Welcome!

For more than four years, from late 2005 through early 2010, this was was my home: my retreat, my studio, my kitchen table, my life. I wrote about building a house, starting a garden, home schooling our daughter. I wrote about my favorite books, scenes from my favorite movies. I wrote about all the restaurants I had loved and lost, about my first paella, about my quest for the perfect gazpacho. I wrote fictional riffs, lots of bad poetry. I wrote more about dark chocolate and red wine than I would have ever thought possible.

During that time, nearly 35,000 visitors made their way here. I met wonderful people and made amazing and unexpected connections. We exchanged reading recommendations, traded writing prompts, commented on each others' posts, and in many other ways encouraged our creative interests. We became friends.

And then, after more than 900 posts, I closed it down. It would be easy to say that all the usual distractions intervened. We were home schooling again, and I was teaching middle school algebra and high school geometry at the co-op where our daughter was taking classes. We had started a half-acre vegetable garden, acquired seven ducks. Life was certainly busy. But more than that, I felt that, when it came to exploring food, community, and family, I had said everything I wanted to say, and I wasn't interested in repeating myself: it was time for anno's place to end.

What remains here today is a much compressed version of the original blog: the portfolio version. It contains just enough of the original material that if you feel like opening up the archives and reading it through from start to finish, you'll have some sense of the spirit that anno's place once represented. On the other hand, if you want to get straight to the "good stuff," the links in the Favorites column will take you to the posts that are both my personal favorites and the ones that have consistently generated the greatest number of hits.

Regardless of your reason for coming by, or the journey you choose to take through these posts, I hope you enjoy your visit. Thanks so much for stopping by!
~anno