Love to Live Here Or... What I Did On My Summer Vacation Annette Sievert The end is near. No, not the end of days, the end of summer vacation for our children. 3 months of leisure time, waiting to be filled with camp, sports, and other meaningful activities. Blissful, definitely expensive, sometimes unharmonious. We have, since our children started school, tried to split this seemingly endless time up into manageable time units, giving the boys something to look forward to but also letting them experience boredom and the way to get out of it through their own imagination, not through TV and the like. And then there was our big trip: After 6 years it was time for us to visit Germany again, the country we immigrated from over 10 years ago, and use the time to also show the children a bit more of Europe. The 3 weeks abroad
were fun filled, stressful at times, eye opening for the boys (you actually can use that language… and those table manners?) and diverse (from 2 days in Paris and touring a medieval castle to hikes in the Italian Alps and a walk inside a glacier). After 3.5 weeks and 26hrs of traveling back (it’s like child birth, you would not do it again had you remembered it well enough) we are back, and are we happy to be back. One thing that I know now even more for sure is that we are actually very well equipped with food choices in Corvallis. I still cannot get German rolls and a decent liver wurst, but most items I missed before we moved here I can find. The Willamette Valley offers so much in organic produce, we are blessed with specialty stores like the Italian Deli downtown, the Patisserie for authentic French baguette and pastries, the Coop has lots of great products and produce and Trader Joes fills gaps here and there
Look What We Found... Cast Iron Tea Kettle
concerning German Style Whole Grain Bread, wonderful salami, a real good selection of cheeses, and a few other things (knowing that Trader Joes actually belongs to a German chain, Aldi, that makes total sense). Big River delivers great Pain de Campagne, Harry and Annette will sell you fantastic fish. My list can go on and on and the morning after our return I cheerfully strolled over the Farmer’s Market and enjoyed the bounty. So here we are back to routine and soon to those structured days that will be good for our children and their parents. And on the first day of school, when the kids are out of the house, I will lean back in my favorite chair with a good cup of coffee and listen to the enchanting sound of the bus leaving.
Ditch the Oil-Based Plastic Bags Reusable, washable, dishwasher safe sandwich bags. Very cool for back to school! $8.95 at The Earth Smart Store in Corvallis
Craftsman Style Stained Glass Lighting
Keeps tea hot in cool Chinese style.
Shorter days are coming, make the night interesting with these richly colored glass lamps.
$40 Oregon Coffee & Tea in Corvallis
Starting around $175 at the Inkwell in Corvallis
Oh Oh! Fall is in the Air
Keep the chill off baby’s head with a darling Peggy K Designs hand crocheted hat - in several chic styles! $30 at InsideOut Garden Visions in Corvallis
100% Recycled Bowls Recycled melamine bowls in vivid colors. Nested sets or separates. Find them at ModPod in Corvallis
www.willametteliving.com