I’ve been asked, over the years, where my sense of design comes from. Although I’m a writer now, I was a sweater designer for 15 years and have made a lot of clothing, curtains, rag dolls, and painted quite a few houses inside and out. I’ve been envious of other writers, but nowhere near as […]
Once upon a time, in 1999, I bought a house. My first house. An uninhabitable house. This is a long story, so I’m going to leave lots of it out. Not just one house: an acre of land with two houses on it, both uninhabitable, and a small studio off the back deck, 10 x […]
This weekend I accidentally ran into the news on-line that Pippa Middleton had married. I haven’t been following Pippa, but I know who she is: Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge’s younger sister, the one who got famous at Kate’s wedding to Prince William because of the way her dress showed off her bottom. Perhaps you […]
I’d like to remind you that the very best time to sneak into your friends’ houses and take photographs is when they are out of town. It’s also helpful when their house-sitter is a friend and will both let you in and tidy up a bit, so laptops, nightgowns, and stray wine glasses from the […]
I want to show you some clips from a talk I gave on creativity, but the constraints of this blog site prevent me from just putting the video here. However, if you click on the “continue reading” note at the end of the boxed paragraph, below, you’ll be taken to the right page — on […]
There’s a new house in my town that I just adore. It’s heading in the direction of a modern farmhouse but with great vintage details. Right now, it’s built but not landscaped yet so it’s easy to see the place from all angles. In a year or two, enough shrubbery will have grown to obscure […]
Hello! I think it’s time for some surprises. In starting this blog, I want to design a new place for you to join me — somewhere a little less chaotic than social media. A place where longer conversations are possible, with the same mix of public and personal, text and visuals, compassion and curmudgeonizing, humor […]