friends | Ann Leary, author of The Good House

Take a Virtual Trip

March 25, 2010 by Ann Leary 28 Comments

Some of you might recall our trip to Positano, Italy last year, when we stayed at Le Sirenuse, a breathtakingly beautiful hotel that is perched on a cliff overlooking the sea. During the tourist season, the world comes to Le Sirenuse, and the owners, Antonio, Carla and Franco Sersales, have hosted many famous and glamourous people over the years. During the off-season, they like to travel to the most remote regions of the world, because they are avid wanderers, ever-hungry for the sights, sounds and tastes of foreign lands.

Filed Under: Stuff I Did, Very Important Stuff Tagged With: friends, Italy

Best Guest Breast Blogger, Ever!

March 18, 2010 by Ann Leary 79 Comments

As promised, today my friend Laura Zigman has generously agreed to do a guest blog about her experience with breast cancer. We have been discussing this issue on the blog recently and I’m so honored that Laura is willing to share her experience, wisdom, strength and good-humored, no-nonsense advice with us. After reading her blog, you’ll no doubt want to check out her books, so click on her name above, and you will find them on her website. So, without further ado ……here’s Laura:

Photo by Greg Martin

Hi Everyone,

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Very Important Stuff Tagged With: friends

Good Book, Good Dogs

March 5, 2010 by Ann Leary 39 Comments

Last night I had dinner with my friend Candace Bushnell. Candace, as you probably all know is the author of the famous book, Sex and the City, which spawned the hit TV series and film, and she also has written several other bestsellers including Lipstick Jungle (also a subsequent series), Four Blondes and most recently, One Fifth Avenue.

Well, Candace has a new book coming out which I’ve read and am very excited about because its a “Young Adult” title, and it’s a) smart, b) funny and c) not about vampires. It’s called The Carrie Diaries. It’s about Carrie Bradshaw when she was in high school, before she got all boy crazy and shoe-obsessed. It comes out at the end of April so keep your eyes open for it.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses Tagged With: dogs, friends, tricks

Indulge Me

February 16, 2010 by Ann Leary 69 Comments

I’m a little hesitant to blog about our puppy AGAIN. You all will tell me if I’m getting to be a bore, right? I feel like the annoying mom who keeps showing pictures of her baby to all her friends. But just …please :

This was Holly before our hike today. Yes, she likes to sleep on the center console of the car! Here you can see how she rests her hind feet on my legs and sleeps against the gear shift. I think she likes the vibration:

I know. I know.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses Tagged With: dogs, friends

Say Cheese!

November 18, 2009 by Ann Leary 56 Comments

I was in the city today and had plans to meet a friend for lunch. I noticed that the stores on Fifth Avenue already have their holiday decorations up. Seemed odd on such a mild day. But beautiful.

I drove past this little park on East 51st street that I had never seen before:

Filed Under: Just Nothing (really, nothing), Stuff I Did Tagged With: friends

Bewitched

November 15, 2009 by Ann Leary 54 Comments

malti2

On Friday, I drove to Glastonbury, CT to meet up with three old friends – Jackie and Jill Desrochers and Wendy O’Connor. We all first became friends when I moved to Marblehead, MA, in the 8^th grade. Jackie, Wendy and I used to ride together and Wendy went on to become a rather successful young eventer and then she moved to Ireland after college. Though Wendy and I have stayed more or less in touch, I haven’t seen Jackie or Jill since junior high school. That’s Jill on the far left, Wendy, me and Jackie.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Husband, Stuff I Did Tagged With: dogs, friends, horses, Husband

Hag Alert

November 8, 2009 by Ann Leary 44 Comments

Today I received an email from the original man of the blog himself, our very own Alan, who very gently and quietly reminded me that his friend, author David K. Leff, would be reading and signing books at my favorite bookstore this afternoon. So off I went at 2:00 to hear David Leff talk about his book, Deep Travel: In Thoreau’s Wake on the Concord and Merrimack. His talk and his book are about what he calls, “a methodology for looking.” They’re about looking mindfully at the everyday places and things and thereby gaining an understanding of their history and man’s part in it.

Filed Under: Hags, Bats, etc, Literary stuff Tagged With: friends, hags, poetry, writers

The Psychiatrist is In

November 1, 2009 by Ann Leary 64 Comments

Photo by Devin Leary

We have had a lovely fall weekend, despite the fact that Denis wasn’t here. Dev and I went into the city to attend the birthday party of our longtime friend Richard LaGravenese. Richard and Denis went to college together and then Richard wrote the movie, The Ref, which Denis starred in with Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis. Since The Ref, we have remained very good friends with Richard, his wife Ann, and their daughter Lily, who is the same general age as our kids..

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Husband, Shrinks, Stuff I Did Tagged With: dogs, friends, horses

Baskets of Rubies

October 26, 2009 by Ann Leary 41 Comments

Photo by Phil Holland

I can’t bear to have that depressing grey photo in the previous entry appear at the top of my page. Not with that depressing grey header. Fortunately, my friend, poet/professor Phil Holland has just emailed me these beautiful photographs from Greece.

He wrote, “On a warm day like this you can almost hear the pomegranates slowly ripping apart to expose their seeds like the baskets of rubies in the Sultan’s old palace in Istanbul.”

Very nice.

Photo by Phil Holland

Filed Under: Very Important Stuff Tagged With: beauty, friends

A Good Mother

October 25, 2009 by Ann Leary 55 Comments

peanut 2 The other day, I visited my friend Charlotte. Why? Because Charlotte rescues dogs from a kill shelter and one of her recent rescues just had a litter of puppies.

As many of you know, Denis has put a freeze on the acquistion of new dogs in the Leary household. The kids and I are always whining about getting a new dog, but Denis always brings us around to his sensible viewpoint, which is that we have a very amiable pack at present, never a growl or raised hackle between them. They’re all trained and relatively well-behaved and there is almost enough room in the bed for Denis and me to stretch out between them at night.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Husband, Stuff I Did Tagged With: babies, friends

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