Peonies, a mathematician in the jungle, RHS Wisley, Chatsworth and retirement advice nobody gives introverts How can a flower bring so much joy? I have been asking myself that all week. Before I moved to North Carolina I had never grown peonies. Florida near the ocean was not the right climate, and in Virginia I…
Three recipes worth making, three books worth reading and a week that smelled like honeysuckle The weather this week has been something. Cool mornings, warm sunny afternoons, and everywhere I go in the yard there is honeysuckle. That smell. The birds are carrying on like they haven’t caught up with one another in weeks. The…
Heat, hawks, a nest I can’t stop watching, and the most beautiful spring garden I’ve seen in years By 9:30 Sunday morning, the front yard had turned into a congressional hearing. Not the quiet kind — the kind with everyone talking at once and nobody listening. I had been out earlier on the front porch…
I did not plan my morning ritual. It found me — piece by piece, season by season — and now I cannot imagine starting a day any other way. Before I do anything else — before the dogs, before the drinking chocolate, before a single word is spoken to another living soul — I lie…
Three films, Monty Don, and Kristy Woodson Harvey’s new novel It has been one of those weeks. Pisa had an ear infection — which meant two vet visits, ear drops twice a day, and the outrage of a dachshund who could not hear and was sick of the vet and me. Then Paris and Patches…
Three spring recipes I cannot stop thinking about, three books for slow weekend reading, and everything else worth knowing this week It is still technically spring, but Mother Nature apparently decided to skip the middle part and go straight to summer. We crossed eighty degrees twice this week and I found Patches panting in the…
The best peony year I can remember, two nests in the holly and a book set in three of my favorite cities What an amazing weekend. The weather was the kind I grew up with in the Midwest — cool in the morning, then sunny and warm and just about perfect as the day goes…
I am not an ornithologist or a serious birder. I just pay attention. And yesterday afternoon, paying attention turned out to be exactly enough. I should tell you upfront that I am not a serious birder. I do not keep a life list or belong to an Audubon chapter, although I do own a field…
 A busy week, the best peony year yet, three garden videos I could watch on a loop and a film about an octopus that I cannot wait to see I started this week with two things on the calendar and ended it completely wiped out. That seems to be how weeks work lately. The good…
Spring recipes from three bloggers I love, three books for the season, and everything else on my radar this week It has been a good week. I went back to yoga after a long break, which felt more significant than it probably sounds. And yesterday I got what I think was winter’s last hurrah —…
Ten things to do this season — for yourself, just because. Spring has always felt like a personal invitation to me. Not a to-do list. An invitation. I was standing in the kitchen with my drinking chocolate this morning, looking out at the back yard. The light back there is softer than the front of…
A joyful Easter, a grey day that was exactly right, a new book about wartime Paris, and a New York townhouse worth watching twice. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases….
