[From the boat, April 2010.] Life can be so very good to me. There was last weekend’s string of quiet sunny days, punctuated with delicious food and new dogs met and exclaimed over in the park, [Oh! And I didn't even tell you about the impromptu luncheon I had with my coworker on a Thursday [...]

Some days — I’ll be honest here, despite wee embarrassment (as my friend would say, small confession) — I don’t always eat so well. There will probably be an organic banana devoured while waiting for the bus, which is just fine. But then there might also be a bagel (sesame) with egg and cheese for [...]

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 [...]

[Mustard greens from the market, March 2010.] Never let it be said that I’m not stubborn. I’m the girl who will, if you offer to pay for dinner, cheerfully (but cheerfully!) fight with you over the bill (just ask my best friend). I’ll finish books I’m not enjoying all that much (see: that Dylan Thomas [...]

[Mustard grass near Sebastopol, February 2010.] March, lovely March, here you are at last. You are one my favorite months — with polite apologies to sweet April with her sun showers, smoky blue June tossing her still-green branches against a summer sky, quiet, still August, and white-gold October; these I love truly and look forward [...]