Come home to me

This little bear asked me to come home last month and so I did...

My dad picked me up at o'dark-thirty in downtown Columbus and we drove through the rolling fields covered in morning dew and fog to the little house on the hill.

Sir Toby says "Meow" which means "feed me." in Cat.

And up at the top of the house is a little room.

It was my room for many years, I loved being perched high up in the trees in my aery. During a storm I could easily pretend it was a lighthouse or a boat with the sea of waving trees and rain coming down the skylights in ripples.

My Mom is the sweetest. She always spoils me rotten when I come home, as if she thinks she has to bribe me to visit! I haven't read the book yet but the carafe is smiling at me from my bedside table and the nesting dolls are clustered on my window sill.

I stared at the sheep for a while when I was falling asleep. I wonder if she did that on purpose?

Miss Linda's creative space is at the back of the room. I like knowing where all the different pieces came from, what their past life was even though they all look perfect together now. My old vanity. The white lamp that was in the living room. A mustard crock she bought just to use as a jar which was so big I think it took us about a year to use up all the mustard...

Lots of still life. 

One of my favorite things is to be gently awoken by the clinking of measuring cups and spoons. It means Miss Linda is baking. This time it was her apple pie, which has remained unchanged my whole life and I still have yet to eat a better one.

We moved to Ohio when I was a wee three year old and my parents were a bit culture shocked when it came to midwestern style pizza. The initial excitement of moving into a house down the block from a pizza parlor was quickly killed before they even bit into a slice. Because the slice was not a slice. It was a rectangle. And the crust was thin and hard. And the sauce too much like tomato paste. And the toppings were...sad. I distinctly remember being taken to every single pizza joint in a 20 mile radius searching for good pizza as a kid. 

Eventually I think they gave up and had to make their own and so started the traditional Friday night pizza and movie. Miss Linda would get the pizza crust started while Dr Karl took D-Mon and I to the library where we got to pick out one film each. Then we came home, topped the pizza, and spent the rest of the night munching slices, slurping cherry sodas, and watching kids movies.  

So by now Dr. Karl has perfected his pizza switcheroo technique, first shimmying the pie onto the the stone to cook, then using spatulas to slide the done pie back onto the chopping board.

Now every once in a while I'm lucky enough to be home on a night the P-Units decide to make pizza. This one was an ode to The Best Pizza I Have Ever Eaten (Pizza Polermo, NYC), a white pizza of soft mozzarella, caramelized onions and eggplant slices that was topped with arugula once it came out of the oven. The second pizza was tomato sauce, mozzarella, caramelized onions, red peppers, and roasted plum tomatoes.  We ate it while watching Date Night.

There may be no more weekly pizza and movie night as the kids are 'all grown up' but D and I make sure to act like monkeys kids anyways. Just to make up for it.

However, there are few things that make you realize just how grown up you are then getting together with girls you've known over half your life.  We may live far and wide, be doing things we couldn't even imagine in high school, but however far we go, or what we're busy with, there are some things we will always come home for.  Three years ago it was for Lizbeth and Mr. Paul's wedding, and this time it was to celebrate their Belly Bean!

The Bean has one month to go before we all get to meet it, but it is now tricked out in blankets, books, toys, diapers and all sorts of momma/baby things that I don't understand.  It was so wonderful to see all the different people from Lizbeth's life coming together, sharing our love for her and excitement for the future.

Miss Amy and her mother were amazing hosts, and she may look all grown up now...

...but Amy's still Amy! And no. She didn't actually elbow a preggers lady. But she IS totally unnerved by the whole situation which is hilarious. That girl would rather go mudding or roll around with a dog than hold a baby. Still, I'm betting $200 Monopoly dollars that when it's Lizbeth's baby she'll feel a little differently.

Or she'll just pass it to her Mom.

Hmm.

Anyways, I'm over the moon with glee to meet this little person. I'm determined to be the best Fairy Godmother I can be! Is it November yet??!!

I had a lot of lovely memories to think over on my way back North. It was good to go home and touch base with that part of my life as things are still not settled up here. But I still had that rush of joy when the skyline came into sight though, which tells me I'm exactly where I should be. I took a taxi back to my apartment and the wind whipped through my hair as we raced up Lakeshore Drive, the late summer sun shining off the water. I love this city.

I cracked open the pot of raspberry and peach jam that Amy made as shower favors to have on my toast this morning and it make me smile.  I called Lizbeth today and we ate lunch at the same time. I've been holding onto that trip, helping me through the rough days, which have been few but they happen just the same.

I'm embracing the fresh slate that is Fall, it's the right time for new beginnings and challenges. Taking comfort in the extra layers, the first scarf Miss Linda knit me snug around my neck, curled up under a blanket drinking tea, and crunching through the fallen leaves. I'm mindful not to waste this gift of time that I've been given, sitting still, reading books and baking bread. Making up my own little routine on how to live this new life and listening to what's in my head and my heart.

I was walking through Lincoln Square the other day, killing time before meeting friends, it was a gorgeous fall evening and I loved seeing all the lights and amber leaves but I couldn't shake off the lost and delicate feeling I'd been carrying around with me all day. I walked past the bookstore and impulsively ducked inside.  I drifted towards the food books, running my finger along the spines feeling more and more like I was actually looking for something but not knowing what it was. Until I saw it,  Luisa Weiss's My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (with Recipes). I had no business buying a book, I wasn't supposed to be buying a book, but I opened it on the chapter titled 'Leap and the Net will Appear' which had a recipe for pizza and I knew it would be coming home with me anyways.

I know her as the lady who told me of the Best Brownies in the World through her blog The Wednesday Chef and now her book came to me just when I needed it, a story about life and being brave and food. I've been reading it all week, under my covers in bed or in the sunlight from the bus windows on the way to part time jobs, it made me cry a few times, and really hungry, but when I finished the book last night after a bad day I felt comforted knowing that this is all just part of life and there are things like omelette confiture to help you through.