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Dispatch from LA

MARY ANN MOSS

if you plant it they will come

this may be the most expensive mug i’ve ever purchased, but i am cherishing my very first susan branch mug and what’s more, i’m using it every single evening.

the bone china is paper thin and almost transparent in the late afternoon sunlight!

i’m the happy owner of some new perennials for planting in the garden under my window and along my long fence.  milkweed provides much needed food and shelter for monarchs, in fact it’s the only thing the monarch caterpillars will eat.   so i’m doing my part to help them on their long journeys north and south.  from november till march or so they overwinter in eucalyptus and pine trees along the california coast.

i dusted off my gouache and painted some of the plants on thick black paper.

their migration is 1800 miles long and it takes a few generations to make the trip.  they say about milkweed, if you plant it, they will come.”  since i only bought one plant it may take awhile, but i am patient.

in other news, i sent out another batch of mailart.  i jump at the chance to use my new address stamps which i acquired from 2 impress on etsy.  v.v. pleased with both of my stamps!

guess what?!  caylee left a kind offer in the comments of my last post and translated a few pages of elke-maria’s travel journal!

here is caylee’s translation of a selection of 4 pages i sent her from the beginning, middle, and end of the travel journal.  thank you so much caylee!  you’ve made elke-maria live again through her writing.  i can’t thank you enough!

enjoy reading everyone.

this evening begins rosh hashanah.  shanah tovah! my jewish friends. xo

sending much love to mexico city and everywhere else on the globe where mother nature is wreaking havoc.  goodnight dear people.

the translation

Throughout my whole school life I wished for a multi day school trip. It’s finally here, in my last school year, an eight day summer trip planned. Where? Ya where! In previous years, we went on a Rhine trip (like, the river). However, this time it was to expensive, so we had to completely drop that plan. This change brought all of our travel ideas to the question: “If we had enough money, could we go on a big trip at all?”. So we figured that we would start saving on 19 Aug 1949. And so every child in the class was required to save his money weekly. A class club was created to pool together this money, write it in a Class Savings Book and take that to the bank. From there we’d first hear if we really get started with our trip. Yes, and where should we go? Not to the Rhine, that was initially too expensive for us, and not to Amrum (German North Sea that’s really popular), although we later planned it, just without the List auf Sylt (village near the North Sea ). Oh, how big and how beautiful our excitement (Vorfreude, like happiness in advance)!
 
2. 
we were allowed eight long days on the North Sea! On 1 July 1950, we trekked our big trip with the train (still called Bundesbahn!), and came back on 8 July. I had seized the prize in the lucky dip. I was in a dream, for my last school trip, we would go to the Friesian islands, Sylt and Föhr. I will write about my most beautiful memory about this vacation time in this book. 
 
With all our bags, like laden animals, we heaved (?) to the Itzehoe train station (it seems she is from north Germany, which would match her dialect). Most parents guarded their little cakes from the platform, and wanted to come with. I made a snapshot of that. The time until our train finally came was longer than the actual trip. Tssssssshhhhhh… finally our train came to a stop at the platform. For the 8 girls in the class there was a whole cabin reserved. And we went in. 
 
 
3.
After a week of very heartwarming vacation life, it says to me: “Farewell to List!”. I didn’t drive directly home, without more beautiful holiday days on Föhr before me. Therefore the farewell to List was not so heavy. Beautifully rested and tanned, we drove in our Bimmelbähnchen (a small train that’s really popular in German waterside towns) to Westerland, the first train change. 
 
4. 
where the East coast Flachland is. After half an hour pause, we drove again. In Western, the sun set into the sea. A beautiful view of the sun setting! It became dark immediately, suddenly consuming the Western in a flash. The captain educated me about the big Amrum Lighthouse. It was also now cold, so I saw the inside of the ship. When I came back to the top I saw the long beach Promenade of Wyk all lit up. Another small route and our steamboat was on the Wyk Pier. I took my bag onto land and was excited that I would be fetched. Even though it was already dark, I can remember that Föhr was the most fertile of all the North Friesian Islands, right there on the Wyker streets stood trees.

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Comments

  1. The translation really brought the journal to life! Reminded me that she was a real person. What a treasure.

  2. You have once again outdone yourself sister! That butterfly milkweed is stupendous. the leaves the leaves the leaves the leaves!!!!! you kill me.

  3. Your mail art is stunning, made more so by those stamps!! Though I have two address stamps already, I may get one of these. Thank you for sharing!!

  4. Really do love your mailart and journal, Mary Ann. Beautiful to look at. Glad Susan Branch has touched so many of us. She’s good people. Thanks for the Etsy stamp heads-up. I was looking for something new, and these are clever and cute. Always look forward to your posts.

  5. Yes they will come and they will devour that one plant!! So you might need a few more!! I planted milkweed a couple of years ago and they always come back!!!

  6. I held off buying the very expensive cup till it was too late! Boy did I have non-buyer’s remorse! Then, lo, she announced a limited number of 2nds were available so I wasted no time! I have a very good excuse for buying one even though the cupboards at Longears are full: It slides perfectly under the new real espresso maker my son gave me! It’s such a good excuse and I’m so happy with the cup that I’m already planning to buy one of the next group…after all, what if the first cup is dirty and I need something to drink? Work with me. Please.

  7. This is wonderful! What fun to read the translation!
    I too love Susan Branch. I have one of her Christmas books, plus the one about her trip to England.
    Off to Etsy!

  8. What a fun post! I love your gouache paintings and your journal page with all the red, your Susan Branch mug (been a fan of hers for 20+ years), and the translation of some of Elke’s diary. I sit here with the door to the screened porch open, pouring in cold, crisp air and raven calls, so Boo the cat can be out there watching his world.

  10. I love Susan’s blog, books, signature products – plus, she’s such a genuinely nice, caring person. I’ve been writing about Monarchs and pollinators and nectar-producing plants and pesticides for some time. Last year, I helped an organization establish a Monarch waystation, which is thriving. This enables them to register their waystation on the national registry. As you know, I’m sure, one of the keys is to buy organic, untreated seeds and plants. East of the Mississippi, Monarch numbers are significantly diminishing. Love all your art and musings Miss Mary Ann – you always brighten my day!

  11. I LOVE your Susan Branch cup… she’s an artist/author that I’ve been following for years. Way before the Internet even. I remember in the “olden days” we used to get her famous “Willard” newsletter as snail mail. So much fun!

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