i am here.

"Where are you? Are you okay? You haven't updated your site in days."

Several people I love called me today, asking me this. There have been even more emails.

People, I love you.

And I'm fine.

I realize it's quite unusual for me to go so silent here. (Well, last summer, when I was first falling hopelessly in love with the Chef, I put up one post for the entire month of July. Goodness, what was I thinking?) Usually, I'm posting daily photos of joy, and waxing poetic about this boy of mine.

But this has been, perhaps, the wackiest week of my life. Lovely Clotilde, of Chocolate and Zucchini fame, was in Seattle for two days. We held a huge event in her honor at the restuarant, which I want to tell you all about, later. There was a lunch at Salumi, a reading in the evening, and much laughter at both. In between, I was trapped in a bingo parlor for two hours. That's a story. This weekend, I was asked to write an additional glossary for my book, in two days. Tonight, I taught my first gluten-free cooking class. I have almost no voice for all the joyful story-telling, and so many hand gestures that I may have strained my wrist. It was, without a doubt, a singular experience.

And tomorrow night, I do it again.

On top of all this, we are moving this weekend. That means goodbye to the green kitchen. Hello to packing boxes. Life is more abundant than I can explain at the moment.

Sometimes, the writing has to slow down.

But I'll be back, as soon as I can. I can't stay away long. I'm so moved by your concern, and your presence in my life.

In the meantime, while I try to find a breath to breathe, here's a photograph of the stand at Frank's produce in the Market, yesterday afternoon. Molly bought frisee, and I took photos of the morels.

Life is sweet, even in silence.