All is well here at Moss Cottage. Summer arrived and with it mountains of rose petals. Not from my own garden, but from Pam’s. She came bearing gifts the week after I left the hospital. Roses for each room in all my favorite colors. Along with some old white vases that I’m crazy about.
They will be perfect still-life props for upcoming drawing and painting sessions. I haven’t picked up a brush or pen in weeks, but I’m eager to get back to a daily practice.
Now that school is officially out for the summer I have the time and energy to devote to the unhurried practice of sketchbookery. How nice it is to spend time with other vaccinated humans immersed in art-making. How nice to have a long break from active duty. Instead of driving to work in the morning, my chariot turns towards the wild arroyo where I can walk under the oak and sycamore-lined streets. Past gardens where sage and gardenia bloom. My feet carry me along leave-strewn paths overlooking a small canyon. My eyes scanning for large and small mammals, kestrels, hawks, ravens.
On a walk a few weeks ago, I came across a bobcat drinking water from a large stone birdbath. She watched me as I watched her. For 10 minutes I kept still, absorbed in observation. It was my first experience of seeing a bobcat in the wild. Thrilling!
I had oral surgery 2 weeks after my hospital stint. 1 more week and the stitches from that will be removed and I will be nearly a whole person again. Sans one front tooth. My implant screw will not be ready for a tooth (crown) until December. If you have to choose between a sinus augmentation via a vertical route or a blood transfusion, endoscopy, colonoscopy, and 4-days in the hospital. Choose the latter. If you have to get both done in the same month, don’t panic. You can do it. As with most things, it’s best not to overthink.
No cause was ever found for my upper G.I. bleed, but it is believed to be a result of NSAIDS. A quick google search will demonstrate just how common it is.
I’ve had a flurry of emails lately inquiring about my health so I’ll spell it out for you. I A M F I N E. Good, in fact. I’m not regularly on Facebook so if you’ve messaged me there it’s probably gone unanswered. If I didn’t return your email, you’ll excuse me. I decided to update everyone at the same time with my monthly blog post.
I seem to be a found chair magnet, so when I saw this street art in my hood I knew it was meant for me. Here in the city of angels, chairs congregate by the curbs like orphans waiting patiently for their new owners to adopt, collect, and take them home.
2 more came home with me on a recent evening reconnaissance mission. They were heavy, wooden, very sturdy, and perfect for the porch.
On Sunday I freshened them up with several coats of Greek-island-blue paint.
My new adoptees are divine. I love them and have spent long moments gazing at them. If you come for a visit your tuchus can get acquainted with them. Those with more generous proportions will appreciate the large seat bottom. Memory foam cushions are on their way!
You’re welcome.
And…when I’m not staring at the chairs, I’m watching my epiphylums grow. I dumped the old pots out completely and started over with cuttings last summer. No blooms this year, but the leaves are incredible and healthy.
This is what I’ll be doing all summer: noticing. Everything. Every single thing under the sun. Recording my observations in my writing journal.
I have no plans. Just the usual reading, writing, drawing, painting, walking, living.
Moss Cottage hums softly, gladdened by my steady presence.
I sat in the chair below and drank prosecco in a friend’s garden recently. The world is opening. Next year we’ll probably be back to international travel. We’ll see.
I’m a big believer and supporter of vaccinations. If you were able to get one, thanks for helping the world recover from this virus. It’s a humanitarian mission to which I am happy to contribute.
My awesome neighbor Susan lives inside an art museum. True, her floor tiles have a vaguely cornavirussy appearance, but they’re lovely aren’t they?
I love to go for visits. Which will be happening more often now.
It’s Jacaranda season in LA.
A regular purple wonderland. Just in time for my 2-month summer vacation from working life.
I sincerely hope you are well. Baking cakes, taking naps, riding horses, striding along the shore, collecting shells and pinecones and feathers, playing with kittens, rowing your boats through calm waters, holding hands or basking in solitude, rolling out tortillas, digging in your gardens, watching bees.
Let me know.
ON MY BOOKSHELF
I can unequivocally recommend each of these 5 books that I have enjoyed in the last month or so since my last post. Thanks so much to whomever recommended Miss Benson’s Beetle to me a couple of posts back. A delightful page-turner, that one. I’m always on the lookout for character-driven stories featuring mature single women that do not contain a romantic sub-plot.
The Diane Setterfield novels feel like fairytales. They are glistening and exceedingly well-written. The way she strings words together is marvelous.
As always, I welcome book recommendations. Especially those in the literary fiction category.
