Going coastal

This year for Memorial Day weekend I'm heading south to Savannah, Georgia and the wedding of two good friends from my time in Edinburgh, Scotland. I have not seen Joslyn or Brian for several years, and I am delighted to be there this weekend when they get married. We will do a lot of catching up, and also guessing about the future. Which makes sense - because there's nothing like a wedding that is so much about the past and the future at the same time. Not only do I hope see old friends, kick back to some good southern hospitality, and tuck into tasty BBQ--but I also plan to venture to the coastline and do some low country kayaking and hiking. After all, that kind of stuff is job-related now.
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Backpacker wins an Ellie

For the 98% of the population that has no idea what a national magazine award is, or even that the magazine industry hosts an annual back-slap confab to reassure themselves that color/glossy print journalism still matters... well, it all happened on Tuesday night in New York City. And Backpacker, the small service-poetry magazine that I recently joined as an associate editor, won an award for best section - the front-of-the-book Basecamp section. Michelle Hamilton, now a senior associate editor at Runner's World, held this job before me, and she and the other editors who helmed Backpacker throughout 2005 did so much to earn this honor. And I hope that we can repeat the feat for next year.
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Red ripe tomatoes

This morning I walked over to the first of the summer's weekly farmer markets in downtown Emmaus. The parking lot of a local bank served as the site--sprouting dozens of tables and awnings to attract hundreds of produce shoppers, and the necessary kids and spastic dogs for the occasion. A farmer's market is rather natural in this part of Pennsylvania. One only has to drive (or bike) a mile in any direction from the town's squat stone city hall to encounter long wavy lines of split-rail fences and acres of pasture guarded by solid-looking silos. For the first time I'm living in a place that goes from city to rural and bypasses suburban. What a joy that is. I bought some tomatoes (violating a rule of mine to never eat tomatoes I don't grow - but they looked so delicious), kale, and soft Italian bread. Next week I'll buy my tomato seedlings there as I move into my new apartment and put in a small side garden.
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