[Last holiday package, December 2009.] I mailed my fifth (and final!) holiday package last Saturday morning; crammed with dog biscuits, cranberry jam, a bar of delicious blueberry-lavender chocolate, tea, ginger-pecan cookies, and a small loaf of lemon tea bread I hope it reached its intended northerly destination of Napa with all components relatively un-shattered. This [...]

But that was not the same snow,” I say. “Our snow was not only shaken from white wash buckets down the sky, it came shawling out of the ground and swam and drifted out of the arms and hands and bodies of the trees; snow grew overnight on the roofs of the houses like a [...]

[Cambridge, U.K., October 2009.] A few months ago I went to England. I have mentioned this several times already but it bears repeating because! England! J’adore! I promptly handed it my heart — again — and had a simply marvelous time with my friends there, if it was all too brief. I ate a lot [...]