I've been following this photographer's postings for a little while now on shorpy.com. He documented his life growing up in California in the 50's, 60's and 70's as a young camera-obsessed kid. Now he's steadily posting his photos from all those years...

Wishing you lots of happiness (and hopefully not too much last minute shopping). 

And here's a link to my previous post on the topic of free. I'm listening to the folks who are doing some serious thinking about what creative individuals are going to do to make creative work sustainable in this new economy.

My husband asked me where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner and The Mermaid Inn leapt to mind, but alas it's in NYC. (I love their logo.) We're not hopping a plane, so I just visited the website for a momentary reminiscence. The East Village...

What's not to love about a good vintage cookbook? I may never prepare cherries jubilee, but I'll pore over the playful illustrations of pots, pans, dancing chickens unaware of their fate and the ubiquitous congealed salad. The book that got me started...