[Redwood, Armstrong Woods, August 2010.] I was trying to write this thing about summer — how I felt like I finally caught it on Saturday driving along the Russian River but wishing to be out upon it, kayaking or canoeing, how a champagne picnic under the redwoods really is the best use of my time [...]

My brother has become adept over the years at introducing me to vegetables I’ve ignored — or rather, overlooked. I don’t have a particular aversion to these, mind, it’s just that maybe I gravitate toward the stuff I know for sure I like (for example: spinach — it’s a rare meal of mine that doesn’t [...]

When I was a kid growing up in Sonoma County I had neighborhood friends — lucky me, they were girls near my own age — I’d meet up with for dog-playing and creek-exploring and all else. I can’t remember if we used to call each other; we were so young then so maybe we just [...]

[Coconut bread, and tea, January 2010.] Quite a few years ago I read a book that would become one of my very favorites — My Dream of You, by the Irish writer Nuala O’Faolain — and which I subsequently have passed around to various loved ones. I first read it one long weekend in Ohio; [...]

[Spetses, 2007.] If I were a better writer, I’d have some sort of lovely observation about this (endless) rain and how, if I didn’t have to work, I’d like to be sitting in the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park watching puddles pile up near the coi pond and crunching away on that delicious [...]