Author: Carrie Spritzer

And the Cooking Begins…

Here we go! We’re gearing up for Thanksgiving.

Each year I so enjoy the ritual of cooking for Thanksgiving: refining the menu, making the master shopping list, doing the shopping, starting the cooking, realizing we’re missing ingredients (it’s only gotten worse with age!), heading to the store, cooking some more, savoring the time spent cooking together as a family and the delicious meal we create and share.



So, we’ve planned the menu and shopped.

We’re now ready to start cooking. First up, making stock and cornbread for tomorrows stuffing.

Here’s my little helper, excited to help and dressed to cook:

Miss Leyba loves wearing fun costumes. After already getting dressed for the day, she decided she needed to wear a swimsuit on top. Why not?! I think it makes the outfit.

Excuse us, we’ve got some cooking to do.

Morning Fog

One of the perks of living near the ocean is the fog that rolls in during most evenings, a buffer from the ocean that keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. (On those sumer days when there’s no fog, we know it will be a very hot day.) This is the view we wake up to each morning:

Each and every time I look out the window and see the fog (before it burns off for the day) I think about this scene in the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice:

Stunning.

Autumn in Wine Country

In our Northern California life, autumn arrives in November with grapevine leaves changing colors. Never mind the 60 and 70 degree temperatures during the day, it’s starting to get chilly at night and the leaves are responding.

This colorful spread only lasts for a few weeks before the rain washes the leaves down or the automated vine cutting machines move in and trim the branches (I know, how unromantic).

I try to savor every moment as I drive about town this month.

I think that spread of yellow, orange and red is rather spectacular. It may not compare to the New England autumns that David and I grew up with or the transformation of Aspen groves in Colorado that we grew to love, but it feels like our version of fall, in this temperate California climate without real seasons, and we’ll take it!

Her First Gig

Another post in our First on Friday series where we share a new experience from the week (or, in this case, from last week!).

Here’s my daughter playing with Uncle Lee’s band, The Honey Gitters, at a brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado.


Yes, she’s really playing. Well, Lee and her are both holding the drumsticks, but she’s holding on tight!

Earlier in the evening, cheering with Gramma from “back stage:”

Singing along or, more accurately, making up her own lyrics:

When she wasn’t hanging in a brewery, she was playing pool at Uncle Lee’s house:

Where else can you climb upon the pool table?!

Good times with the Leyba boys. She loved it!

More Holiday Crafts

We’ve been busy crafting over here (as always!). Here’s a glimpse at what Miss Leyba and I have been working on lately. All works in progress!


Mini wreaths wrapped with red shiny thread and bells.


Pine cones painted with silver acrylic paint. Think holiday ornaments. In progress. VERY in progress.

I beg you, please leave a comment answering this very important question: Should we add glitter to the pine cones or would that be overkill?!

I can’t decide. Really. I have no idea.

Miss Leyba would probably say, “Go for it, Mom. We love glitter.”

What do you think?