First half of September roundup

We’re going to split into a few timelines and universes here as C and the Kennymen go from having a lot of together time to spreading out again. First, we left off with Miles heading off on a cross country drive to Minneapolis then Portland. It was a long trip and they did really well, stopping the night in between Minneapolis and Portland to camp in Miles City, Montana.

Once in their new house in Portland, Miles and friends started applying for jobs, getting essentials (like beds) delivered, and cooking some nice meals together. Here is Miles’s first meal cooked for his roomies: a rigatoni with arugula and a Gorgonzola sauce. Then below he used the left over ingredients in a salad, also adding a pear inspired by but not taken from his neighbor’s pear tree!

Then, wildfires hit and the roomates, along with pretty much everyone in Oregon, Washington and California, were affected. The five of them stayed inside as much as possible, sealing up the windows with tape. Unfortunately, Geo’s pet rabbit, Gibson, died due to the smoke on the first weekend, which was very sad for everyone. After several days of really bad air quality outside forcing a lot of indoor time, there has been rain and the wind shifted, improving things a lot. Hopefully the rain will help the firefighters quite a bit in containing all the fires, without so much rain that there are landslides to contend with. Miles had an interview scheduled for a job at an Amazon warehouse on one of the days and while they had sent an email cancellation it was worded very strangely so he decided to go out there and see if he could get more info. The whole Amazon warehouse was closed – which shows you how bad it all was!

Back to the Chicago timeline, we also had a going away takeout celebration on Liam’s last night before moving to his new place. He chose a Uzbeki restaurant that is located near his new place. There are quite a few central Asian restaurants near his new apartment! Despite having no idea what we were doing, we managed to order quite well. It was like a blend of Turkish and Polish food – with some real delights in the beet and herring department. Mmmmmmmm. Below, the buffet, plated and eating outdoors, “uzbeki-lunch” of leftover beet and herring salad on toast the next day.

The salad above is a photo Liam sent me after he’d moved into his new place, to show that he’d made a salad for dinner that’s very similar to the salads I make. Receiving two photos of salads from Liam and Miles in the same week was pretty nice confirmation that everyone (at least sometimes!) eats like Mom!

Debbie, Jeff and Maddie moved into their lovely new home in Naperville. We went out there last weekend and first walked around the Danada Forest Preserve. It’s known as a good spot for birding and we did see some really nice American Goldfinches. The flowers were all in yellow bloom too.

At Debbie, Jeff and Maddie’s new place, we continued to enjoy the really lovely Fall day outside with them (after a tour inside! Great place!). Maddie and I fixed a lot of pony manes and tails. Who knew pony hair could get so messy?

Last week here the smoke from the fires in the west made their way here and even further east – I heard even to Europe! It made for some hazy sunrises and sunsets here, with the sun a red ball on the horizon.

Happy birthday to Isaac today! Hope your day and birthday cake were both SWEET!!!