March 19, 2026

Hmm. I’m apparently still here.

In January 2025 I decided to take a month off from social media & internet. I needed a break from all the ugliness in the world, and sometimes in people I thought I knew. I wanted to just hide and hibernate. I did all cozy things. I knitted a lot of sweaters and read a lot of books. (You can click here to see my 2025 book list - I read a lot of books!) I tried a bit of painting and drawing (not my thing I decided). I’ve gotten back to sewing, did a lot of gardening, and read more books (here’s my 2026 book list so far). A month turned in more months and then a year, and here we are, 15 months later. I’ve dipped back in to some social media, just lurking a bit. In the intervening time it seems that the world got uglier in so many ways. But also I’ve seen sparks of beauty - I’ve seen amazing art created by people I follow, amazing people who use their art to speak truth and speak out. I’m in awe of so much of the creativity and bravery I see.

There are aspects of media that I haven’t missed - the constant stream of bad news, the ugly people, the judging and criticizing. But I realized that there are also aspects of it that I missed - the community, the creativity, the people supporting each other. There is still beauty in the world and it’s inspiring.

So all of this to say what? I don’t know. Maybe I’m back. Maybe I’ll stick around. Maybe I’ll get spooked off again and crawl back in my hole if someone comes at me because I’m not who they think I should be. We’ll see.

I’ve given a lot of thought to what I want to use my website and social media for moving forward, if anything. I think this will no longer be just a food page. Food blogging has turned into something I don’t really recognize any more. It’s all posing and aesthetic and following viral trends. That’s not me. I’ll still share food, not perfect dishes made just for the camera, but the real meals I’ve always shared that I make for my family. But I’ll probably also share more of the rest of what I do, because cooking and feeding my family is just a small part of it these days. Especially as my kids get older and more independent, I am finding time to find more of myself again and more of who and what I am. So I’ll probably share more of that. We’ll see.

Watch this space.

Meanwhile - we had two weeks of winter here in the Sierra foothills and now mid-March it’s 80 degrees and the poppies are popping.