Butternut squash, its color, smell and taste, are quintessentially fall. I realized that years ago when I once made this soup in March, using a butternut squash that had [...]
One of my favorite stretches through the woods I have been out in the country, reveling in the glory of autumn. The fall foliage spectacle is on full display on [...]
I was driving to my cousin's house for dinner last week when two warning lights came on in the car. Then the instrument panel went dead. When I put on [...]
It snowed in thick flakes the other day. As I looked up at the sky from my window, with ever more fluffs of white tumbling towards me, I felt that [...]
From my traditional annual visit to Chicago's downtown Christkindlmarket, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! It's been unseasonably warm here, no snow flakes and icy cold to company my sipping [...]
There's no denying that we are at the tail end of fall here in the Midwest. The temperature dips below the freezing at night, the trees are almost bare, [...]
We had a winter break in this past weekend. I know this is not the proper use of the English term "break in;" rather, it is a literal [...]
Isn't this the cutest potholder ever? A knitted pumpkin? I fell in love with this pattern in the KnitPicks newsletter. Fall is my favorite season, and I love pumpkins [...]
I have returned to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), where I'm trying to be immensely productive during my two-week residency. When I get tired, or need to rev [...]
A freshly snowed-on sidewalk reveals who has walked before us. I never quite appreciated that until yesterday morning, when I took my daily walk while it was snowing softly. I [...]
Yesterday was the first night of Chanukah, quite appropriate for my family's annual visit to Chicago's Christkindlmarket downtown, thanks to Chabad Lubavitch's giant Menorah. At the Christkindlmarket we stock up [...]
I consider living along the Chicago lakefront one of the great blessings of my life. The other day I went for one of my favorite walks, along Rogers Park [...]
My photo essay "Capture Magic that Hangs by a Gossamer Thread" appears in the winter 2015 issue of Bella Grace magazine, on sale as of today, December 1. Last [...]
My daughter who's been in Israel for a while now misses pumpkins. It's fall but there ain't any pumpkins to be found in that desert land. She's been on the [...]
Temperatures have been unseasonably nippy here in Chicago; clearly, fall is in the air. It's been a while since I've done a seasonal list, but I am so looking [...]
I'm usually not a spring person, but this year I am hungry (hungry!) for spring flowers and vibrant colors, and so yesterday I took myself on an Artist's Date to [...]
Starting a fire at 10:00 a.m. Ordering a hyacinth garden for a friend recovering from surgery Stocking up on sandalwood lotion and Dead Sea bath salts Hot chocolate for morning break Red [...]
Before winter became heavy, it came softly. Before we had 3+ feet of snow on the ground, there were just tracks of snow swinging through the woods. I really [...]
On Monday I treated myself to a walk on the lakefront. "Treated," because going for a walk is a major operation these days, involving long underwear, serious snow boots [...]
Chicago winter - late afternoon yesterday outside my building We've emerged from subzero temperatures here in Chicago, but as winter has gripped the outside with ample snow, treacherous streets and salty [...]
Osage oranges are one autumn's delights for me. I never knew about them until my first residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts a few autumns ago. There, [...]
Recently, as I was rewriting a chapter from my memoir into the essay Giving Up Christmas that was published in Tablet Magazine, I leafed through a photo album of [...]
Inspired by Xanthe Berkeley's challenge on Shuttersisters to create a time capsule of 12/12/12, I decided to capture this ordinary day so that sometime in the future, maybe 20 years [...]
I am immensely grateful to our friend who sowed sunflower seeds on an empty spot on our property in Indiana, because the dry sunflowers now make great models for [...]
I am absolutely in love with fall, particularly this year when the summer's heat kept me indoors so much. I've promised myself to be outside as much as possible [...]
Boy in a Bubble - my youngest was the only one in the right weight class to go walking on water. Going to the Porter County Fair in Valparaiso, [...]
Our property out in the country of northwestern Indiana got hit by a tornado last weekend. Thankfully, none of the buildings were damaged. As we walked assessing the damage, [...]
Cruising onto Lake Shore Drive at 57th Street at 5:45 a.m. My kids and I biked Lake Shore Drive back in May. It's taken me this long to report [...]
The first day of summer has me thinking about my summer list. Faithful readers of this blog know that I like to put together a list for each season to [...]
Starved Rock State Park - Illinois Canyon in Spring This is the last day of May, and one could say spring is officially over, since in the U.S. we [...]
Going to the Maple Sugar Time Festival in the Indiana Dunes is one family tradition I started when the kids were little. Since we missed it last year, my [...]
Even though I don't celebrate Christmas, in December a visit to the Christkindlmarket downtown Chicago is obligatory - mainly because I can find favorite German delicacies there that I [...]
We had the first dusting of snow in Chicago last week, and temperatures dipped below the freezing point over the weekend, so clearly the weather is telling me: It's winter. [...]
This blog makes me do things, such as following through on fun schemes like having a hot chocolate party outside, in the cold. Our dotted pumpkin showed signs of [...]
Thanksgiving is not Pumpkin Day, but I still had this pumpkin from our trip to the pumpkin farm. And I hadn't gotten around to carving it into the polka-dot [...]
I don't plan to turn this into a cooking blog, but in my September 27 post I promised the recipe for this tongue breaker of a cake: Zwetschgendatschi (click here [...]
Given that I have a list for making sure I "have a summer," it's only fair to have one for fall, after all fall is my favorite season. Here's [...]
Labor Day marks the "official" end of summer, and thus it's time to ask whether one has made the most of the season of heat, beach and long, supposedly [...]