(or an achey heart)

My brother went camping today in Point Reyes, but I didn’t go because I’m still a little sick and it’s cool and drippy. I am trying very hard not to regret this. Back in September, when I made the reservation, it was hot and sunny in San Francisco and I [...]

[Breakfast in Sebastopol, November 2008.]
all is said and done with, the dishes washed and put away, the guests departed and already arriving east, the laundry spinning itself into cleanliness, the tail end of a long holiday weekend is a bit melancholy. Lucky, then, that summer came back to San Francisco just for today and [...]

When I really think about it there are these common themes: love, family, death, sex, reconciliation, food. All the rest is peripheral — even music, even writing. What drives us is relationships, both of the blood and of the body; the physical connection and emotional ties; the nourishment that slips down to our stomachs to [...]

[San Francisco, looking west, February 2008.]
I wrote out some cards last night — thank-yous, which are my very favorite kind — and as I put my return address in the left corner I got that same little thrill out of writing “San Francisco, CA” I always do. I live here now, and have for [...]

[Pacific Ocean from Tomales Point, October 2008.]
How I spent my birthday: up at 8 a.m. to pancakes and lots of coffee, presents in the backyard sun. Then to Pt. Reyes for a 10-mile hike through the dry fields, elk eying us placidly, a slight coastal breeze (just enough to temper all that sun but not [...]