Victoria Williams' Sweet Visions

VICTORIA WILLIAMS resides on the second story of a rustic, wood-framed house, with a back porch that overlooks a sloping garden full of giant chard plants, purple-hulled peas, squash, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. "I must have had 200 meals out of that garden last year," she says. Her old dog, Belle, rests in the shade. The air feels fresh and trees rustle in the wind. It's the kind of country idyll her fans might easily imagine for Williams, whose songs frequently contrast the perfection of nature with the foibles of humanity. With one twist: She is living in the middle of Los Angeles.