O mio dio! I'm finally here. After uprooting la nostra piccola famiglia, including our shy little cat Nella, we have landed in the Italian countryside of Lazio, north-west of Rome. The weeding out of my collection of antiques and memories of over 35 years was arduous, draining, monumental and at times painful. I sold four major…

Choo-choo! We had a beautiful autumn day up in the Santa Cruz mountains today. Wish you were here…  photo by Marcel; link to location in the comments

  "You've done your mama proud"…  

San Francisco Chinatown   His favorite chair, in front of our shop   Contemplative after haircut   zen garden   summer morning   bikin' it   with Aussie gal, Lola   wildcat   rocket boy   in his garden   tomato land hothouse flowers prayer wheel   a la playa   con papi   the…

We recently visited a local buddhist retreat on a special day — they were giving dog blessings. It was so sweet to see them lined up and passing between two foo dog sentries to enter the meditation hall where they would receive their blessing. Our family was blessed as well. I like how that sounds:…

Rosie Parsons It was my birthday on June 2nd and I've been eating cake ever since. We had a comfy family birthday dinner at home on the 2nd. Unless I'm going to be sitting at a long table under a grape arbor in Tuscany, settled in for an eight course meal, I don't really care…

I was in the hospital all last week (food poisoning from a health food store no less!) and the otherwise perfectly splendid nurses wouldn’t let me have any coffee. I snuck out of my room on the third day, clinging to my IV pole, in search of the cafeteria. I had already put in a…

The best thing about a birthday is cake for breakfast the next day! I spent the day with the guys digging a hole. In order for our vegetable patch to be plantable we first have to make it gopher proof, which means digging the whole thing down about twenty four inches and creating a giant…

Fire of the spirit, life of the lives of creatures, spiral of sanctity, bond of all natures, glow of charity, lights of clarity, taste of sweetness to the fallen, be with us and hear us. ~  Hildegarde of Bingen – 12 century ~ Feel better and better my dear friend. I love you.To my readers:…

My first post was February 27th. Marcel was 6 years-old then. He just turned 9 on February 7th! I really do enjoy this opportunity to write and to share. And meeting new friends who are so kind and supportive of one another is priceless. What a pleasant world this blog universe is 🙂 Merci beaucoup…