On rest, the history of the weekend, and giving yourself permission to do nothing on a Sunday afternoon “What is a weekend?” If you have ever watched Downton Abbey, you know that line. It is delivered by Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by the incomparable Maggie Smith, who passed away in 2024…
A week full of music, family and the particular joy of watching people live their best life This week was one of those weeks that fills you up. I started the week with two things on the calendar and somehow by Friday I had been to a concert, a dinner, a phone call with a…
Three recipes from bloggers I love, three books for the weekend, and everything worth reading this week Friday, I love you. I know a lot of people have a thing for Saturday, but Friday is mine. There is something about the feeling of it, the week unwinding, the house waiting to be set right, and…
Timeless style, flattering fits, and why a little white dress belongs in every woman’s wardrobe. There is something about a white dress in summer that never fails. It is cool in the heat, elegant without effort, and somehow makes you look as if you are on your way somewhere wonderful, even if you are only…
Updated May 2026 · Originally published 2024 There is a moment every spring in North Carolina when the light changes. Not dramatically, just a shift in the angle of it, the way it comes through the windows in the morning or falls across the yard in the late afternoon. Warmer, slower, more golden. The shadows…
On kindness, teachers, fur moms and all the women who mother without a title I had a wonderful Mother’s Day with Bill and the dogs saw. The morning was slow and quiet, a cup of chocolate, a few chapters of my latest read. Patches curled against my leg on the chair. Followed by mass, lunch…
A tribute to mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, aunts, and every woman who ever showed up There is a woman in your life who showed you something without meaning to. Maybe she taught you how to fold a fitted sheet, or how to make gravy, or how to forgive someone who does not deserve it. Maybe she…
I was tired until the first note, the Met Gala gave me thoughts, and Cornwall’s most southerly point is going on the list immediately I told you yesterday I was tired. I was lethargic all day, moving through Friday at about half speed. And then we walked into the chapel and the first notes of…
A Vivaldi concert I almost talked myself out of, recipes for the long weekend, two novels I cannot wait to start and a Peloton instructor who wrote a book I am tired. It has been a long, busy week and I started it with two things on the calendar and somehow ended it with a…
From Richard Scarry to Viktor Frankl to a bookshop in Scotland — a lifetime of reading, what it has given me, and the books I would press into your hands right now. Books are my windows to the world. They have been since I was small enough to sit pressed against my brother and my…
Fresh strawberry compote swirled into creamy no-churn ice cream. No machine, no churning, pure summer. My first job was in a strawberry field. My sister and I worked alongside our cousins at a local farmstead, early mornings, dew still on the leaves, before the heat of the day set in. I wrote about it recently…
A cold, gray, perfect weekend, the Kentucky Derby, dachshunds who will not go out in the rain, and a story about the great green room Saturday morning the weather app said 47 degrees. It was gray and drizzling. By some miracle it stayed that way all day, and I loved every minute. I am not…
