musings about food, travel, creativity and life
The sun is out today—woo-hoo! We need that! These last few months in California with one atmospheric river after another have been challenging. To stay strong and resilient, everyone had to look for hope and inspiration wherever they could. For me, some of […]
We have been doing mini-trips lately…easy little jaunts that give us new tastes of local-ish life. I have been amazed at how “little” and “close” can give so much. Take our trip to Santa Cruz the other day…just under 60 miles from our Carmel Valley […]
❤️ As some of you know, I have a rabbit fetish. In honor of the Year of the Rabbit which officially began on January 22, I have gathered all my ceramic, wood and cloth rabbits together on a bookshelf top; they are happy little […]
How are you doing out there in holiday land? I don’t know about you, but I’m looking for comfort and joy this holiday season. Oh, yes. And here’s what I’ve come up with so far… ❤️My morning lattes with my chocolate almond waiting on the […]
Discovering fun new food is always an upper for me. So in Madison, I’ve been “up” a lot! One food find, a bread purchase at the Farmer’s Market, led us to the bakery source, interestingly enough called Origin Bakery; while there, we saw the bakers […]
I’m sitting here on my porch watching two mourning doves take turns drinking from our bird bath and listening to chickadees and house finches as they vie for spots on the feeder. Their flitting and flying make me smile. Flowers, too—peonies, sunflowers, Gerber daisies—are […]
Happy May! 🌸 It’s Spring and flowers are a-bloomin’ 💐 And what a joy they are —hits of light, color, beauty and happiness. I seem to be buying more and more each day. And I want to display them the best I can. To […]
Welcome, Spring! May you bring warmth, health, and smiles to all. Here’s what have been making me smile of late… 🌷…our home garden… where our 10 foot planter, which housed last year’s “corn field,” is now our daffodil patch. The red tulips right in front […]
We are currently on a road trip to the desert—Joshua Tree and beyond. We will be hiking with Wisconsin friends, revisiting spots we encountered forty years ago (!) when we took our first trip together to Palm Springs, and visiting new-to-us spots like the Desert […]
How do you begin a New Year? Create goals? Join a burning bowl ritual? Eat black-eyed peas or lentil soup for good luck? For good measure, I do all of them! And this year, I even started the above vision board. The first word that […]
When I turned 79 this August, I decided to celebrate each day of my 80th year on the planet by making an origami heart. I started out with traditional origami paper, six inch square, but have branched out since, buying Italian marbleized and other […]
The traveler in me is looking for creative ways to be happy. Right now, close-to-home VW van trips seem to be doing it for me and us, and for that I am thankful. Our latest trip in Baci—our van’s name, meaning kisses in Italian—was to […]
Autumn comes slowly and gently here in Carmel Valley. I can feel it, that’s for sure…I’m a little wistful, a little more moody. The light is more subtle, with the camel colored hills providing a soft background to the dark green oaks. But here and […]
“What I like best about San Francisco is San Francisco.” —Frank Lloyd Wright It was time. Time to visit my childhood hometown of San Francisco. And to even stay over a few nights in the Marina District—woo-hoo! I got to see Golden Gate Bridge, hear the […]