Before I head south today, there are still a million things to do, not including driving out to the airport to go to the bank (don’t ask-crazy, I know), going for a swim, making my bed, and folding the last of the laundry cluttering my room (still). There is of course a list from my daughter on a yellow sticky note that I’ve already misplaced that screams $$ signs and begins at the big Longs, now CVS, near my house.  Sigh. Always much to do and to accomplish and how to get it all right and all of us in the car without a complete melt down (It still happens at this age, more mine than theirs).

In the meantime, we’ve had some great, early coverage this week that I wanted to point out to you, and listed on the right side-bar on this here blog. We are in the November issue of Sunset, as mentioned before (perhaps not even out on shelves yet?). It’s a full page valentine to my beloved Nepenthe. As well, in the Monterey Herald, the Monterey Coast Weekly (including as one of their hot picks), and Carmel Pine Cone, where if in need of a good laugh, make sure to read their police-log. Mary Brownfield, a local Carmel reporter, wrote a generous piece about My Nepenthe calling it a “beautiful book packed with photos.” Yes, it’s a bit of a history lesson too, all the way back to 1902 and early Carmel development (No spoilers here, you’ve got to get the book.)

The funny thing about Mary (not her, per se, but just that she wrote this piece) is that though we have  yet to meet in person, I did just meet her uncle in San Francisco yesterday, and on tony Filmore St. no less, while walking into a shoe-store with my cousin Winona Lewis. He was putting money in his meter, saw Winona and gave a shout out. And that’s how it happened. I heard that he already knew about my book, and that I must know his son, and that my other cousin posted it on her Facebook, that his first wife used to live at Nepenthe in the sewing studio below the house I grew up in, and that he used to play dominoes with my grandfather around the fireplace in the good ol’ days….

And that, my friends, is how this book has been, opening up myriad doors and weaving together the colorful and seemingly unrelated strands of life, confirming yet again the role Nepenthe has played in so many people’s stories from here to wherever. It’s just been amazing and I imagine there will be more felicitous connections along the way.

And did I say, I also bought a new pair of shoes…that’s my cousin for you, who has a knack for glittery things and a one–of–a–kind groove of her own that is infectious, and who treated me to an afternoon in her hair salon big city style. I can’t say enough about my cousin whom I adore. Besides, she is just maybe the best little hair cutter in town, and owns one of the most favored sister salons in the city–diPietro Todd on Filmore. Winona, whom I grew up with in Big Sur, circled her way back to SF as a young adult, where our mother’s side of the family originated. Her mother is my mother’s cousin–you get the picture– and in my book you can read about how our lives along with so many others are inextricably intertwined, and more. By the way, that’s her son, Mojave, pictured below on the left, and my niece Chama on the right, both at Nepenthe, carrying on the tradition.

It’s an absolutely gorgeous day here with enormous periwinkle blue skies. Hope to see many of you in beautiful Big Sur. Do come out and play.