Sisters...

Sis, I made this patio from leftover travertine and marble. This is much nicer than the dirt that was in place before. I used my old flippies because they are my workhorses. You would have kept the iced tea coming, some special blend, of course.  I will put planters of ice plant here by week's end. Man, I miss you.

Sis, I'm headed into my old city, New York, today. I really wish you were here, because the last time we were in New York together, we had a blast. Come to think of it, we have a blast every time we are together, and that seems to be the problem sometimes. Grin.

Sisters...

It's a very special Sisters post today, which is why it is late.

Your garden tomatoes.

Sis: So it turns out we are here together! Happy Birthday! We are going to our favorite place, Hotel Congress, in Tucson, for dinner, drinks and a night above the club.  We love this place, somehow it has become a tradition for the ladies in our family for an indulgent night out. I'm glad you were surprised; you never know how surprising someone is going to turn out.

I asked for caffeine and booze in the same drink and got a coffeetini. So far, so good.

Sis: Holy cow! What a surprise! I always wonder which trash bin you are going to pop out of next, but today you came from behind the beautiful red Geraniums. While you are here, let's make a new recipe, take over the world and cure cancer....or maybe instead we hang out in the garden, have wonderful coffee and decide our next trip. So thank you for surprising me and driving me around tonight-oh and every other time you have done that too! (Don't scratch my car.)

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Sisters is a weekly check-in where we each take a photo of ourselves and describe the scene, adding what we think the other would be doing if we were together. Every year for the past fourteen years (mostly), we purchase identical pairs of flip-flops and sporadically tell each other what we're doing in the flippys as a way of staying connected. This year, we are memorializing the exchanges. 

Sisters...

Sis, I love poppies! These are from seeds and bloomed in time for Mother's Day! I am very happy when my poppies bloom, in fact I smile just thinking about them.  If you were here, you would pick them and figure out how to save their seeds.  We would definitely be sitting out by these enjoying a coffee and pastry together.

Sis, I am working from home on a project I just hit a roadblock on. If you were here, you'd be laying on the bed, reading a magazine, and worrying with a tinge of irritation that I am spending energy being frustrated. You'd want to take me out somewhere to get my mind off the running list of things in my head, and tell me to relax a little.







  
Sisters is a weekly check-in where we each take a photo of ourselves and describe the scene, adding what we think the other would be doing if we were together. Every year for the past fourteen years (mostly), we purchase identical pairs of flip-flops and sporadically tell each other what we're doing in the flippys as a way of staying connected. This year, we are memorializing the exchanges. 

Sisters...

Sis: I am sitting in my new favorite place.  My feet are in the onions, zucchini and tomato section. I never want to leave this spot. If you were here, you'd pick the onions and make some kind of appetizer. You would suggest other things to plant and types of dishes to make with those ingredients. Then, I'd complain I need a bigger garden.

Sis: I am celebrating a new freelance writing gig I just landed, and am having a glass of afternoon wine to celebrate.  If you were here, we would finish this bottle and you would convince me to go out for burgers somewhere, right after heckling me for the sunburn I got today from falling asleep outside on the patio.

Sisters is a weekly check-in where we each take a photo of ourselves and describe the scene, adding what we think the other would be doing if we were together. Every year for the past fourteen years (mostly), we purchase identical pairs of flip-flops and sporadically tell each other what we're doing in the flippys as a way of staying connected. This year, we are memorializing the exchanges.

Sisters...

Today is a relaxing day for both of us, each exercising our inner domestic, in our unique ways...

Sis, if you were here, you'd be having an old-school martini with me in the garden, throwing the ball for the dog and telling me I need to refinish this 50 year-old table. We would be talking about plants and trees that we might get around to planting later.

Sis, if you were here, you'd be wondering why I am going through all of this effort to candy anything, and wishing I would change the music (The National) to something a little more uplifting to match the mood. We would be sitting out at the pool between checking on the kumquats.












Sisters is a weekly check-in where we each take a photo of ourselves and describe the scene. Every year for the past fourteen years (mostly), we purchase identical pairs of flip-flops and sporadically tell each other what we're doing in the flippys as a way of staying connected. This year, we are memorializing the exchanges.

Sisters...

Fourteen years ago, my sister left the sunny, dry desert southwest to make her first visit to the cool, rainy climes of Portland, Oregon, where I was living at the time.  It was early May, and so unseasonably cold and wet it was comical, the decision for her to come north rather than me travel south. In addition to not-so-jokingly breaking out camp sleeping bags for extra warmth in the drafty Victorian I rented a room in, we bundled up and left the house to make a psychologically warming purchase, matching bright orange flip-flops, like we would have worn if we were back in Arizona. We purchased nail polish in the same color and back at home, painted our toes. Afterwards, in search of a well-heated space, we went to a McMennamin's pub downtown and sat through as much of their warm, centrally-heated happy hour as we could before it would be called loitering. The rest of the trip was spectacularly cold and awful.

Since then, (almost) every flip-flop season, I buy two matching pairs and send one to my sister as a way of staying connected and reminding each other of our unique and distorted senses of humor.  This year is a remarkable year in the tradition for a number of reasons.  This is the first year the flips have any adornments on them, and it is the first year we are memorializing the tradition in blog format.

Each weekend, we take a photo of ourselves in our flips, and answer just one question about the moment; What would you be doing if you were here next to me?

Location: My Kitchen
Sis, if you were here, you would be using a sharper knife, drinking wine, cleaning something and raiding my cookbook collection which I never use.