As some of you know Randy and I have lived in Oxnard, Ca., a little Beach town north of Los Angeles. I haven’t shared much at all about the move from New Mexico to California or our stay in California. While there was food and wine in my life, there was also a lot of drama, pain and troubles.

How could I share one without the other? How can I really pretend that life, my life, was about the joys of food and friends when everything seemed to be crashing around me? No longer engaged with the life I loved but reacting daily to ever new and challenging dramas. Beloved pets dying, husband seriously ill and other challenging issues were an everyday occurrence.

Not to make light of any of it but we survived. Better than ever, really. I am deeply grateful.

But this blog is not about overcoming great hardships but about the joys of food, wine and travel. Now I want to get

back on the path of fun adventures. First I’ll tell you about our journey cross country from southern Ca. to west Tennessee, our home for the foreseeable future.

So while life got in the way of the most joyful aspects of my life, I’m jumping back in, a little shaky but stronger, more confident, happier than ever! And so, I begin again.