Little Brick House by the park: October 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Pasta with the Rhodas

We went to the Rhoda's house for dinner and we were treated to the most wonderful feast. Maria and the boys, Danny and Gordon, spent the after noon making pasta. Yes! Making the pasta. Pat also pitched in by making several appetizers. The sauce for the pasta was made by Maria's father Rocco, with a name like that we knew it would be something. It was a wonderful evening.

The pasta

More pasta

Pat made roasted red peppers with fresh basil and cheese, he also made mushroom crostini. They were delicious.

Maria adds the pasta to the boiling water.

Rebecca digs in. It was a great night.

Farmers Market

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and we headed to one of the last farmers market of the season. The colors and designs were so beautiful. Late fall is wonderful for so many reasons and this bounty is one of them.

Fall sightings

The park is priceless. The boys have spent hours working on their football plays. This was a beautiful late fall day, the boys were on fall break. What a better time for a little one on one football.

I think Owen got him.

After a couple of hours of playing football the team then assembled in the house for a couple rousing renditions of Nirvana's Come As You Are. Owen was at the piano....First I'll tackle you, then I'll play you a song.

This little bear came for a visit and lucky for us he brought his violin with him. Hey Booboo, that sounds like good violin playing, now lets go find a picnic basket...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Visit from the farm girls

Aunts Jan and Barb came in last week from Iowa. They came to watch Emma play volleyball against Purdue and Indiana. Emma plays for the hawkeyes. The aunts came bearing gifts of the best kind. We received homegrown produce and artfully designed farm fresh eggs. We also received coffee, chocolate, and of course, Sterzings chips.

Good work Jan and Barb.

Iowa coffee hits the spot

Owen made shirred eggs

Wilco in Columbus on Columbus day

Rick and I left right after school to drive to Columbus Ohio to see Wilco perform at the Wexner Center. We stopped at Betty's Fine Food and Spirits for a pre-concert snack and a couple of tasty micro brews. I enjoyed my Burning River IPA from a brewery in Cleveland.

My cute date

Mmmm..nachos

Wilco, Wilco will love ya baby!

The concert was awesome. If you have never seen Wilco in concert I recommend it highly. Jeff, John, Glenn and Nels played two and a half rousing hours of great music!! Highlights for me were "At least that's what she said", "The boxer", "Wishful thinking" and "Shot in the arm".
After the concert we went to my sisters house. Randy was up when we got there and the three of us stayed up and chatted over beers. The next morning I got up early to see the rest of the family before they went to school and work. Randy, Rick and I went to get breakfast at an awesome place called Northstar. The food is organic, grown sustainably and delicious. The restaurant was super cool with modern design, communal tables and my favorite art magazines!! We talked and drank coffee there for about an hour and a half and then we headed home to pick the boys up at school.

Giant breakfast burrito

Lemon ricotta pancakes-Yum!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

The city meet

We spent a glorious Saturday morning at Southeastway Park for the CYO City Cross Country Meet. They call it a city meet, but it's more like a central Indiana meet, with teams from Bloomington, Terre Haute, Carmel and Brownsburg hooking up with the city teams. More than 20 teams and 800 runners in grades 5-8 (plus Owen, who's in fourth) competed. The boys run for St Luke, one of the schools in our neighborhood. They're the ones in blue and white with gold lettering.

At about the 1k mark, George and Owen were neck and neck near the front of the pack. The kid right before them ended up third.

Coming out of the woods and into the final stretch, Owen kicked it into gear trying to stave off a challenge. Alas, the kid in red nipped him at the line. Nonetheless, Owen ran one of his better races of the year, finishing 7th place in the 5th-6th grade class. Since all but one of the kids who beat him were sixth graders, next season can't get here soon enough.

George saved his best effort of the year for the biggest race of the year. Nothing like good timing. He'd spent all season just outside of the ribbon places. If they gave 20 ribbons, he'd come in 22nd. The time he finished 12th, they only gave ribbons for the top ten. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Until today. Just three months after his surgery, he finished 10th place in the 5th-6th grade class. Better yet, with the course soaked from two days of solid rain, he cut a full minute off his best time. He's a mudder if there ever was one.