Last week, I went back to California for the first time since we moved to Maryland in September. The Bay Area south of San Francisco remains unchanged: still beautiful with its sunlight and winter green hills; still frustrating with its traffic and congestion; still costly to live and wine and dine in. Nevertheless, as the plane prepared to land at SFO that night, swooping in close to the water … [Read more...]
My Wild Child Strikes Again…The Inconvenience of Love
Last week's trip to New York was everything I had hoped it would be. I had plenty of opportunity to visit with friends, as well as with my son and daughter-in-law-but mostly I spent a lot of cuddle time with my new grandson. He, of course, was the highlight of my weekend in Manhattan, with his beautiful brown eyes and ear-to-ear grins, and that special fragrance that seems part and parcel of … [Read more...]
Building A Nest In Maryland
For the first time in a long time, children dressed in costumes and shrieking "Trick or Treat" will clamor at the stoop of my house on October 31st. In California, we lived at the end of a long and dark street where no child ever ventured; over the course of the past sixteen years, I didn't buy even one Mars Bar for the holiday and my doorbell didn't ring a single time. Here in Maryland, we live … [Read more...]
The Siege Of The Wine Country
Here in Maryland, in the backyard of my new home, the leaves are just beginning to fire up with color. Back in California, in the yard of the home I've left behind and haven't sold yet, a thick layer of smoke obscures the view of the mountains from my living room windows. In the mornings, my neighbors' cars have ash on the windshields, instead of dew. Ninety miles north, from Santa Rosa across to … [Read more...]
