Hey Nova — have you ever had those tiny fraises de bois? (I don’t think I’m spelling that right.) Anyway, they’re scarily good. Just smelling them is an amazing experience of what strawberries can be like. As for New York — the great thing the California Supreme Court has done is to create a legal template for other states to use in considering the question of whether bans on gay marriage violate constitutional protections. And also, it gives other states a little momentum in the direction of doing the right thing. The next battlefront, though, might not be so much the courts as in the legislature and in the initiative process as people put on the ballot those hate-filled initiatives to amend their state constitutions to deny marriage to anyone other than heterosexual couples. Sad.

Archie, dude, six months! Man, that’s harsh. I forget you’re on the other side of the globe sometimes. Winter’s coming — it’s time for things like gingerbread and dark alcohol drinks which have a charm all their own.

Charlotte — Welcome back! One of my closest friends is spending a sabbatical year in Berlin this coming academic year and I envy her the chance to have that experience. I didn’t know about the tolerance, although you’d guess that from, oh, you know Cabaret (isn’t everything we know about Germany before the war pretty much summed up there?!) Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing about your adventures during your time away.

Ella, I think the best approach to San Francisco is from a ferry. When my boys were little we used to take the ferry to the city all the time. They loved the whole thing, but especially the fact that when you got off the boat there was all that FOOD just waiting for you on the other end of the dock.

Oh Jacob, I’m so sorry about that tree. There’s nothing more wonderful than fruit that comes right off a tree that’s in your yard. And to lose that, well, it’s tough, isn’t it? I love peach ice cream, and think maybe we should all make some, just to beat back the world’s tendency to take away the things we love.

Hey Courtney — no keening!! I love the sound of your armful of green and garlic. There’s got to be pasta involved in that, right? Which reminds me that we have not been eating enough vegetables around here, and should.

TJ, It is indeed a charmed life. Sometimes I think I’ll wake up and be back in the place where I was a teenager where it always rained, and was so isolated, and everything we ate came out of cans or bags. Except that isn’t really fair because I remember my dad picking berries (and us picking them too) and then he’d make big pots of jam and also there was the summer we grew lettuce and carrots in the back yard and they were great. There’s charm in every ecosystem. Ours in California is just flashier, I think.

hello Island Momma and welcome! I’d love to see those pictures and will check in to see if they’ve arrived. xo

Hey peakoilboy and welcome to you too. Backyard growing is a brilliant activity and thank you for the reminder!

In the northeast you just cant eat fresh fruit from the end of apple season in November until the beginning of strawberry season in June. By May, we’re just dying…

And yay for the California Supreme Court! When will New York follow?

As for cities that embrace people who have fallen off the edge, I have just come back from Berlin, where there is an amazing amount of tolerance … for everything and everyone.

We had a peach tree in our back yard in Kansas City until the tornado (see the post on my blog). My father made ice cream in an old fashioned ice cream maker. We took turns at the crank, working at it till the muscles in our arms gave out. Oh.. the peach ice cream…

Ben and Jerry used to have a Georgia Peach… but haven’t seen it for years. Closest thing to what I remember. Peaches, tree ripened… still almost a little warm from the sun in that rich frozen cream concoction….

I have been to all the places you mention in your walking tour; and I agree with you heartily about those who’ve ‘fallen off the edge’. They too are Us.

Thanks for the picture. Beautiful!