I brought 16 balls of pizza dough, a big jar of my homemade New York-style sauce, and a jar of my spicy caramelized onion and hot cherry pepper mix to a friend’s house Sunday afternoon. Pizza for 16 was quite a project. I slid pizza on and off of the hot stone for about two and a half hours, red-faced, hair piled high on my head and sweat trickling behind...

I stand on the deck of the boat, brow furrowed against whipping hair, wind lashing my back. I watch my heart trampoline hard on the wake, tethered to me with the thinnest rope. He swings wide, an inked stylus recording a round swell of current, then jerks left and right, scratching thick and black the sharp spikes of my fear. A final jolt, and he slips under the dark water....

I turned the surprise cucumbers into sweet and spicy pickles this weekend. Let me just say, pickling is far easier than fermenting. No vegetal whey taste, no wondering about exactly what kind of microbe I am growing, and the cukes were ready to eat two hours after hitting the vinegar and spice. They are delicious. I am eating them with everything, at every meal, and dreaming about making my next...

Happy Friday. xxoo

Portland in July was a temperate, low humidity heaven on earth. Bungalows, restaurants, cape cods, bars, and flower shops are mixed together and spread out across the straight line of Southeast Division Street. I sat at a tiny outdoor table at The Woodsman Tavern, sipped a coa de jima and thought if I lived in that little house across the street, this would be my regular haunt.

In late winter we huddled around a Baker Creek seed catalogue and considered each variety. They ordered whatever struck their fancy. At sowing time they pushed the seeds into whatever corner of the raised bed felt right–their harried mama was in full surrender mode and did not pay attention to bush versus climber, big versus little, high versus low. The result? Jungle. I mean serious jungle chaos. Big Apple gourds,...

More music on our front steps. The kids played hide and seek in the dark spaces between the buildings. One nearby door slowly opened a crack, an unseen man or woman probably peering out to pinpoint the source of the sound. I sat on my stool, listened, swatted away mosquitos. My neighbors’ television sets cast strobing stripes of light on their front lawns.

Our house is featured in the July 2013 online issue of Ikea Family Live Magazine, a digital publication of Inter IKEA Systems B.V. The mag’s editor Helen reached out to me via email and asked if we’d like to be featured. When I accepted, she sent me a digital package containing photo guidelines, interview questions and FTP instructions. I styled our place myself. I used my Canon Rebel XT and...

This early summertime has been lovely. Some notes: We waited with bated breath for cicadas to visit, but in the end had to settle for finding a few husks out at a friend’s place in Haymarket. My kids were the very first people in our community pool on the Friday before Memorial Day. It was 54 degrees outside. We three went strawberry picking, our first time ever. My first time...