[Jessica's flowers, November 2008.]
Though I was in DC for less than 48 hours, I managed to: revisit many old neighborhoods; have brunch (eggs Florentine, french toast, mimosa, coffee) at the place I always seem to end up having brunch when I’m in town; brave the P St. Whole Foods on a Saturday morning for cupcakes [...]

Last year I was gifted — or, rather, pushed to take — boxes and boxes of apples from a very prolific tree in Inverness. I was a leetle bit nervous about what I was going to do with them, but when someone desperately begs you to help her out you really can’t say [...]

[On Skye, October 2003.]
I always think about Scotland in October. Five years ago tonight I was perched on a cliff above the Atlantic Ocean watching the sun slide down into the sea while the hills and rocks of Skye spread around me. I’m turning 25 tomorrow, I thought. That seems old somehow — or, [...]

[Beets from the farm, with local butter, September 2008.]
So in early September I went to Maine. I took a 6 a.m. flight from San Francisco by way of New York, and landed up in Portland only a little off-schedule. It was warm enough — most welcome, after the omnipresent coastal fog of home [...]

[On Seawall beach, Maine, September 2008.]
For all my ardently proclaimed love of fall, I must recant a little and admit I’m having a few pangs at the season’s shift. Mostly I think I’m not looking forward to the time change (running in the dark! less sun during the day!), the end of good tomatoes [...]