“Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.” William Butler Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’ Quick – where’s … Continue reading Come Together…
“You take delight not in a city’s seven or seventy wonders, but the answer it gives to a question of yours.” Italo Calvino All cities have a sound. All villages and squares, all roads and hilltops, all walks along the quai, and market day rambles. It’s easy to discount it as ‘noise’, or block it … Continue reading The Sound of the City…
“Wine enters through the mouth,Love, the eyes.I raise the glass to my mouth,I look at you,I sigh.” William Butler Yeats I am not a wine writer. I’m a wine drinker. Quite good at it, too. The drinking part, that is. In fact, I’m drinking right now, as I write. But when reading other people’s words … Continue reading Old Vines…
No one has ever become poor by giving. Anne Frank Writing about food means considering where it comes from. Not just eating the bread, but buying the bread. And what it takes to buy bread. And sometimes, like a punch to the gut, it becomes apparent that this simple process is not so simple. A … Continue reading There but for the grace…
“Detestable food passing itself off as Mexican, sold in the U.S. from Texas to New York.” ~ 1959 description of chili in the (Mexican) cookbook, ‘Diccionario de Mejicanismos” And when the winter stretches on, and in these times of darkness, when days are short and nights are long, and spring is snailing distant…there is something … Continue reading Chili is as Chili Does…(more comfortable food)
“I alternate between feeling sympathetic toward humanity and being a misanthrope. When I’m sympathetic, it usually means I haven’t been around people in awhile.” John R. Lindensmith There is a farmhouse, a mas, in the countryside some miles outside of Arles. It is not terribly accessible – I only noted it from the elevated aspect … Continue reading Far and Away…
I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else. Nikos Kazantzakis There’s a moment every year when I know it’s winter. It may not occur on the Solstice, and in fact often (usually) doesn’t. … Continue reading Winter is Coming…
At the time I did not know that stories of life are often more like rivers than books. Norman Maclean The Rhône at Arles is a tidal river, which is a thing that takes some getting used to. There are hours of the day where it torrents northward with a single-minded purpose towards Avignon, like … Continue reading A River Runs Through It…
“It is well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend, one’s present or future thirst, the excellence of the wine, or any other reason.” Latin proverb Rumbling, shuddering, banshee-wailing down the Rhône, stripping leaves from the chestnuts, scouring dust from the hills, the Mistral brings clear skies and … Continue reading Vin Chaud…Not Really a Recipe.
Walking home with Jess and Max after dropping Alexander at school, out the old cloister gates and through the winding cobbled streets redolent of woodsmoke and the scent of baking bread. The rhythmic clang of metal on metal, not mechanical, hand labor, off some distance, but so distinctive you can almost taste it on the … Continue reading An Alchemy of Place…
Chasing Snails (And Other Movable Feasts) 