My youngest sister Kelly celebrated her 70^th birthday ten days ago, a month after I turned 80.

In early November,  Liquid Amber (American Sweetgum) leaves provided a display of glorious colors around Nevada City, rivaling the maple trees that were exceptional this year.

Five years ago, the literary world lost a great friend.

For the past week, November’s calendar has been filled with a spectacular series of events.

As October 2025 comes to an end, I’m up early on Halloween, warmed by our fireplace and a vintage wool lap blanket. 

For my 50^th birthday, my mother Alice gave me an extraordinary gift—a history she compiled and annotated called “Travels with Cathy: 1945-1995.”

In 1945, my father William E. Riggs and the B-29 crew he commanded were attempting to return to their base in Guam after a nighttime bombing run over Japan.

My recent remembrances of explorations in Provence in  2002 began with an outing to Arles—a city whose role in history appears to have been predestined by its geographic location.

Midway through September, an abundance of figs, pears, peaches, and plums arrayed in assorted bowls had taken over half of the surface of our nine-foot-long harvest table.

In 1836, Rosa Bonheur spent entire days at the Louvre copying works of the Old Masters.

Last week I began rereading Peter Mayle’s wonderful 1989 book A Year in Provence.

There are signs of change in the air and on the land these early September days that have me feeling unsettled.

As Thomas Jefferson famously said, “I can’t live without books.”

Some days I find myself traveling the world via the pages of cookbooks.

Peekay, my orange Bengal/tabby cat, is due for his annual checkup and shots.

From the get-go, Kit has been a survivor and an explorer filled with adventure, joy, and light.

Late July was a very busy time in my neighborhood in the Sierras.

Few things in life these days are as wonderful as good neighbors.

I love the title of a 2017 book edited by Kate Lebo and Samuel Ligon—Pie & Whiskey: Writers Under the Influence of Butter & Booze.

It is the middle of July and I was desperate for some relief from the heat and the weight of upsetting news that takes a physical toll on the body and soul these days.