Ciao for Now
Here I am with my morning coffee and biscotti, musing about summer, good food, and life. Ah, yes. I’m also musing about what next in terms of “Bring Joy to the Table.” Since August marks four years of my blog and 80 years—omg—that […]
musings about food, travel, creativity and life
Food/ Beverage
What a World
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 […]
It’s Flower Time
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 […]
Spring Forward
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 […]
Travellin’
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 […]
The Power of Words
My book club recently met at a local winery to have a discussion. But we didn’t meet to discuss a book. Rather, we met to explore what word we would each choose as a theme for the year. This idea was based on a New […]
Wow!
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 […]
“Per Natale”
Many years ago I made “Per Natale,” the doll shown above, to honor Christmas and my grandfather. Whenever my grandfather said “Per Natale,” he was questioning how long he would have to wait for something that was supposed to happen soon. “Hmmm…’Per Natale’—maybe by Christmas”…. […]
Take Heart
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 […]
My Kind of Camping
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 […]
Let’s Have S’More
I think there’s a fire pit in our future! We’ve been around a few, so to speak, in the last few weeks, and I t’s been wonderful— cozy and fun, a celebration of togetherness, a setting for uplifting conversations and a scene for great desserts—S’mores. […]
Thank you, Biscotti
These last few weeks, I have been needing inspiration. I felt I wanted a little adventure, but I couldn’t put my finger on where. Then I got an image of biscotti from Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola. THAT’s what I wanted and where I wanted to […]
I See You, Autumn
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 […]
A Weekend in San Francisco
“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 […]
Plums Galore
Hi Everyone and Welcome Back! As I look out our window across Carmel Valley, the first thing I see is our Satsuma plum tree. It is my nature calendar. Right now it is signaling the end of its harvest season with its west-facing branches turning […]