Frances Mayes's Journal Travel, Food, Books, People

I have signed on for Twitter and Facebook.  For one who still likes ink pens, the process was eye-opening. Most startling to me was when the links start scrolling down and I realized that friends know friends when I had no idea that they did. Or that someone I barely know in Washington is “friends” [...]

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The February-March issue of this vital magazine features an article on my North Carolina garden, Chatwood. It shows a picture of the back of the house, which is on the historic register. It was built in 1806 as an inn and tavern for the grist mill–still standing–down the road. It’s a rambling Federal farmhouse  with [...]

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Now we turn toward light. On the shortest day, I’m reflecting on the year and thinking about the new one coming quickly toward us. If I wrote a Christmas letter, I’d include descriptions of our great trips to Rome as well as our week on Lake Nantahala in North Carolina. There we swam, sat on [...]

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At the end of my post on Rome, I noted “to be continued.” Finally, here’s more on visiting that city with the greatest heart.
When my daughter, her husband, and our much-adored grandson arrived in Italy for the olive harvest, we started off with three days in an apartment near the Pantheon. (No photo / address [...]

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The hour changed here, one week earlier than in the U.S. I don’t know why that one hour always seems dramatic; I’m more bothered by it than by the six-hour time change when I fly to Italy. I suppose it is the early dark, the sudden creation of long winter nights.  When I hear “fall [...]

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