Writing

We’ve settled into a routine over here more or less — have you? The general angst about not being able to go anywhere flares up often but we’re managing (one of my favorite Aussie expressions). A bit of distance learning in the morning, lunch, “quiet time” (or, please don’t talk to any adult for 45 … Read more

In Saudi Arabia the heat is baked into your skin, which is always coated with a thin layer of dust. The first month we are there a massive dust storm whips through Riyadh and I find piles of sand on my window sills and on the leaves of the basil plant that struggles valiantly to … Read more

Monday night, the babes are asleep, and it’s Anzac Day eve. We’ve just returned from a long park outing with a stop along the way home for Australian-grown almonds, peanuts, spelt flour and, unexpectedly, a little dried coconut at my favorite store in my neighborhood, the bulk foods shop. Would you like to try an … Read more

Hi from Australia, where we landed over a month ago (already!) and are slowly settling in (-ish. It’s going to be a goooooood, if overwhelming, day when our shipments arrive). First things first: the green here is both soothing and still surprising. The air, even on the warmest of days, is fresh. I don’t forget … Read more

Salisbury, Wiltshire, U.K., January 2017. Hi. Happy New Year over a month late. We’re just getting sorted after a lovely and whirlwind trip to Salisbury, England, to visit family and shiver delightfully over delicious cups of lattes and flat whites here and there, often accompanied by thick slabs of cake, just in time to get … Read more

A year ago today (tonight) we arrived in Riyadh and now, as then, I find it difficult to write about this place. Saudi Arabia is a country that makes many Americans uncomfortable: there is a lot that’s negative about the policies and enforced ways of living here that chafe against our notions of independence and … Read more

Yosemite holds a certain kind of magic. Though we spent just 48 hours there last week that time served as a balm to our dust-spattered hearts. I took a few early morning runs along the Valley’s meadow and watched as the sun sent its first rays over the bulk of Half Dome. I saw a … Read more

[The Atlantic at Anfa, September 2014.] Fall has magical qualities — the light shifts, leaves drift down softly (even in North Africa), the sky is the deepest, bluest sky you’ll see all year. The wind has picked up off of the ocean here and on afternoons it scrubs the houses of my neighborhood and burnishes … Read more

[Lisbon, July 2014.] It’s not really a secret that living in Casablanca has been … challenging for me for many reasons. But rather than dwell on the negative I’d like to focus on a major positive, which is our proximity to Europe and the relative ease of slipping over to explore there. Par example, this … Read more