Missouri Halloween forecast: Cloudy with a 100 percent chance of meatballs

Our little meatball got to have a practice run on Tuesday at his daycare's Halloween party. We're off to Missouri today to spend the candy-filled weekend with my family, which means I had to unstuff his costume and we'll restuff it there.

Fall, I hope you are as excited to see me as I am to see you.

Living the sweet life

Ian and I got to go to La Dolce Vita last week, one of the premiere food events in the city. Thankfully, Aaron and Sarah hung out with Jules so we got to play. Annie Ray, a local photographer, does these fun photo booths at events around town. Thanks, Annie, for the great shot!

Sending Shannon on her way

Austin isn't perfect, but it's a good place to call home. Good enough that when people like Blythe and now Shannon move away, people can't seem to understand why.

And they might not have understood it entirely, but they knew they had to go. So they went. Blythe a few years ago to Colorado, and now Shannon, with her sweet son, to Florida.

Oh, Florida.

Shannon's mom is there, which will help with Z over the next few years. I've always been in awe of her ability to manage life as a single mom. No one plans it to be that way. Sometimes it just happens. Rather than letting it defeat her, or even slow her down, Shannon pushed on. She and Z lived the most fulfilling Austin life, the kind you try to keep living each year after that first magical Year in Austin. Hyde Park was the perfect hood to bike around. She let us come along to play on the greenest of greens at the golf course and in her most magical backyard forest.

Z always had the best toys, and Shannon always made the best tea. "You gotta get a Thermos," she'd tell me as we sipped her homemade chai. Every once in a while, I'd get lucky and she'd give me a mini yoga lesson. I still can't imagine my stiff body as fluid as hers, but it's fun to roll out the mat and try.


We made dinner last week. Broccoli and potatoes roasted with olive oil and garlic, served with grass-fed beef. We sat on the carpet and didn't even spill our wine. Z and Jules watched a movie, and we just hung out, enjoying the last dinner. I know I'll see them again, but it's still the end of a chapter.

Chapters big and small end all the time, and I'm learning to deal with that better. It feels good to send her off with a proper goodbye. Chapters rarely end that way.

There are lots of farewells that didn't happen. For whatever reason. And then time passes.

I tend to take the quiet route, letting leaves rest where they fall. It's easier that way. But thankfully, I got one-on-one time with both Shannon and Blythe before that predetermined time they each picked to move arrives and it's time to go.

There are such things as nice goodbyes.

Ramen noodles, anoles and meatball cars

For the past week, we've been eating ramen noodles every day for a story that's coming out this Wednesday. Yes, that's right. Seven days of ramen noodles. It's been a challenge, but a fun experiment in creativity. By the end, we were eating meatballs and red sauce with ramen or thai basil pesto ramen topped with a fried egg.


Julian was a trooper; he didn't complain once about the incessant curly noodles. But I think I speak for us all that we'll be happy not to eat ramen noodles for a while.

We've had the most incredible weather in recent days. Mid-70s and lots of sun. We've had so much rain lately that our yard finally turned green again. I wasn't sure it would ever be anything but dirt after this summer. But just a few weeks of good, hearty rain and we're among the rest of the universe that has to mow their lawn (up until this week, we'd only had to mow one time this year).

Julian and Ian set out to make a meatball car, which apparently delivers meatballs. I imagine this is in conjunction with Julian's desire to be a meatball man for Halloween.



We've had the best weekend. Two great days together, enjoying the weather and each other. And more ramen than I've eaten in a long, long time.

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Speaking of what used to be our backyard of dirt, I just found this video I think I forgot to post. It's of one of the first rains we got after this crazy dry summer, and you can see what a mess our yard was.

That's one big grub

One of the biggest grubs I've seen. A soon-to-be rhino beetle, I think. Apparently, it's like the one Bear Grylls ate during an episode of "Man v. Wild." Ian gets the point for this one; he found it while digging his plot of the garden.

Just hanging around

on a lazy Saturday.

Watching over the game

Statesman photographer Ralph Barrera took this picture during a football game at House Park, a high school stadium near our billboard on Lamar Boulevard. "High school football game will never look the same to me now," he says.

Getting away from the Austin City Limits

The massive three-day festival that is the Austin City Limits Music Festival was in town last weekend. Last year, I worked one day of the festival, but this year, I steered clear of volunteering to work the long days amid the big crowds.

There was a strong chance of rain, but we decided to go camping anyway. We went to Colorado Bend State Park, northwest of Austin, and had a fantastic time. When it rained on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, we just stayed in our big brand new tent and played Yahtzee.

I blogged about our Dutch oven adventures over on Relish Austin.

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Apologies for the length between posts recently. It's been a busy few weeks. What can I say?

Smile, you're on tv. Again.

Here's the second part of the Statesman's marketing campaign: a commercial with restaurant critic Mike Sutter and me.



Life in Austin just keeps getting weirder...