Hosting Thanksgiving, Canadian Style

Our first really big dinner party in the new house was our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner for 20. It was a big production with many helping hands and we all had a terrific feast. I'm hoping this will be a continuing tradition over here.

And now pictures

Meanwhile back in the Kitchen

"Lets just paint the kitchen cupboards and install new appliances" - Joel (sometime in August)

Naturally this Virgo got going on this project and noticed that nothing had ever been done properly in this kitchen and set to work bringing the plumbing and electrical back to code, re-doing the previous wrong kind of drywall, rebuilding all the supports for the appliances. And that's before we started on the paint... which needed 2 primer coats + 3 coats of paint and we needed to buy a paint sprayer and a sander. Then the drawer beds weren't good enough so those are all being replaced with custom made solid alder, dove tail, full extension drawers. Then drawer pulls needed to be ordered from Lee Valley in Canada because the solid oiled brass was the obvious choice. The island is getting a 350lb custom made butcher block which Joel is currently building a support system to hold up and this is just ONE side of the kitchen. We decided to do one side at a time. #saveme

Summer in the drought garden

Our first Summer in our new home has been a steep learning curve. Getting the air conditioning to cool at just the right time of day and mastering the extraction fan system for the attic which makes a pretty huge difference. We're sparing with the a/c as we were in Singapore. We adjusted to the heat and kick it in when the interior temperature is hovering around 80 and only cool to about 75-76. It's summer after all! Who wants to live like they're in a college library. Meanwhile outdoors most days are between 85 and 95 with heat waves here and there above 100.

Marin is fairly lucky for a lot of reasons when it comes to water. We have our own water in lakes right here so everyone can see where it's at on a short hike or drive and have that visual reality check. Residents aren't particularly interested in lawns, in fact I'm trying to think if I know anyone who has one here and I really can't say that I do. Most of us inherited a previously owner's attempts at drought proofing a property and either continue forging ahead or give up entirely.

Austen's succulent garden

Sea grasses are very happy

We have an extensive drip system over most of the 1/4 acre that works very well at keeping well attuned low-water plants happy enough to blossom and grow. New starts are not usually so happy so they get to move into pretty plant pots and not the heavy dry soil. We have several types of lavender in giant bushes, a rainbow of different sea grasses in tufts (can one ever get enough of these?) and a whole mess of shrubs that by some trick or another are making it. We also have a long suffering pear tree and apple tree and a huge redwood which is about 5 miles too far inland now to be happy. The fruit trees have been crippled by fire blight and the 100+ foot redwood is suffering from a fungus that hits these trees in these conditions. Both issues stem from drought. Joel spent the weekend driving huge watering stakes down into the ground near all the trees to try to deliver as much of the water on the drop line as we can down to their roots. Time will tell if it was successful.

My happy shade dwellers

From the fruit trees

This December our family is growing by 2 feet!

36 Hours in New York

Joel had a surprise. Weeks and weeks went by and all I knew was were were going away somewhere cold where I'd also need cocktail attire. Our first night away from Austen and our first trip just us together since New Zealand trip in 2012. And so we found ourselves at SFO at midnight a few weeks ago printing out our boarding passes and I finally saw NY on the ticket. I had an inkling that might be the destination but I had no idea what was really in store for us. 

Bjork Concert at Carnegie Hall

The opening of the Bjork Exhibit at MoMA

Tasting menu at the Gramercy Tavern

Long leisurely brunches

With this view of Mid-town Manhattan

The Palace Hotel was our home away from home

Balmy spring-like weather made for an unusually warm stroll through a snow covered Central Park

By the time we landed in San Francisco on Sunday night it felt like perhaps it was all a dream.

Christmas 2014

We just barely got into our house before my family arrived and the holidays began. We went all out with a rather massive christmas tree and lights on the house and trees outside. We wanted our first year hosting the holidays to be extra special and it was. Austen's latest word is "AMAZING" which really sums up how he feels about his holidays. 

Flight 8501

It's been a horrific year for air travel in SE Asia. Each of these accidents has moved me deeply. I find it particularly chilling looking at the flight path for flight 8501 and thinking about how many times I was in a small plane flying over that very patch of water. It could have been me --my family--scattered like leaves in the water.

Our friends here in the US see the CNN images and regard it as just one of the many tragic events of the week. But not for our family. We're sifting through the articles and discussing the details as if part of us is still back in Singapore. We do this every time something happens in a place where we've lived. Our circle of caring is wider, our potential to be devastated is greater. I never thought of it this way before but it's true.

Expats collect experiences and friendships and lay down tiny roots that we never fully pull away when we leave again. I don't think I'll ever stop leaping to my feet when I see "Singapore" run across the screen on the evening news. Our thoughts are very much with the grieving families of the people lost on flight 8501.

HOME | A long search has a happy ending

We just closed the sale on a house in Fairfax... It's really happening. I have to pinch myself. We've talked about buying our first home for about a decade but were weren't sure where we wanted to put down roots. Since we lived here between 2007 and 2010 we've talked about it often and wondered if we'd ever have work in this area again. Well work happened and here we are.

Fairfax is a tiny town in Marin County. And where is Marin? If you drive over the Golden Gate Bridge you end up in the rolling hills and redwood forests of Marin.

Our little town is known as the hippi enclave where deadheads and the inventors of mountain biking created a community that reminds us a lot of one of the Gulf Islands back in BC. Funky handmade homes blend into the hillsides, everyone bikes everywhere and the local grocery store is all organic.

Joel took the picture below from the top of our property. You can see a bit of the roof of our house below and our neighbours look-out platform to the right. I want to build my office up here. The GG bridge photo above is looking North and this photo from our place is looking South at the other side of those hills.

We're about an hour and a quarter by bike from Joel's work downtown San Francisco. (It's about a 45 min drive w/o traffic). He has a beautiful ride over the bridge every day. He also has the option of getting on a ferry. My work is about 15-20 minutes away when I need to be at the office in Corte Madera otherwise I work from home. So we're feeling like this place gives us a refuge from the city and some work-life balance.














My family is coming for Christmas and we're just thrilled as we've never had the space before to host. I'm looking forward to kicking back in front of the fireplace and catching up with our loved ones.

Giant pumpkins and hot summer days

I'd nearly forgotten how spectacular the weather is in Marin, especially in the Autumn. Downtown San Francisco is pretty clear this time of year too making for some beautiful ferry rides and brilliant sightseeing days though it's a little colder down there. Our days here are averaging in the high 70s to high 80s (or high 20s and low 30s celsius).

Life is sort-of settling in. We've been here for five weeks and Joel has been on business trips every single week. He's seen more airports than open houses. I've got our new nanny working with Austen and I'm juggling all the household stuff, house hunting and working on my contracts. The house hunt is going very slowly. In the areas we are looking there are only a couple of houses for sale at any given time and the stampede of offers on each one is amazing. Houses are going for 25% or more above the list price and sellers are preferring all cash offers (which are plentiful). We've got this furnished rental covered till new years so the pressure is on to close on a home before then. 

Austen is doing great. He's continuing to astound us with his physical feats (insert some minor heart attacks here too) new words and phrases. He's potty training already (yay!) so we're just thrilled about that. Having half days with his nanny and afternoons with me suits him fine. He's thriving and everyone is happy.

That's all for now! I'll update when there's something to report like... maybe a home. Fingers crossed everyone. 

Ferry boat to the city!