Personal
Close of day
In these days of hate-mongering and rising tides of fear, a good sunset still manages to lift the spirits and calm the heart, whether looking towards the east (note furled pirate flag)… or the west…
Read MoreCoffee week: 2, the Coffee Cantata
In the 1730s, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a sort of miniature comic opera about a young woman devoutly addicted to coffee, and her despairing father who would do anything to break her of her habit. Because coffee is certainly not a habit suited to a lady. I met this cantata in the seventies, when I…
Read MoreCoffee week: 1
My husband was a tea man. He drank proper tea, from a pot, and although he was a truly and creatively dreadful cook, Noel made a better pot of tea than I did. Coffee, though: that was all me. I have a long history with coffee. When I was putting myself through university, I worked in…
Read MoreTea and the Death of Civilization
I start my day with two (large) cups of camellia sinensis, which has a fraction of the caffeine that coffee does, and allows me to ease into the day rather than hit the ground running. Yes, this is black tea (as opposed to herbal tea, which M. Poirot calls his tisane, or Mma Ramotswe’s bush…
Read MoreDrought’s toll
Here in California, we watch the skies as if the collective pressure of our gazes could press moisture from the thin clouds. Four years of drought are taking their toll: This live oak came down a few days ago, just crashed to the ground without a breath of wind. Five trees have come down on…
Read MoreAn age of daily miracles
Around this time of year, I start getting up when it’s still dark. The window with my desktop looks east, so I’ve been greeted by the bright voices of Venus and Mars.But this morning as I walked out of my back bedroom, I noticed a spot of light on the floor. I found it came…
Read MoreOoh: Maps!
I love maps. I’m always thrilled to have the excuse of a story that just NEEDS a map at the front (because honest, nobody knows what India looks like, or England, so we have to put one in there, right?) Anyway, when I was in London in May, I was headed to the Victoria &…
Read MoreThat man follows me everywhere
Spotted the other day on market day in Thame:
Read MoreA slug fest!
I have lived in and around Santa Cruz for most of my life. I started school here in the fifties, I went to university here, I raised my kids here. As I said to the nice lady from the Good Times: “Santa Cruz is like a first draft: a shorthand sort of tale understood by,…
Read MoreAlma Mater
The University of California Santa Cruz (“The original authority on questioning authority”) is my alma mater, and has continued to nourish me long after she handed me my degree. Five years ago, I was tremendously honored to be named one of this relatively new university’s “45+5” alumni. And coming up on the 25th, I will be participating…
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