Earlier this month, I went back to New England for my Aunt Mary’s funeral. This was sad, beautiful, heart-warming, and difficult. The best part, besides seeing so many people I’m related to and don’t get to spend enough time with, was staying with my cousin Michael for two days in his house full of art. […]
When you’re a writer, people always ask when you began writing. The answer is often, “Oh, when I was eight,” or “I’ve been writing all my life.” I didn’t write until I was 35. When I was eight, I was drawing floor plans for log cabins in the wilderness, and trying to listen carefully when […]
Over the course of my life I’ve envied several friends for their incredible sense of design. One of them is Jacquie, who lives in California’s Sierra foothills, overlooking the south fork of the Yuba River. Jacquie lives in a two-storey handmade house that she and her ex- built together decades ago. Constructed of wood and […]
For about ten years I’ve been doing something fun with a few of my friends. It has the utilitarian name of “Craft Day.” Four or five of us get together, usually on a weekend afternoon, and do whatever hand-work types of chores have been piling up in our lives. We started out focused on repairs: […]