Two years ago Kit and I began a new chapter in life in the Sierra Foothills of northern California.

The sun has finally returned to the garden patio at the Lodge—the name Kit and I have given to the Golden Empire Nursing & Rehabilitation Center where he is now resident.

On this first day of April, I’m sitting in my studio looking out on what remains of this week’s latest spring storm in the Sierra Foothills.

Recently Paul, a Peace Corps pal of mine from the late 1960s, emailed that he’d just had a four-hour skin cancer procedure on his forehead—one of many he has endured over the years.

Much of life is random. The chance blending of fennel seed sautéed in olive oil with onions and garlic, Cannellini beans and cauliflower that results in a soup you declare to be the best you’ve ever tasted.

The winter of 2023 has been a doozy in the Sierra Foothills of northern California where Kit and I recently emerged from a 10-day power outage that lasted from February 27 through March 7.

February 2023 went out like a lion in the Sierra Foothills where Kit and I live at 3750 feet of elevation.

Nevada City and Grass Valley, California recently held their 21st edition of the community’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival—an event inspiring environmental activism and a love of nature through film.

As is our habit these late February winter days, Kit and I rise early each morning when dawn is still over an hour away.

In the early morning hours of February 6, 2023, major magnitude earthquakes registering 7.8 and 7.5 struck with devastating force in a geologically and politically unstable region of southern Turkey and northwest Syria.

Something happens when I stand under a star-filled sky on clear winter nights.

For avowed animal lovers, life in the country can easily become an open-door policy.

When I think of aging well, my dear friend Suzanne Dunaway instantly comes to mind.

Observed over time, a river can be seen as having a life of its own.

Chef, restauranter and humanitarian José Andrés has spent the past decade plus preparing meals for victims of natural disasters and at times of war through his non-profit World Central Kitchen organization.

Recently The Union newspaper in Nevada County featured a front-page article about Charlie’s Café, a Grass Valley institution owned and operated by Kelly and Eric Grossmann since 2011.

The week before Christmas, The Polar Express played at our local movie theater.

These December days, Christmas memories abound.

A pantry is one of winter’s richest storehouses.

As I look out on snow that has fallen here in the Sierra Foothills, my mind travels back to a December almost thirty years ago when I watched as a white cat walked gingerly across our frozen pond at a place Kit and I called Breakfast Creek.