For my birthday, Rob got me a spiralizer. We’ve already had several successful forays which involved wrapping spiralized vegetables in fresh tortillas, pouring sauce over them, topping with a dollop of cheese, and baking. I took special care on the batch pictured here to include a sweet potato “umbilical cord”. Rob didn’t need an explanation so you shouldn’t either.

Ask Rob about the sauce. I think it was molé?

Origami decorated house - part of East Austin Studio Tour.

We spent time on two weekends in November exploring the East Austin Studio Tour. A little like Minneapolis’ Art-a-Whirl, it seemed to have endless locations, many of which were small homes. On the second weekend of this event, Raine arrived to spend Thanksgiving week! We took a couple of local hikes and enjoyed some of our favorite bar/restaurants. And there was the jigsaw puzzle which incredibly we finished before the holiday week ended. Raine became the cat-whisperer, having the ability to connect where none of the rest of us have, with the cats that linger around our decks.

Rob’s apple galette was one of the highlights of Thanksgiving.

‘Tis the season to see Sam Greyhouse heading out as Santa to do the rounds downtown.

Raine and I visited the public library downtown which was astounding architecturally as well as technologically. Full of people, it was equipped with loads of computers, meeting rooms, and clearly was utilized as a working space for many people. I didn’t get a good picture of it—best to see in person. The one picture I’ll share is when we suffered several moments of shock. We were on the top floor on the outdoor patio (with a great view) and lots of people again, when we saw a door that, were it to be opened, leads to open air several stories up (no floor on the other side). FALL PROTECTION REQUIRED WHEN OPERATION DOOR seems a bit understated!

Paper-marbling with Raine’s instruction!! Extra fun. Dear Reader, We Need to Do This Together!

Itty bitty snake! His tongue seemed to be stuck on the road so I unstuck it.

Rob and I spent time in Iowa because his Dad passed away unexpectedly over Thanksgiving week. That is out of scope of this blog, but I would recommend the Happy Trails diner which is located somewhere between Iowa and Texas.

Rachel eases the pain

of withdrawal from “green beer” for 6 months.

Dogs

always accompany owners to Austin bars. After lounging on top of an outdoor picnic table with the humans, this dog later sidled up to the bar.

Most recently, Rob’s friend, Steve, visited for a weekend. Steve was unaware of this trip until the day he left as it was a surprise gift from his wife! Besides having BBQ and tacos, we also visited Rainey street for the first time. We had been a bit wary of this street that is back-to-back bars and restaurants, but it turned out to be lots of fun and I left the guys to conquer the place well into the night so I could go to bed by 9. Weekend was extra fun given beautiful, warm, sunny weather (upper 70’s), and lots of quality time to bond with the pigs. We also all witnessed Freckles run across our yard with a skull in his jaws. Seemed like a coyote jaw.