Recent travel summary...

Last month, I went to Oregon for a week. It was a whirlwind trip: flew into Portland, stayed with my mom for a couple days while my sister was down from Washington, then drove down to Medford (on the CA border) with my dad and stayed with my grandmother for a day or two, then back up to Portland for another couple days with my mom. I saw my cousin's new house, which has a gorgeous yard. I want a better climate so that I can have such a neat yard. More space would help too. His cat is amusing too; she jumps over the fence and then gets lost, so when she goes outside they put her on a leash and tie it to the garden hose. She drags the hose around the yard behind her. It rained one saturday, so we went to the local science museum to take a tour of their submarine, where it turned out that it was opening weekend for the Star Wars exhibit, so we also got to take our pictures with the wandering stormtroopers.

Over veteran's day weekend we went to New Orleans. There were magnolia trees and giant oak trees which had grown into complex shapes everywhere I looked but very few other trees. It seems like a strange combination to have in one place, I wouldn't have expected them to thrive in the same environment. We walked all over the french quarter and garden district, so much so that I got shin splints, but I enjoyed looking at the architecture despite that. The courtyards and fountains in the french quarter are fun because they hide in such small spaces and yet manage to provide a feeling of lush growth in a city that from the street is a solid row of walls along the sidewalk.

Today my first saffron crocus bloomed. It was a bright spot in my otherwise faded garden. Amazing how the smallest flowers are so attention grabbing when they bloom so late. On a similar note, anyone have any particularly good recipes that use saffron?