Lunch today in our garden with my darling, under an arbor of fragrant, pink tea roses; a white platter on the glass table before us, piled with coral smoked salmon and green capers; ripe summer tomatoes and finely sliced red onion; slender wedges of lemon; parsley from the garden. Tiny brown-spotted quail eggs nestle in… Continue reading BLISS
Category: Food
More Dorset –
Dorset is Hardy country. Dorchester, its capitol, is said to be the model for Casterbridge in the novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge. Did I bring a copy with me? No. Didn’t plan to do much reading in our two day visit, though I wish I had re-read some Hardy works before we came down. But… Continue reading More Dorset –
Dorset and the Jurassic Coast.
We went south this week to reconnoiter for family visits this summer. Dorset boasts a World Heritage site, the Jurassic Coast, where, it is said, the sea washes up fossils every high tide. Nico, my 6 year old grandson, knows more about dinosaurs and the periods in which they lived than most adults, and is… Continue reading Dorset and the Jurassic Coast.
NESTING
Furnishing a home is something most people do in their twenties and thirties. At least, they used to. I suppose more people are like me, now. I’ve furnished many different homes and apartments in many parts of the world, mostly on my own, and now Bernard and I have to accommodate each other’s taste and… Continue reading NESTING
THE HOLIDAYS
I have been composing blog posts daily, lying awake at 4:00 AM. The trouble is, I don’t get up to write them down. I am now wondering if it is worth it to try to catch up on the holiday activities or just start from here, January 7, 2008? The thing is, we had some… Continue reading THE HOLIDAYS
LONDON DECEMBER 22
We drive to the train station in Clandon, a village 15 minutes from Shere. It is still icy and cold, so we’re bundled up, but this time in our town clothes. Instead of anoraks and wellington boots, we wear top coats and leather shoes. Bern parks while I buy our tickets, two senior day- returns… Continue reading LONDON DECEMBER 22
Living Without The Light —
It is very, very cold. This morning, we left the car out of the garage for five minutes and the windscreen was covered with ice. The fields were white with frost. It was 10:00 AM. We went our separate ways in Guildford to Christmas shop where, like me, everyone was bundled from tip to toe. … Continue reading Living Without The Light —
THANKSGIVING DAY, November 2007
It was a nearly perfect day. The cold snap that turned the trees into flaming reds, golds, and oranges let up for the day, and the predicted rain did not arrive. Nico has a bad cough and didn’t feel his usual self, but he went outside to help Monica rake a few leaves and to… Continue reading THANKSGIVING DAY, November 2007
The Wedding Reception
The ceremony, such as it is, is concluded, the papers signed by the married couple and four of their children. Outside, some of the men have lined up on either side of the entrance to the mairie, tennis rackets, decorated with flowing white ribbons, raised in salute and joining at the top to form… Continue reading The Wedding Reception
Perigord
DOMME Perched above the Dordogne Valley, the views from the village of Domme sweep over rolling hills patched with cultivated fields and dotted with the fully leaved trees of summer. The river snakes around the edges of the valley far below, metallic in the noon day sun, black at twilight. The Hotel de l’Esplanade stands… Continue reading Perigord