You can leave Belvedere and Tiburon, but Belvedere-Tiburon never leaves you. Paige Peterson discovered that when she moved to New York City. For many years now, she has visited Belvedere, where she stays with her mother in the house her grandfather built on the Belvedere Lagoon.Paige and her sister packed sandwiches in paper bags and rode off on their bikes to explore the Tiburon Peninsula. Swimming, sailing, hiking, clamming, daredevil bike riding-their day was a long, unsupervised adventure. There was no interaction with parents until the Tiburon Fire Department blew the 4:30 whistle, signaling that it was time to head home. Her family's photographs confirm the story of fit, sun-kissed kids enjoying a charmed, idyllic childhood.Dave Gotz, the Archivist for the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society, deepens that personal story with archival photographs. His captions reveal his extensive knowledge of Tiburon Peninsula history: Mexican Ranchos, Portuguese dairymen, the many changes on Beach Road, Main Street, the Lagoon and the Cove, the importance of the railroad.Along the way, Paige and Dave showcase some of the area's remarkable characters. Tiburon's "Goat Lady," who so loved nature that she donated her land for open space. Blackie the horse. The artists who lived on West Shore and created a bohemian colony. And the residents of Belvedere and Tiburon who, again and again, rallied to protect open land and the special charm of their towns.Taken together, Paige's cinematic stories and Paige and Dave's curated images and capsule histories deliver an authoritative portrait of a historically diverse community.

Tiburon and Belvedere share the same spectacular peninsula jutting into San Francisco Bay from Marin County, California. With water on three sides, fabulous views everywhere, and San Francisco a 30-minute ferry ride away, these two communities have become highly desirable places to live. Historian Branwell Fanning, twice mayor of Tiburon, using his own collection and the archives of the Belvedere/Tiburon Landmarks Society, describes the areas transition from dairy ranches, railroad yards, military bases, and cod fisheries, to charming villages filled with homeowners.

Born on the Kansas plains, Blackie likes to stay in one place rather than risk missing anything, but is gently pursuaded to try his hoof as a rodeo horse, a ranger's mount in Yosemite National Park, and a town mascot on the California coast, and finds love wherever he stands.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed author of Bird by Bird comes a personal, wise, very funny, and “life-affirming” book (People) that shows us how to find meaning and hope through shining the light of faith on the darkest part of ordinary life. "Anne Lamott is walking proof that a person can be both reverent and irreverent in the same lifetime. Sometimes even in the same breath." —San Francisco Chronicle Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh, well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and describes God as "one crafty mother." Despite—or because of—her irreverence, faith is a natural subject for Anne Lamott. Since Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, her fans have been waiting for her to write the book that explained how she came to the big-hearted, grateful, generous faith that she so often alluded to in her two earlier nonfiction books. The people in Anne Lamott's real life are like beloved characters in a favorite series for her readers—her friend Pammy, her son, Sam, and the many funny and wise folks who attend her church are all familiar. And Traveling Mercies is a welcome return to those lives, as well as an introduction to new companions Lamott treats with the same candor, insight, and tenderness. Lamott's faith isn't about easy answers, which is part of what endears her to believers as well as nonbelievers. Against all odds, she came to believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. As she puts it, "My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers."