THE PACE OF CHANGE in our world has been dizzying of late and, as I often do when I feel unmoored, I’ve been taking comfort in seasonal rituals. There’s something that feels so right about tuning into the divine rhythms of the seasons, the ones set in place to remind us as humans [...]
THE EXCEPTIONALLY LOVELY SUMMER we enjoyed in the Northwest this year gave way to fall right on schedule last Saturday, almost as though a switch had been flipped. The rain began—it’s still raining—and I’m in my usual nostalgic autumnal mood, mourning the warmth and beauty of summer in the garden at the [...]
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date . . . This summer has gone by so quickly! I was so deeply caught up in it that I didn’t manage to put together a post in July, and now I’m suddenly looking at the last days of August. Lots of lovely [...]
AFTER A LONG, COLD winter here in the Northwest, it’s finally starting to feel like spring. There’s something about the change of seasons that makes me want to take stock of where I am now, at this moment. What do I want to focus on? What do I need to do? I [...]
SOMETIMES, NO MATTER HOW you try, life just will not resolve itself into a blogpost. It won’t cohere, it won’t follow a theme—it’s just an all-over-the-map mess. Or so it seems. True confessions: my original title for this post was Love and Romance, but it just would not come together. So, I’ve [...]
IT'S JANUARY, AND if there’s a better month for snuggling inside with a good book and a cup of tea, I don’t know what it is! I’ve recently been inspired to think about my favorite books of last year in terms of Oscar award categories by the fabulous Elsie @ Tea and [...]
AS CHRISTMAS CREEPS EVER CLOSER on its little cat feet, I’ve been thinking back over 2022, and I find myself filled with gratitude. So many wonderful things happened to me this year, and after several really tough years, I think it’s worth celebrating them. The most exciting thing for me, of course, [...]
THE SWEET LAZY DAYS of late summer are suddenly upon us, and my mind is a stew of upcoming plans and things to be done. Marketing ideas for The Walled Garden, drafting scenes and figuring out the structure of The Summerhouse (working title for my new WIP!), and most of all, plans for [...]
IT'S THE PERFECT July afternoon and my head is full of flowers. Last weekend, I went a beautiful wedding on the grounds of a local winery that evoked the French countryside. The bride and groom were married under the most gorgeous arch of fresh flowers I’ve ever seen. Roses, delphiniums, ranunculus, nigella, [...]
“SUMMER AFTERNOON—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language,” wrote Henry James in The Portrait of a Lady. It’s a perfect summer afternoon here in the Northwest—FINALLY—after the rainiest June ever, and I’m in a mood to appreciate it. Wait—I’m wrong! I just [...]