I love Winston...

I love Winston. No, not the dog or the former PM. I love Winston-Salem. But at times I miss "the city." What city? How could you ask? It’s EVERY CITY.


Every fall I get the urge to just get up and go (probably the result of less humidity in the air allowing me to reclaim the energy I lost throughout the hot, sticky summer months gets my juices flowing). But I know that's not that real reason. I’ve always loved fall best. No matter where I’ve lived, fall has always been my favorite time of year. It's the time, when I was skinny, that I spent the most amount of money on clothes! Ahh, I still remember my favorite outfit from 1968! (Yes, we did have fashion before Project Runway): A brown knit skirt, a burnt orange turtleneck and (my favorite part) a brown SUEDE vest (sorry PETA friends)!

Now I no longer wish for clothes but the ability to travel in the fall. And where do I want to go? "The city!" Again, What city?

Oh, I long to go to Pike's Market in Seattle; to stroll past the brownstones in north end of Manhattan; to have lunch at a real Japanese restaurant in the garment district (sake and all), and dinner in Little Italy; to walk along Lake Michigan in Chicago and enjoy the wind blowing through my hair; to tour ALL the museums in DC. I'd go the Wait, Wait show in Chicago on Thursday night, followed by the Chicago Symphony that weekend; I'd hit Broadway at night and MOMA during the day; I'd visit Dale Chihuly and beg him to let me spend the day with him, touring his workshop and losing myself in his incredible art; I'd hike through Mt. Rainier and revel in the fact that you can still play with the snow on the warmest of summer days; I'd have a picnic lunch in Olympia and watch the otters play; I'd walk the streets of Old Québec eating French onion soup and buying watercolors from local artists; I'd feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and just drink in the atmosphere that is London; I’d stay up late into the night, listening to the sweet sounds of a saxophone played beneath my window in San Francisco.

And to think of all the places I HAVEN'T been! Well, I suppose it's a good thing or I'd spend even more time missing them and longing to return.

But I do love Winston-Salem. And, unfortunately, because you're so always busy working and living in a place, sometimes its many attributes pass you by. Perhaps I will finally get to that concert I've been planning on for the past 10 years at the Stevens Center and finally get to see Robert Moody in action, or stroll down Trade Street next weekend to check out the local art. Maybe next year I’ll make it to at least one of the concerts in the park and take at least one cooking classes at the Stocked Pot. And what about that stained glass class and the watercolor class I never got to take at the Sawtooth Center?

You see, those are just a FEW of the things I haven’t yet done in my own hometown! Imagine if we had an eternity to live, all the places we could visit, all the friends we could make, all the tastes we could savor!!!

Love to all of you in all those far-away places! Grow where you're planted, but never lose your yearning for what’s beyond your own front door!!