cakes - baked in a wood burning oven - always managed to be both burnt and undercooked. This cake, baked with an intentionally jiggly middle, seemed like the perfect homage to the cakes my grandmother baked in that old oven. In place of a birthday candle, my mom lit a match to stick in the cake, and amusing and convenient substitution - perhaps a new cabin birthday tradition?
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I am so ready for fall - cool weather, colorful leaves, soup, sweaters, and rain! This week started off nicely enough - we'd had plans for a trip over the weekend and both had Monday off work, but we wound up cancelling the plans and instead had a quiet day off close to home. We went for a short hike on a new trail on Squak Mountain, then had lunch accompanied by a few drinks in Issaquah. As we drove south to the trailhead, Mt Rainier could clearly be seen off in the distance, and since the trail description specifically mentioned a good view of Rainier, I was surprised when we reached our destination but were unable to find the mountain. By Monday evening, a haze of smoke from the fires British Columbia had settled in, a haze which only seemed to get worse throughout the week. Combined with the oppressive heat (at least to this wimpy PNW native) consistently in the 90s, the smoke has meant a lot of time spent indoors over the week. I am so ready for fall - cool weather, colorful leaves, soup, sweaters, and rain! This week started off nicely enough - we'd had plans for a trip over the weekend and both had Monday off work, but we wound up cancelling the plans and instead had a quiet day off close to home. We went for a short hike on a new trail on Squak Mountain, then had lunch accompanied by a few drinks in Issaquah. As we drove south to the trailhead, Mt Rainier could clearly be seen off in the distance, and since the trail description specifically mentioned a good view of Rainier, I was surprised when we reached our destination but were unable to find the mountain. By Monday evening, a haze of smoke from the fires British Columbia had settled in, a haze which only seemed to get worse throughout the week. Combined with the oppressive heat (at least to this wimpy PNW native) consistently in the 90s, the smoke meant a lot of time spent indoors over the week.
Read moreLife: Week 31
It's only early August, but already it feels like summer is winding down. We've had blissfully cool, nearly fall-like weather for a few days now, and I am so ready for sweaters and soup and piles and piles of blankets! We'd planned for another backpacking trip, we even took Friday off for a longer weekend of hiking, but sadly Andy caught an awful summer cold, so instead we spent the weekend at home. As sad as I was to miss out on a weekend in the mountains, I think we needed the lazy weekend at home. We went for a few walks, spent lazy mornings watching cartoons and eating pancakes, and I spent some quality time knitting. I've got one project that just needs seaming before it's finished, but unfortunately seaming is one of my least favorite things. For a sanity break, I started working on a lighter weight wool hat to take for myself on summer backpacking trips. I'm kind of in love with the super fun colorway - it's called Holi Festival! I'm using a very simple pattern for the hat to cut down on bulk, so I'm glad it will have some personality from the yarn.
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