Adventures in joyful living
When I was a kid burying my feet (thankfully, not my head, although I’ve been accused of that on occasion) in the sand in Ocean City NJ, I used to love watching for the banner-towing planes that flew back and forth over the crowded beaches. The sky banner I remember most vividly advertised a nightclub […]
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It’s HOT here in Central Pennsylvania, so it seems logical to continue the “going north” theme of my “I miss the mountains” post a few days ago. Turns out I also miss northern waters. I am absolutely enthralled by the Great Lakes. So far, I’ve been on the US shores of Erie, Michigan, and Ontario. The others […]
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I’m gonna sit write down and write myself a letter And make believe it came from you. There are very bright kids afoot in this techno-paradise of a world who can’t read handwriting. I think it’s best not to get started on what an aberration I believe that to be, or on the fact that […]
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This time of year, I get a very specific wanderlust that always involves going north, to the mountains. I was never lucky enough to live in New England, but my father was born and raised in western Maine, just 30 miles from the Canadian border. I’ve had one Yankee foot since I was old enough […]
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I’ve been sitting here tonight with Hubby and Miss Pup enjoying Roman Holiday for the umpteenth time. It never loses its luster. If you need reasons to love it, I’ll give you three, in no particular order: Rome Audrey Hepburn Gregory Peck Although “iconic” has become so overused as to be almost meaningless, Roman Holiday is replete […]
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I’ve been lean on writing this last week; sometimes, real life just intervenes. In this case, in a good way. Here is where my time usually devoted to writing has gone… The kitchen cabinets I set out determined to clean both pantry cabinets and all the kitchen drawers, and I did. They are beautifully organized, old […]
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Despite yet another gloomy day, I’m assuming that the pleasures of outdoor dining are just around the corner. We’ve had crazy weather for months, with the temperature spiking into the 90s long before it should have, then taking a 20-degree fall—sometimes in the space of an hour or two. I know I’m not the only one longing for […]
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Food memories, like song lyrics, stick. One of our favorite places in Florence was San Michele all’Arco, a farm-to-table “resto” (kitchen in the photo above) with the most marvelous local olive oil, prosciutto, and cheese. The soup pictured below was just exquisite—every flavor came through, every flavor mattered. The same was true for everything else we enjoyed […]
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Here in the United States, it is Mother’s Day; and I find myself reflecting, once again, on two things—first, how blessed and lucky I am to be a mother, and second, on my own mother’s extraordinary generosity of spirit. Little gestures can mean a great deal in the press of ordinary life. I learned this […]
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Whenever we travel, I take photos of what we eat—unless, of course, we’re in a restaurant where doing so would constitute bad behavior. Today I’m sharing a few lovely food memories from Italy’s magnificent Cinque Terre, five picturesque villages on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria. Pesto reigns supreme there, but the spaghetti with clam sauce was the most exquisite […]
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I was thrilled to receive a pre-publication copy of Adriana Trigiani’s new book, Kiss Carlo, which goes on sale June 20. This post is more of an homage than a review. I’ve loved Trigiani’s books since my cousin Nina first handed me Lucia, Lucia in 2004. Since then, I’ve read them all. Suffice it to say […]
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Bethlehem is one of Pennsylvania’s treasures, for its rich historic significance and the gracious, centuries-old buildings that have held fast despite the encroachment of time, the birth and death of the steel industry, and the Sands Casino erected in Bethlehem Steel’s reclaimed brown fields. That the casino and its trappings flourish within blocks of the Northern Province headquarters of the Moravian […]
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Hashtag Retired 