Adventures in joyful living
I spent Fourth of July weekend immersed in A Season for That, Lost and Found in the Other Southern France, Steve Hoffman’s chronicle of the six months that he, his wife, and their two young children spent in Autignac in the Languedoc…a decision motivated, to a large extent, on the memory of his time in […]
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April and May were heavy-duty reading months. In fact, the first quarter of this year and much of the second has found me with my nose in a book, trading writing time for reading until, about a month ago, I hit a wall with both. What can I say? Sometimes your brain just needs a […]
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January always nudges me to read, simplify, and bake bread, not necessarily in that order. I read all year long, of course, but who doesn’t like a towering new queue to start the year? Although it’s more a work in progress than absolute, that’s my pile in the cover photo, plus The Piano Tuner, The […]
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I remember a time when I’d sit with paperback in hand at the water’s edge for hours, on one of those low-slung sand chairs, the surf washing over my feet. No need for prescription sunglasses in those days! That time of lazy beach vacations has long since passed. Over the years we’ve become more attached […]
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Enzo wanted to say hello. I’ve stayed reasonably current with technology since I demi-retired. I’m good with all the basic software, for business and pleasure, that daily life in 2023 requires. I’ve made peace with every new version of Word, Excel, and my built-in photos software. That’s about all I need. But by default, I’m […]
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I was 12 when JFK won the US presidency and 15 when he was gunned down in Dallas in the first of a string of horrible political assassinations that occurred over the course of my adolescence and early adulthood. They were publicly shared, life-changing tragedies that set my generation on a hyper-idealistic quest to right […]
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Now that the colorful glow of Christmas has been packed away, these cold, dark January days can be hard to take—unless, of course, you have your own Enzo to coax you out of bed in time to catch the early morning sky. Not the brightest sunrise, this one—all subtle blues, grays, and lavender, with just […]
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Those falling leaves…
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I understand from my fellow-blogger Rosemarie that today, November 6, is already well designated in honor of nachos (hurray) and bison (hurray again). For me, however, it’s going to be Do-Nothing-Much-But-Finish-My-Book Day. When I get down to the last hundred pages or so of a book I’m really enjoying, all I want to do is […]
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Today’s sky is full-tilt October blue, with brilliant sunlight and a crazy wind following on the heels of that storm that hit the West Coast. But it’s not what I’d ever call cold. October has been full of these breathtaking skies, the perfect ambiance for long, contemplative walks. Or livelier ones, with Enzo, who likes […]
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Summer is flying by, as it always seems to. Here in the US Mid-Atlantic, in the last few weeks we’ve had many hot, steamy days and extended periods of heavy rain, a weather pattern that seems more typical of South Florida. The upside is that everything in the garden is lush and colorful, especially the […]
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I’ve been a fan of those spiral-bound “community” cookbooks since I first started cooking. My interest, which admittedly has very little to do with cooking, dates to Mollie’s Cookbook, a mid-1970s fund-raiser for the Voluntary Action Center, an organization in Scranton PA that matched volunteers with charitable groups and institutions in need of help. The […]
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Hashtag Retired 