This is not a lament, though we have just lived through the largest blizzard on record — by every measure: snowfall, wind, the long howl of it. For now, my state is shuttered.…

The snow that fell two weeks ago has hardened into something glassy and unyielding, not unlike the cooled lava I once walked near in Hawaii—beautiful, fixed, and everywhere. It presses against roads and…

These two make me smile. They are clearly at a real, old-fashioned New Year’s Eve party—dressed to the nines, party makers in hand. I love the idea of it far more than the…

This may not look like a Christmas image, at least not in the way you’ve come to expect from A Lovely Inconsequence. But let me explain. The photograph is of Meryl Streep in…

This image calls to mind so many of the things I loved about the Christmas gifts my mother chose for me during my teenage years. The dolls and bassinets had quietly slipped away,…

I love these two friends. paused together before a shop window at Christmas. Their delight is unmistakable—faces softened by wonder, shoulder to shoulder in shared pleasure. Even now, with Christmas Day behind us,…

If you’ve come this far, you’ve earned your elegant arabesque. At last, with Christmas Eve upon us, we may lower our guard; whatever remains unfinished no longer matters. Take a breath. Christmas morning…

This may well be an AI-generated image, or at least one that has been idealized. Still, I am drawn to it for its unmistakably female point of view. The women feel almost like…

Being a grandmother, I now feel Christmas, most keenly through grandmotherhood—which is a love that is both deep and light, rooted and buoyant. There is a particular joy in seeing the season through…

The pink-frosted lipstick, the ballet-pink bouclé coat, the bejeweled buttons—each whispers Christmas, with a softer, more feminine key. I have always loved pink, and at this time of year it feels especially enchanting,…

There’s a memory I treasure from another place and year…Of a Christmas far too beautiful to ever disappear.  ~ E.B. White This is a Christmas card I received years ago, yet it has…

Painted nails have never been a strong suit of mine as much as I admire them on others.  Always feeling antsy in a manicurist chair and not liking the damage I’ve seen on…