Like the best of love stories, these essays are quietly instructive.... They help us watch the slow things, to celebrate the perennials that return and to mourn the migrating birds that do not. They remind us of what fragile and enduring gifts we have been given, and how temporary is our sojourn among them. And finally, they move us to consider and to tend to our own homes -- to the land they rest on, and to the selves that reside in their many rooms. from the Introduction to The Earth at Our Doorstep With loving attention to the physical and spiritual dimensions of their own home ground, twenty-six contemporary writers explore the intricate relationships they have built with the places in which they live. These eloquent essays honor a rich variety of locales: from the city of Oakland to a remote Wyoming ridgetop, from the snowbound Adirondacks to the rainy cliffs of Maui, from a farm in the heart of the Midwest to an island in Puget Sound. Whether written about the author's birthplace or a newly found shelter in unfamiliar territory, each of these pieces celebrates the places we cherish as home.