Another Summer

My Office, decorated by Ellie.

 Time marches on and this summer marched quickly, with endings and beginnings, sadness and happiness, and all of the simple moments in between.

Ellie has gone and it happened at the end of the summer, which seemed so right for a California Girl.
I'll think of her often.  She helped me decorate my house with her incredible taste...which was a unique mixture of American style (courage, appreciation, flair) and a French sense for life as it should be lived.  I bought only a few things from her but they are part of my daily life and I appreciate them so much.
 I appreciated her, I'll always miss her.
If you haven't read the wonderful post written by her daughter Grace please go here.

My family had an ending of its own this summer: we placed my grandparents' ashes in their final resting place and said goodbye.  It was a lovely day and it was a sad day, all at the same time.

Grandpa Norv and Grandma Jean with their boat on the Detroit River.
We were on the river for our goodbye and the day was gorgeous.

Light of our lives, my nephew, flew in from the far far north for the occasion.  Here he is having a talk with Uncle Tom:

 Our daughter went across the pond on her own for the first time, she left for Switzerland the day after I took the photo below.  This was at the cottage of two of our best friends, Laura and David.  They've just sold this cottage so... another ending, we've spent so many fun weekends there over the years.  When the kids were small we'd go for a week and run a camp for them.  (Well, not really, but it seemed that way with the meals we'd dish up and the lifeguard duties.)

 She spent a month in Germany with side trips to Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.  Had a blast.

Then we dropped Lil' Rascal off at camp and hightailed it to the airport.

CHICAGO
MrBP and The Bean 

Bean Selfie

 This is the Bean at 8am, it gets much busier later, but we were so fascinated by it, it's actually so cool to see and walk around and study the reflections and perspectives.

Chicago was amazing, we spent seven nights just the two of us, what a great spot for a romantic hols.

Oh gosh the Ralph Lauren Grill was gorgeous.
We sat on the terrace, I highly recommend.

Went to a Cubs game which was awesome.
Ate some terrible nachos and drank some beer.

Loved the guys parachuting in with the giant flags!

 I thought Chicago was pure American Style.  One of my favourite building facades:

 Of course we spent a whole day at the Art Institute:

 If you go you have to go to the restaurant, so lovely:

Looks spare but it suits the feeling of the Institute, and the food is great.

 We flew home and headed north to Algonquin Park.  A little country to offset the city.

 I wore my Elmer Fudd dress from the now defunct LLBean Signature line.  Also I went barefoot for four days, my feet were killing me after walking miles and miles everyday in Chicago in low heels.  (Don't ask me about sensible footwear because I have much to learn.)

Elmer Fudd Dress
Bare Feet

 We must have been missing our Rascals because we adopted a very cheeky and greedy chipmunk, who we named Ivan The Bold:

Ivan The Bold
Always rushed in at cocktail hour.

 We picked up Lil' Rascal, headed home to have a reunion with the European traveller and then spent a perfect Saturday en famille helping Ole Rascal move into his new apartment.

Ole Rascal, does he keep getting taller?
With his partner who we adore.

 We made it to a Blue Jays game:

They lost.  But it was still so fun.
I love baseball, it's such a simple pleasure.

 Finally we had a weekend to end the summer, another summer, with our best friends on their island cottage.  Don't you think we all look pretty well considering we had massive hangovers?

The Morning After.
Party on Baby.

I hope you've had a wonderful summer (or Fall if you're in Aus!) and that your September is off to a productive start.
xoxDani

Mop Philosophy Monday

 We had some friends around for drinks and some baseball-watching followed by a simple dinner.  It does not get much simpler that roast chicken and roast potatoes with a salad.

Chicken prepared for the oven with olive oil, Maldon salt, rosemary and thyme.

 I prepared a small snack of cheese and rye crackers but it wasn't very popular: too much angst watching the baseball.  I hate to admit it but we loaded up on drinks instead.

A cheese tray was not very popular but the drinks were.

 What do you do with leftover chicken or turkey?
I make a pot pie because it's an easy way to load vegetables into those Rascals.

Chop up all of the vegetables you can think of.

 I think green peas are a must in a chicken pie:

 I add heavy cream to the dish after throwing in all of the leftover chicken, and if you're watching your fat intake you can use a combination of cream and chicken stock.

Heavy cream added to the chicken pot pie.

 I buy that rolled up butter puff pastry in the freezer section at the grocery store, a handy item to have around if ever there was one.  A simple layer on top bakes up to a perfectly golden crust:

 Whip up any old-fashioned coffee cakes lately?
I was inspired by my dear friend Melissa to bake her recipe on Sunday morning for a crowd of teenage girls here on a sleeplessover.  It was a huge hit:

 It filled the entire house with an amazing cinnamon smell: so cozy on a cold autumn morning.  Thanks Melissa!

The cake bakes up with a perfect crumb texture:

Served with grapefruit.

You can see it has a perfect crumb texture.
Here is Melissa's recipe.

 Don't you love these autumnal shades set off by blue and white dishes?

 Speaking of autumnal shades I have a new post up on Frock Philosophy with a discussion of my own autumn wardrobe colour story, click here if you're interested.

I hope you have a marvellous week with some nice baked things in it along the way.
Stay Cheery my Darlings,
xoxDani