Category: a-roving

Play it again, Spira!

July 17, 2018 a-roving musical notes the eye of the beholder
My visit to Bath this past May coincided with the start of the annual Bath Festival, and I couldn’t miss this chance to hear a concert in the ballroom of Bath’s famous Assembly Rooms. Painted robin’s egg blue and sparkling with crystal chandeliers, the ballroom was well known to me…

The east arm of the Wintu

July 10, 2018 a good book a-roving
Who wouldn’t want to read a book called A Field Guide to Getting Lost? I picked up Rebecca Solnit’s essay collection several years ago in the De Young museum shop, simply because I was intrigued by its title. My favorite part was her introduction, a rambling essay called “Open Door,” and…

Rambles along rivers

July 6, 2018 a-roving the birds and the trees
It had been months since Craig and I had gotten out in the camper, not since we blew out its transmission coming back from Death Valley on New Year’s Eve. Though the camper had long since been repaired, we still had not managed to get away — and Craig was…

Happily eating my vegetables

July 3, 2018 a-roving eating well
Yottam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks make me want to become a vegetarian. All his recipes look and sound amazing, but it’s the lovingly photographed vegetable dishes that practically leap off the page with their color and crunch and freshness. I’ve made several of the Mediterranean-inspired recipes from both Plenty and Jerusalem, and they…

A puff of smoke, a swirl of cloak

June 29, 2018 a good book a-roving the eye of the beholder
The train began to move, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son’s thin face already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him. The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train…

Tea for me!

June 26, 2018 a-roving eating well material life
I hadn’t planned to treat myself that afternoon, but I know how it happened: a long midday walk through Belgravia and Hyde Park had left my feet aching and my stomach growling. Plus, I had three more hours to kill before the evensong service at St. Paul’s. So what should I…

Who is that big-footed bird?

June 22, 2018 a-roving the birds and the trees
Life gifts us every day with small mysteries, encounters that arouse our curiosity and intrigue our inquiring minds. Like the odd-looking bird I noticed the other day, when I was walking along the Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park. What could it be? It was about the size of a small…

Façades and derrières

June 19, 2018 a good book a-roving material life
“Where have you been all these weeks? Don’t tell me you’ve been getting into mischief again!” “No, no, I’ve been behaving very decorously,” he assured her. “You have to in Bath — a devilish place!” (Georgette Heyer, Black Sheep) Several times during my visit, I heard the assertion that in Jane Austen’s day…

Nom de plumber

June 17, 2018 a-roving material life
Plumbing the depths What most intrigued me about my visit to Bath’s Roman Baths was what I learned there about lead. The Romans used lead mined from the nearby Mendip Hills to line their bathing pools, as well as the conduits through which water was channeled from the sacred spring…

Out and about in Bath

June 15, 2018 a good book a-roving material life
Another postcard from Bath First of all, I had no idea that Bath was on the River Avon— or any river, for that matter. Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer had sadly misled me on this point! Or, more likely, they thought it so obvious that there was no need to mention…