[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 [...]

It’s been cold here the past week or so. Not East-Coast cold by any stretch of the imagination (I find myself walking to the bus with my hands stuffed in my pockets and my shoulders perpetually hovering somewhere near my ears — don’t tell my yoga instructor! — thinking Did I really live in Washington, [...]

Today it’s raining and all I want to do is go home and cook and cook. Alas I cannot (post-work plans, you know), but this afternoon I can still dream of it (for perhaps at the weekend) — I can dream of cauliflower and chickpeas roasted in garlic olive oil until the pan is a [...]

[Redwoods, August 2009.] The end of summer is always sort of a difficult time — oh sure, I know there is a month yet until the fall equinox, and if we’re very lucky Northern California will be blessed with its usual spate of hot, sunny weather that could stretch all the way into October. I [...]

[Sunday soup, January 2009.] Sunday afternoon from where I sit on my third-floor perch the church across the street has gone quiet for the day, all the morning hustle and activity stilled down to a few stragglers making their way home. The sun streams through my beautiful tall windows and I make a cup of [...]