True confession? I didn’t know the Super Bowl was happening here in the Bay Area until last Saturday when my gay Mormon activist friend Mitch mentioned how early festivities had impacted the traffic coming from the city to a conference in Berkeley that we were both attending. Now how in the world did I miss [...]
Last week I noticed a sign in the nursery near a market I frequent advertising bulbs half off. I intended to pick up a few to force in the house and ended up with dozens of daffodils and a few tulips to plant around the garden. During a pause between rainstorms I tucked the [...]
For the last few years I’ve focused less on setting specific goals and more on choosing a word that speaks to my intention for the year. Last year’s word was “Ease.” This year I’ve settled on “Stretch” as my word for the year. I’m hoping that by setting “Stretch” as my watchword I’ll be more [...]
Well, here we are again. First couple of weeks of December done. Holidays in full swing. To Do lists hopefully getting shorter and shorter or abandoned entirely. After all, at some point you just have to say enough is enough, right? Otherwise you miss it all by racing to the finish line. I still have [...]
This Thanksgiving, like every Thanksgiving, will be a little different. Over the past year our regular gathering place–my friend Pauline’s house–suffered a catastrophic fire. So we’ll gather in a new place. A rental nearby. Surely one of the weekend activities will be touring what’s left of the old place. The photos were sobering. I expect [...]
I recently attended a wonderful writer’s conference near Bend, Oregon sponsored by Women Writing the West. One of the most memorable sessions of the conference was a workshop on “Landscape as Character” led by two Colorado writers – Dawn Wink and Susan J. Tweit. For anyone writing about people and places in the West, the landscape [...]
In October and April we gather with friends at the beach. It’s one of my favorite things. To quote author L.L. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables): “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” Happy Weekend All!
They say this will be the last super hot weekend around here for awhile. Which makes sense, since we’re having air conditioning installed on Monday. Until it—and the fog—arrive, we’ll be hydrating like crazy. And thus, today’s Friday Things topic: Plastic Tumblers. We own a range of nice drinking glasses—everything from the now vintage olive [...]
I’ve subscribed to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box for decades. Every week I pick up a box full of organic vegetables and from May through September I can also receive a bouquet of flowers grown on the farm (Full Belly Farm north of Sacramento). These gorgeous sunflowers were today’s bouquet. Arranging them in a [...]
More bad news on the deer front this week. Last night’s conquest—an until now untouched shrub—was so violently ravaged that out of respect I feel like I should cover its snapped branches with more than deer netting. I spotted the prong-horned culprit and his gang of thieves as I pulled into the driveway at the [...]
