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Destinations

Musings, New Zealand, Photography

Father’s Day is for Memories: Fly Fishing in New Zealand

June 17, 2017

I’m excited today to share this new little project I’ve been working on: download my Fly Fishing in New Zealand Photologue here or at the bottom of the post.

Five years ago, Father’s Day was around the corner, and I was half way around the world from my dad. He was home in Oregon, I was…let’s see..if I consult the Daily Travel Journal from our year away, I was deep in the Cedars of Lebanon, which, if I think about it now, is fitting for the daughter of a tree farmer off to see the world. Continue Reading…

Food, Musings, Oregon, Portland

Hello (Also, Heatwave Doughnuts)

May 29, 2017

Now…where were we?

Ice storms and pies.

Ah, well, this week in Oregon it was all heatwaves and doughnuts, wildflower hikes and roasted marshmallows. (Until it was sorrow and heartache…but I’ll save that for another time.)

The seasonal whiplash here on the blog is one thing. I mean, yes, I make no apology for the long silent spells, and I refuse to stress myself out over arbitrary posting schedules and inflated expectations. This corner of the world is my spot to share what I love, as I have the time. I know that I’m jumping from January to almost-June.

So, consider the blog jump my little way of illustrating how the past few days felt: transitioning from 40 degree lows to 92 degree highs in a couple short sleeps. Continue Reading…

Food, Musings, Oregon

Apple Season

October 30, 2016

“Love is a fruit in season at all times and within the reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set. Everyone can reach this love through meditation, prayer, sacrifice and an intense inner life.”
– Mother Teresa

Apple season’s just fading to memory again as the deeper darker rhythms of Oregon autumn carry us toward November. Can it really be that time of year to swap fresh fruits for root veggies? To grab a jar of preserves instead of a fistful of berries?

Here in our home, we’ve been living on applesauce and apple butter. (That is, when we’re not chugging lemon ginger tea and garlic and honey, trying to fight off tenacious chest colds.)

Marion, eight months old, scarfs down bowl after bowl, banging her spoon joyously on the high chair tray, grinning wide with fruit smeared into her eyelashes. Continue Reading…

Food, Oregon, Portland, Tidbits About Us

Birthday (not Birth-Day)

February 3, 2016

Since early last summer, today’s hovered on my mental calendar as an exciting unknown: February 3rd. My 32nd birthday, and the day before my baby’s due date. Celebrations were in order, of course, but would they be for a girl in her third decade or a baby in her first days?

Would we be a family of three or a family of four?

Knowing there’s little use making concrete plans during such an up-in-the-air season, I didn’t really anticipate what today would look like until it arrived…but now that it’s hours from over, I can happily go on record saying it was just about perfect.

No baby (yet), but so very many favorite things from this life I love.

Continue Reading…

Food in Italy, Interviews, Italy

Ring, Ring: The Italian TV Producers are Calling

October 26, 2015

It’s not every morning you wake in the darkness and wash your hair and get ready for an interview on Italian TV.

Two things: I’m shy. That’s why I write. It’s so much easier to type in silence than to chat out loud. (ON TV.) However, I’m also adventurous and willing to try just about anything, so when producers at Aria Pulita found our collection of stories from the Italian region of Emilia Romagna and asked me to join them for a conversation about travel in Italy (and Oregon!) on their local television show out of Bologna, Italy, I said yes. Continue Reading…

Musings, Oregon, Portland, Tidbits About Us

Over the City and Through the Fir Trees

May 10, 2015

Full circle.

Back to the upper gardens of The Grotto…

My first visit: fall 2011, before flying away into a wild unknown. Most recently: late afternoon, in a tiny hollow of the week. Ted, relieved to take a break from finals. Me, momentarily disconnected from project deadlines and life juggling. Lucie, happy to walk and scamper on her own.

Sunbeams streaming low, over the city and through the fir trees. A stolen few hours awash in quiet calm… Continue Reading…