Now that we’ve fallen back time-wise, I’m not only waking up before the sun but also ready to crawl into bed before prime time. Anyone else start to hibernate over the weekend? I’ve adjusted the timer on the back yard twinkle lights so they’ll come on at 6:00 am and again at 5:00 pm to [...]
Our first home came with a high-ceilinged living room, lots of wavy glass windows and a big empty garden. I spent hours thinking about what to plant in that garden and consulted plant and seed catalogs for inspiration. One catalog was devoted to apples and taught me that you could grow something beyond the five [...]
If you’re still looking for some last minute Halloween decor ideas–simpler than this front yard fright fest I spotted in Virginia last week–consider combining seasonal votives and an exceptionally gnarled pumpkin with a black tablecloth. Or add a string of spooky black cat lights to an all black tablescape like the one Design Within Reach put [...]
After ten days traveling on the East Coast, I’m suffering from a serious case of leaf envy. Starting with the Shenandoah Valley and ending at the Charles River my trip was awash with the sunset colors we rarely see on our trees here in California. Oh, the leaves change alright. But they do so with [...]
Ever since I finished a ten-years-in-the-making quilt top on Tuesday, I’ve been happily plucking clipped loose threads off my furniture, clothing—even my hair brush. Now the top (and back) are off to be professionally quilted and I’m savoring the delicious pause between completed and new projects. I’m also taking a little break from fiction writing [...]
I’m looking forward to a fun, full weekend that’s kicking off with a co-ed baby shower for two recently married men adopting their second child. The happy couple are part of my Mormon church congregation and we’re gathering to celebrate their new addition. Yep. You read right. A group of Mormons are hosting a baby [...]
On Friday night while I was watching flashy race cars drive around in circles on a movie screen, my old Highlander Hybrid was being broken into in a nearby parking lot. Before the last championship lap in Rush was over, my back side window was smashed and a nice Herschel backpack and duffel that belonged to [...]
Happy Birthday to my husband, M.J. Well before Google was invented, he became the search engine in my world. Brilliant, clever, kind and decent–he’s provided the answers to so many questions in my life. Big and little. Our children mock our geeky courtship–we met in our university’s honors program, competed on the same College Bowl [...]
While congress squabbles, let’s consider some accoutrements of civility, shall we? For my tea party/baby shower over the weekend I decided to look for table linens more in keeping with the wall colors in this house. Since the interior walls are painted in the beige/gray/greige shades of the revamped Restoration Hardware, I started there and [...]
On this week of the fall equinox I’ve been spending time getting ready to host a baby shower for a young friend. Other friends are bringing the food which means I’ve been able to focus my party prep on my home and garden. Early in the week, feeling very Mrs. Dalloway-esque, I headed to my [...]
