pssst….i zipped away to the coast for a few days, but i’m heading home tomorrow. needed to dip my paws in the mighty pacific. it’s essential that i escape as much as possible before my life as a free bird comes to an end. my life on the lam set to expire in less than 2 weeks with the start of the school year. i have yet to receive my assignment so where i land is a Big Mystery at this point.
i do love a good mystery…
Speaking of which if you need a good summer read i recommend before the fall by neal hawley. nancy mentioned it to me before i left for sweden. well i just finished it here in my coastal hidey hole and thought i’d toss it out there. nothing like a little reading retreat to tie up loose… book ends, as it were. now i’m starting on the stack that sara sent me. by that i mean i will crack one open and it will take me a month to finish it. i seem to read in fits and starts. this is mostly due to all the rabbit hole land mines that await me at every turn. distraction i know your name!
here are some more pics from stockholm.
yeah. it was a total cake walk. by now you can see that for yourself. travel for me is an extended art retreat. art, walk, eat, nap, boatrides, gardens, views, busses. i will not be trekking to the amazon anytime soon and i can’t go anywhere that requires more than an 11 hour plane ride. i live for COMFORT. although i will not cross a walking trip to the cotswolds off my list anytime soon. i’ll have to go with my sister though. left to my own devices i could get distracted by some clotted cream and spotted dick very easily.
i may have already mentioned this in my last stockholm post, i don’t know and i’m too lazy to go back and check, but my small travel journal was fantastic! all future traveling sketchbooks will be of similar size. i also probably mentioned that i love my light-weight cheap travel palette of watercolors. so easy to tote along.
i realize i’m not blogging about stockholm. you’ll have to go read my sister’s blog for that because apparently i have other, far more important claptrap to relay to you.
yes. i really wore purple tennis shoes, a floral windbreaker, my trusty white hat, and a mismatched scarf through the streets of stockholm. oy. vey.
how nice it was to pull our journals out of our bags wherever we landed on our daily walkabouts to sketch & write. thankfully there were the most convenient benches & tables everywhere it seemed. my sister and i are the perfect travel companions. we are in sync. our napping & resting rhythms in perfect harmony. more itinerary driven types would want to wring our necks.
did i already mention that ingrid came to visit us? what lovely time we had together. she was deathly ill, so we only had 1 day together, but it was a wonderful one.
speaking of ingrid, her house was used in a volvo ad. how cool is that?
see that cute doggy. that’s moppe. and that little house they’re strolling by is the one i stayed in last summer.
thaz it for this installment. just a little swedish postcard. sent from somewhere by the sea in california. see you soon!
So- if you ever need s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y older travel companion, call me! I’m there, because I love your style and your schedule!
You have turned us all into armchair travelers. Thank you always, for remarkable pictures and humorous dialogue. Having taught for most of my adult life, I know the feeling of anticipating the upcoming school year. I will say this: YOUR students are lucky and will always remember you for your empathy and understanding.
Welcome home ! i loved your video postcards from sweden and maybe i was there with you in the gardens sometimes even if you did not see me, and with such lovely cakes, real or watercolors painted, i am sure you will be the princess in the class wherever you will be !
Hello! What lovely pastries and cookies! I would be unable to control myself and would fall into sugar shock, I am certain.
If you are thinking of going to the Cotswolds, you might want to take this tour: http://www.cotswoldtourismtours.co.uk/ It can be a nice non-walking addition to a walking tour. I wavered about taking the tour but I LOVED it and the Cotswolds are STUNNING. I did not want to leave, but it was a day trip.
Sorry I may have missed this in earlier posts, but what size are your new journals? For my trip to London, I did what you did in Venice, and I did find copying the handwritten stuff over a bit arduous. However, having had bad back troubles when I was there, I probably could not have carried a journal around with me. I need to work on my core muscles, my doctor says!
Have a great day!
how i wish one’s core muscles would strengthen by eating cake.
ever so much thanks for the cotswolds link!!!
my journal was approx. 5 x 7
if you have to put together your travel journal after-the-fact it might be worth it to carry along a slim pocket size notebook to write down everything “live” – then come home and create a travel journal with just images and occasional “headlines”, but no journal writing. perhaps the little notebook could be attached to your larger book…just brainstorming.
Thank you, MAM. I like that idea about attaching the little book to the big book. I could make a special pocket for it.
My London journal is about 6″ x 8″ and growing fatter by the day!
Ah yes, cake…my great weakness.
You are welcome re: the Cotswolds.
Hi Mary Ann! So glad you’ve been enjoying your travels, abroad and up the coast. Love your pics and your banter. We could be friends if I lived nearby, at least I hope! It’s so nice that you and sis are such compatible travelers. When school starts, it will also be fun to see your comments about what’s going on with the children. Best to you!
p.s. Still want to start up my new blog, but what to do, what to do?
you must start it. AT ONCE!
in the words of the greek god nike, “just do it!”
Mary Ann, I love to travel the way you and Carol do, leaving yourself open to serendipitous happenings, taking time to smell the roses and drink the …coffee, wine, what have you. I like to get a feel for what it must be like to live there and sometimes I even see the tourist attractions – I spent a day at the Tower in London, but I also took a red bus tour. Sweden may have to appear on my list since I have had such a lovely introduction to it.
thank you caroline dear, sometimes we see tourist attractions too.
no travel snob i.
each traveler is required to do things that cause the most delight.
period.
go to sweden! your pleasure is guaranteed!
I adore your travels and your conveyance of your wanderings to us via the blog. But I’m wondering when we can ALL go with you. Can’t we find a nice size home in Sweden to share where we can all journal and eat cake (preferably NOT spotted dick!) and roam aimlessly around the neighborhoods? And we could PAY you to be our “Joy Guide” (definition: one who is capable of finding and sharing joy with others). Sister could come along too! Just something to think about as you ponder your future. And ours. No pressure….
Fabulous! I devoured and re-devoured every picture.
Thank you!
Spotted Dick sounds awful, looks worse and the recipe indicates I am correct. Please forgive me if it turns out you like it, but judging from your (numerous) cake photos from Stockholm, I’ll be surprised if you do!!
Loving your blog since 2006!
but gwen. i always wanted to use the words “spotted dick” in a sentence. and this afforded me the perfect opportunity.
no food containing suet will every pass my lips.
i don’t think.
Yes, I also would love to have occasion to use “spotted dick” in a sentence! My father once wanted me to make a suet pudding his grandmother used to make, and I couldn’t do it…