Category Things I love
Huntsville
I’ve written about Huntsville before — this place of childhood and grandparents so dear to the Davis-McKay family heart. I hadn’t been here in summer for years, and I took some time after the funeral to wander around the property, exploring the ways it had changed and hadn’t changed at all. It’s not home, but […]
Seattle for the Fourth – Independence Day
The Fourth of July last year was blazing hot. This year? Not so much: Chilly and grey, with patches of rain. Apparently this is how the Pacific Northwest “does summer.” But being the good Americans we are, we celebrated our independence — weather be damned! We caught a late-morning ferry to Bainbridge Island, where Justin’s […]
Kew Gardens
Inspired by my run through Kensington Gardens, I decided to take the train out to Kew Gardens. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Kew Gardens are considered one of the best gardens in the world. They cover hundreds of acres, and I could have spent all day there — as it was, I only had time […]
Kensington Gardens
I went for a run this morning through Hyde Park and took a detour to visit the gardens of Kensington Palace. I may have spent more time looking at plants than I spent actually running… My favorite, the sunken garden. Kensington Palace. Not super impressive from the outside. The Italian Fountains. Built by Prince Albert […]
New York – New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve was the piece de resistance of our trip, the day that we had all been waiting for. And so naturally we stayed up until 2am the night before and woke up groggy and a little bit out of sorts. That was okay, though, because all the action wouldn’t start until the evening […]
Another round of Christmas, plus travel!
By shifting all of our Christmas activities to Christmas Eve, we freed up the actual Christmas Day for more Christmas activities! First a tasty breakfast of waffles, eggs, bacon and avocados . . . . . . followed by a blustery ferry ride to Bainbridge Island . . . . . . where […]
Christmas morning and Star Wars and Christmas Eve dinner (in that order)
Christmas Eve dawned grey and chilly, and we went downstairs to get a head start on celebrating Christmas itself with a leisurely, hours-long gift exchange (how can you tell none of us has kids?). We started with the stockings, which I (on behalf of Santa) had filled with travel-related goodies. A sleeping mask and earplugs […]
‘Twas the night before Christmas Eve
Christmas is here! And this year I’m taking an approach to celebrating that’s, well, let’s just say, not super conventional. Instead of flying out to spend Christmas with family, I stayed in Seattle to celebrate with Amanda (who came up from Denver) and Justin. The plan was to do Christmas at my house, then go […]
Party season! (Or, I might be crazy)
Here’s how things work at my house during the holidays: [Thanksgiving weekend — decorate house for holidays] First Sunday: It feels so festive! Let’s have a little Christmas gathering! [counts chairs; invites 15 people over for the following Sunday] Monday: [after a stressful day at work] I don’t have time for this! What a terrible idea! […]
The night before the party
‘Twas the night before the Christmas party, and all through the house there were garlands, poinsettias, and Christmas lights, some terrific red tablecloths that I found at Crate&Barrel, and a fresh chocolate cake all ready for frosting. It’s 1:00am, and the twelve guests I’ll be feeding won’t come until 4:00pm, but at least I […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 