It's is pre-dawn and the light in my bedroom is dim and placid. The house is quiet and my computer hums warm on my lap. In this moment, this space, even in my messy room, feels sacred, holy, set apart from the buzz of the everyday. Don't you just love it when that happens?

Ilva from the Swedish-Italian food blog Lucullian Delights is busy-busy-busy -- which has got her to thinking about the slow life. Ilva writes: "... how slow should life be? what makes life a Slow Life and not just a boring life with few things happening?" ~ Join Ilva and others in a conversation about living a Slow Life BlogHer food editor Alanna Kellogg thinks fall recipes from her food column Kitchen Parade are the perfect way to slow life to a perfect pace.

Food blogs are everywhere, literally! I continue to be surprised how many there are, how good they are, how passionate they are -- and how much they reflect the 'fruit salad of our era', a mix-it-up world with people leaving their home countries for opportunity, love and work (both, yes, opportunities?) to live elsewhere, for awhile or for all time. So to mark Blog Day 2007, let me introduce you to some amazing 'fruit salad'.

Today's New York Times includes a cover photo of Alexandra Hai, Venice's first female gondolier. The story covers the gondoliers resistance to having a woman pollute their hereditary craft ("Let's leave just one tradition intact," said Mauro Morozini, a 48 year old gondolier) and charges that Ms. Hai is unfit to handle her craft, as she repeatedly failed exams. Hai claims that the exams were rigged for her to fail. She is only allowed to operate her gondola for a hotel and its guests, as per a court order.

Where to reach first, during summer? Apricots? Blueberries? Cherries? Dates? Eggfruit? (Yes, there really is such a thing, in the Caribbean.) Figs? Grapes? You get the fruit picture ... Food bloggers are reaching out with both hands, pulling delicious fruity baked goods from their ovens. Here're a few temptations ...