this week in the miniature sketchbook i’ve been painting vegetables. i’m trying to hypnotize myself into eating more of them.
i don’t recommend eating any toadstools like these anytime soon though.
until i took this photo and looked at it i had no idea… none. such a fine pairing!
i would like to paint more eggplantz. such a big glossy thing.
let me get sketchy with my big .8 pen. ahhhh that was nice.
and also.
there was a pink sky.
and a cat.
a splendid cup of aromatic tea from last summer’s trip to a bainbridge island yarn shoppe.
the knife-leaf acacia is blooming.
we’ve had no rain but it’s been bitterly cold by LA standards. the old windows in the classroom keeps things rather blowy. we all wear coats, gloves, scarves, hoods all day long.
at home i turn on all the heating devices, add thigh high leg warmers, and keep bundled up.
it is v.v.v. nice to walk in the hood on a cool sunny day with a jacket and scarf. i don’t recall it getting this cold last winter. hmmm…
and then on saturday i shot out of bed at 4:30ish and trixie and i hit the road. off we went into the soft black of morning.
i opened the moon roof and rode under a canopy of stars.
all the way to here.
perfect timing.
as i came into ventura and got my first glimpse of the ocean, dawn was still 25 minutes away. the water was white and looked like an enormous pearl.
soon i was at hendry’s and the sun had risen a tiny bit. the white of the water gave way to grey, lavendar, pink, blue. i had an urge to roll in the white sand on my back like a dog.
but instead i walked on and on and on. all the way to a blue cottage perched on a cliff.
i sat on their old stairs in the warmth of the sun.
took big lungfuls of cold air.
found glistening treasures there on the sand. for me!
the air was so cold but i was so happy to be alive. awake. HERE. in this place. mostly alone on the beach. that’s why i like to go at dawn. you get the place all to yourself.
and the birds.
pam loves the heart shaped rocks and i love to tease her about them. but i usually take pics and send them her way.
see if you can spy the little songbird on the top of the dried grass. singing away as the sun started to rise.
higher higher higher
soon there are long shadows and the water turns bluer.
some of the oyster shells light up like lanterns.
after i left the beach i drove around to my old haunts in montecito to make sure they were all still there after the devastating mudslides that claimed 21 lives in january. 1 or 2 are still missing and presumed dead. the damage is unbelievable. all those tons of mud and giant boulders will probably take years to clean up. the progress thus far is substantial, but seeing how high the mud reached into the trees, over bridges, through fences, and poured into homes was incredible. i didn’t expect it to still be so bad this many weeks later, but that many tons of mud takes many humans with many shovels and bulldozers a long long time to remove. crews were everywhere hard at work powerwashing cement, corralling boulders, moving debris, cleaning up mud.
i stopped at pierre la fond for a roll and coffee, sat out in my usual spot on the courtyard to write in my journal and process, think. dropped by the tecolote bookstore to give penny a big hug, but they weren’t open yet. went by josephine’s cottage i rented back in december. it narrowly missed the wide swaths of mud that slammed into houses mere blocks away. some parts of montecito look like they always have, but other parts are battered. houses demolished. the cottage i’ve rented a few times on cota lane looked as it ever did. nice to see some areas untouched.
i wanted to see what had happened with my own eyes, but i couldn’t bring myself to take a single photo. it feels like hallowed ground.
a write-up on some of the people who lost their lives.
if you’re familiar with montecito and want to know exactly which homes were demolished or which areas affected HERE is an excellent interactive map.
hope you’re well dears. enjoying all your moments big and small. see you soon. xo
Hi Mary Ann,
I can very much relate to the damage in Montecito. I’m not sure if Houston will ever be the same again. The house where my children grew up flooded with Hurricane Harvey and much of the neighborhood is still devastated now even 6 months later. There are some people living upstairs while their downstairs is being renovated but many of the houses are empty. Most of the yards have huge scarred mud spots where there used to be beautiful green lawns with little flower beds and green shrubbery. There are still some yards with piles of junk that was hauled out of the wet muck and others just damaged and left barren after finally just in the last month or so having the trash hauled away out of the neighborhood by huge dump trucks full of ruin.
Our house is almost finished but it has been a long journey with many hiccups. We are lucky that we have not been living there; the home was rented at the time of the flood. Finally after waiting for weeks our granite was installed in the kitchen and master bathroom. We went to check out the progress only to find that the wrong granite was put in the bathroom and now we will get in line to wait again to have the mistake corrected. Grrrr…. But it is getting closer…
Thank you for your lovely photos and writing
Susan
Thank you for taking us along to the beach. Many of the things that catch your eye would surely catch mine, too, if I were there in person. Thank you.
I am happy to hear that you are at a magical favorite location refilling your soul. Being a loner, I can appreciate your solo walks and meanderings. For me the beach is my best place for reflection. To have other humans there interrupts the sounds…of the surf, the birds, the trees rustling. I don’t want anything to mar those sounds. I hope you are able to just be there and savor every smell, taste, sight, and perhaps capture some of it in your sketchbook. Your photos always transport me there though. You are a skilled photographer. I always enjoy the LIGHT in your photos, such as the brilliant yellow of those trees/shrubs. They just glow. Light is currently at a minimum in WA state right now. Soon, though.
I followed the fires/mudslides in your area, and was so sad for the loss of lives, and the loss of natural beauty of the area. You are right…hallowed ground.
Be well, and enjoy, MAM.
thanks karen dear 🙂 xo
I am very tired of sketching apples, pears, tomatoes and bananas, but I also realize I don’t eat enough different types of sketchable produce. I would love to sketch an eggplant, but I really, really hate eating them. So then I’d feel wasteful tossing it after sketching it. I have a heavy heart for those lost in Montecito. It must be especially hard for you since you have that personal connection to a place you love.
– Tina
i diced mine up, roasted, ate with marinara sauce. yummy, but if you don’t like you can always draw from a photo.
1) is the tea good? I love earl grey / bergamot
2) I’m glad you didn’t take any pictures at Montecito. How heartbreaking. It sounded like the pilgrimage was just the right thing for you though.
tea is fragrant and wonderful… 🙂
I’m a vegetarian who doesn’t much like vegetables. Tee hee! However, I LUUUUURVVVE eggplant, especially broiled, then topped with guacamole. Try it! Let me know how you like it!
sounds good i’ll try it! i roasted mine then added it to some spicy marinara sauce. tasted like eggplant parm without the cheese. strange but true!
Mary Ann, Your writing touched my soul this morning. No matter who your parents were – we are related. The beach at dawn heals and nurtures me, the grief for ‘Montecito,’ is alive, your bell pepper made me itch to paint again. I’m at a writing conference in Austin and I’m alive to the words of my heart. Thank you.
oh do enjoy your writing time lori. sounds wonderful. when i retire i will get off to one of those 🙂
I keep thinking of you and your students in your blowy classroom wearing coats, gloves, scarves and hoods all day long. All of you. I am laughing and imagining a children’s picture book with that specific image in your style of sketching and painting. Hilarious! A wonderful post, even with the sad part about Montecito. ❤️
hee hee! now that you mention it i can picture it too!
i wore a giant long wooly sweater coat thing yesterday that i never wear in public and the boys from kazakhstan approved mightily of it!
Beautiful beautiful photos 💖
hi clare!
Thanks for the thoughts and info on the Montecito damage. Our group is moving our annual retreat to another Montecito location. We’re wondering if La Casa De Maria will ever be the same lovely place that we have loved for the past 44 years. I was in Montecito earlier this month, but didn’t have the heart to drive to the mudslide areas. Also, I didn’t want to chance my car getting in the way of the cleanup and reconstruction crews. I’m going back in a couple of weeks. If I didn’t have my husband with me (he doesn’t like to walk), I’d park at Pierre La Fond and walk up the road.
I just heard rain on our skylight in Rowland Heights–hurray! I do hope those fire areas are OK.
very few people toodling around before 9 am
the rain was brief out here prob will result in much less than 1/2 an inch, but it was so nice for the gardens
i’m sure the people of santa barbara & ventura counties feel anxious at even a little..:-(