Our nest has been a little less empty this summer because our daughter Sydney came home to roost for ten weeks while she interned in the legal department at Google. On her last week of work we met her for lunch and a tour of the Googleplex in Mountain View. Thought I’d share some of [...]
Forget the flowers in your hair, if you’re coming to San Francisco be sure to bring a sweater. Especially in the summer. Because of the summer fog it’s more than coolish here, it’s downright cold. Which makes this fair-skinned Idaho transplant very happy. I love a rainy winter day the best, but a foggy summer [...]
For fun the past few months I’ve been taking e-courses from British photographer and blogger Susannah Conway. Prior to signing up for Susannah’s courses I had no idea that people often photograph their feet. Susannah says it’s to show where we are in the world—not just our extensive shoe wardrobes or the state of our [...]
“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” ― Iris Murdoch
Will tomorrow find you lighting sparklers in your childhood backyard or someplace entirely new? Maybe you’re staying put for the 4th but packing your bags for later in the summer. Lucky you! Despite the hassles of modern travel, there’s still nothing like Getting Away From It All to shake things up for the better. Here [...]
While in D.C. recently I swung by the Newseum and saw plenty of memorable images, but the one I’m recalling on this warm summer day comes from old footage of the JFK clan cavorting in a pool. Surprisingly, Jackie frolics in a petaled bathing cap much like the one I saw my mother wear in [...]
Though I was raised in the ruby red heart of the Rocky Mountain West, I live in midnight blue territory. With friends and family on both sides of the political spectrum, my own leanings tend to a more moderate shade of rosy periwinkle. But I was genuinely happy about how the Supreme Court decisions played [...]
For Father’s Day I wrote a story about “man caves” for the Bay Area News Group. Did your father have a man cave? Does the man in your house? My dad had a small home office carved out of the back porch that was lined with book shelves filled with scriptures, Reader’s Digest Book-of-the-Month picks, [...]
Not much of a sports fan, I can barely distinguish the Final Four from the Fourth Quarter. Case in point. . . This week while having my teeth cleaned I heard a round of applause just outside the exam room door. The dental staff is usually pretty supportive of my flossing technique, but I’ve never [...]
I spent much of Saturday walking on holy ground. First in the East Bay hills, next in another faith’s church, and finally, in a basketball gym. Sacred spaces all. I was up in the hills for a memorial service was held on a private ranch overlooking Contra Costa county. A dozen of us gathered to [...]
