The Journal
Essays, Field Notes, portraits, photographs, food stories, and observations from a life rooted in place.
Explore by Territory
Land · Place · People · Table · Culture · Inner Life
Latest from Land & Lore
Cycling in Elkmont, Alabama
Some places invite you to slow down almost as soon as you arrive. Elkmont, Alabama, is one of them. One crisp Friday afternoon in October, I met my…
Discovering the Rails Between the Stories
When I decided to return to outdoor cycling, I naturally began searching for interesting places to ride. In the process, I stumbled upon something I had never heard…
The Making of Strong Women
The Quiet Making of Strong Women Today is International Women’s Day. As happens every year, social media is full of opinions about what that should mean. Some celebrate…
Beyond the Name
Every few years, the culinary world discovers something it acts as though it has just invented. Suddenly it’s everywhere. Instagram feeds overflow with carefully arranged bowls of vibrant…
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Again
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Again For more than fifty years, children—and the adults who love them—have delighted in the little caterpillar who eats his way through an astonishing…
Chocolate Walnut Flourless Cookies
There is something quietly generous about a homemade Christmas cookie. Long before gifts are exchanged or dinner is served, a simple plate of freshly baked cookies on the…
Life in the Age of Technology
There is a peculiar tenderness that accompanies the parenting of grown children. When they are little, you know where they are almost every moment of the day. You…
A Photograph That Changed Everything
I stared in astonishment at the photograph my elderly aunt had recently placed in my hands. The young woman looking back at me could not have been more…
5 Cents Worth
A few days after living through a brief season with almost no margin in my life, and just before I was to pick up my four-year-old granddaughter for…
Called to the Red Rocks
Sedona, Arizona There was no way I could have known it when I took this photograph. That morning I had been wandering the winding streets of Jerome, Arizona,…
Letting Go
The older I grow, the more grateful I become to live in a place that embraces all four seasons with equal conviction. Summer arrives full of confidence. It…
Between the Scattered Pines
At the last moment, Keith and I slipped away to Florida’s Emerald Coast for a few days of rest and renewal. We spent our days beneath a generous…