Hi there. I’m Carolyn, a photographer, writer and cook living in Michigan, in the town I grew up in, where I didn’t expect to live again. To sum myself up, here are ten random things about me.

1. In my twenties and thirties I lived in seven states all around the country. Now in my forties I’m back where I started.

2. I am a first generation Michigander with an East Coast soul.

3. I have been to all of the lower 48s except for Florida. Which essentially means I am the only Michigander who’s never been to Florida, it is the way most people survive winter. I have yet to meet anyone of my kind.

4. I once drove from Minneapolis to Seattle without any way to listen to music. I don’t recommend it. It takes about 14 hours for the beauty of the landscape to distract you from the silence.

5. In Catholic grade school I was told I had to speak in tongues in order to go to recess. I became fluent in pretending.

6. One of the most fulfilling friendships of my life was with my great aunt who lived to be 97. She was a true girlfriend all the way to the end.

7. Cooking for other people fills up my soul in a way nothing else does.

8. I used to be intimidated by baking until I realized most baking mistakes still taste pretty good. Except for the time my son added a handful of salt to his dad’s birthday cake when I wasn’t looking. An unexpected birthday surprise.

9. I have been keeping a cooking journal for ten years. I didn’t think much of it at the beginning but it has turned into a time capsule of my life and I am eternally grateful to my younger self for starting it.

10. As I write this I am sitting on my screened porch on a warm fall day. If I had to choose between a deck, patio or screened porch, I’d choose the porch every time. It is truly an outdoor living room.