I'm a pretty quiet and unassuming neighbor. Always have been. Business took me out of town for long stretches of time when I worked and even at home I was never one for loud parties or cranking the television up. In fact, for years I didn't even know my neighbors in any of the places I lived. . . .
I live in an area of my city that has a name. The truth is, we're on the outside edge of this area, which boasts a several-block-long shopping and dining district that never quite caught on as a destination. Except for locals, that is. We live a few miles from this district. The surrounding homes . . .
From the looks of things around this website and blog, you'd think I was still in India. No, we're home. And we're back to our regularly scheduled programming here on the blog. A little snarky, a little inspirational, a little naughty. We missed nearly all of November, so we really got to enjoy . . .
This little display in a Sonoma, Calif. shop made me think of summer and those sunny, lazy days ahead of us. Even though dragonflies are kind of bizarre-looking and maybe even a little scary (you just don't want to look at them up close) their graceful flight reminds me of summer days on the East . . .
We're not small-town folks. Our orientation is urban and suburban and we favor the witty and sarcastic over the homey and homespun. Small town life would drive us crazy, we tell ourselves, and perhaps it would. Then again, there's nothing like the holiday season in a small town like Niwot, . . .
I live in a community that cares for one another, watches out for one another and has over-the-back-fence discussions online with one another. That's right. Online. It's inspirational, the extent to which members of our neighborhood e-list, some 3,000+ of us, step up to help each other. We take in . . .
The "neighbs" and their dogs came over the other afternoon for an impromptu, 1950s-style potluck. Shrimp on the barbie, flatbread with pear, arugula and caramelized onion, cheese, crackers, strawberries, raspberries, lemonade and an abundance of beer and wine. I'd put together a party tune . . .
I live in a suburban area of the northern California city of San Jose. People in my neighborhood have careers, usually in high tech, or they're comfortably retired. It's called Willow Glen. We're in Silicon Valley, so it's no surprise that we have a neighborhood e-list, a place where we post . . .
The holidays are half over: had enough of family drama? I have to tell the truth. The Legal Eagle and I like our holidays a deaux. I know we're not supposed to. We're supposed to want warm holiday gatherings of kith* and kin. But we don't. He watches football, I cook a meal and we hang out with . . .
South in winter, north in spring: birds always know where home is. Back in the day, extended families all lived in the same area. "Home" was clear. Today, not so much. Many of us who live away from our hometowns talk about "going home" when we visit our families. If you have children, you've formed . . .
