I lead off today’s post with the excellent news that for the first time in way too long, we got to see our very good friend Cindy. Hooray! She has been going through grueling chemo since her cancer returned earlier this year and just has not been up to any kind of socializing. She has needed all of her strength to fight off the disease. But we took it as a wonderful sign that she felt well enough at last to get out a little bit. What good luck for us! We really had a perfect summer evening sitting on the deck, drinking wine, eating, chatting and watching another magical northwest sunset.

And we had other good friends there as well that night. Mike and Debbie, Glen’s good high school friends, were up to spend some time with us before leaving to sail in the San Juans this week. Mike is the guy Glen tributes with teaching him how to play guitar many years ago in high school (they also were on the wrestling team together) and so, of course, Mike grabbed a guitar and joined in on band practice Friday night. Glen ruled it the best practice ever.

Saturday we spent most the day at Pike Place Market exploring and shopping for our BBQ dinner that night. We started with lunch at the Steelhead Diner. I’d gotten a good recommendation on it and we liked it but it’s not somewhere I would just have to go back to again. Except for the bread basket – it was outrageous. Big, seedy loaves with butter drizzled with pesto oil. YUM. O. And we got a table that overlooked the bay and the market.

Which was packed. Not crowded. Not busy. PACKED. We’re so used to going off season or early in the morning that we’d forgotten how full the market can get on a summer Saturday. I’m not a crowd kind of girl so it wasn’t my favorite but we still managed to have a good time. And we got great stuff for dinner – Mike and Debbie bought us beautiful salmon and oysters in the shell and we added salad fixings; Yukon gold potatoes; pasta, big, crusty bread loaves, and extra special, locally-made Beechers cheese for an appetizer plate. Plus beautiful bouquets of flowers for $10 each.  We all had our arms loaded with things trekking back to the car.

After dinner we sat on the deck and had fun with a box of chocolates; homemade chocolate chip cookies that Debbie brought, and a nice bottle of port. Good food, great friends, a magnificent sunset – summer in the northwest. This time of year, life kicks butt in these here parts!