While the fields are fallow…
January arrives with a dusting of snow, along with seed catalogs and clothing brochures featuring bikinis I no longer wear and island gear that mocks the winter creep of wind and cold. The former makes my mouth water for the produce so bountifully photographed on page after page, while the latter creates an unreasonable desire to pack a backpack and head on down to the Keys. Since my first trip to Florida's string of low-lying islands for a writers' conference, I have itched to return. [...]