Western edges

California was a dream. We were here, there, and gone again in four short days.  On the first morning, when we came round the bend, coffees in hand, and I laid sight on the pacific... my cold, cold heart melted. Who knows why the things that move us, do?

Afternoons found us roving about in unknown state parks, oceanside hikes where we'd lose each other and then find ourselves again, both walking with our cameras, wordless save for an occasional shout across the dunes, Look at this! Did you see? Can you believe?!

We slept in a redwood forest, and watched his younger brother marry beneath the towering trees. The wedding party grilled salmon and halibut on cedar planks, and stayed up late by the fire.

August in Big Sur is like no August I've ever met. We went to Pfieffer beach in sweaters, spent an hour watching a whale and an otter in the sea. Covered in fog, at midnight we crept along the pacific coast highway to soak in 10,000 year old hot springs. Total darkness, total strangers, and big stone hot tubs filled with mineral spring water, perched cliffside, over the ocean.

I won't soon forget you, California.

P.S. The Pacific Coast Highway is beautiful, but my declaration for Highway 12 still stands.

Indoor gardening tips

Browsing ferns at Fifth Season never fails to remind me of Christopher Walken.

High summer

A summer swim, a perfect surprise supper at Kitchen Roselli, race night at Bowman Gray, an evening walk in Carrboro.

Peach ice cream on the porch at Maple View, naps, long drives and quiet mornings.

The first August weekend brought the unexpected, in all the best ways.