hello friends. how are you? i am fine.
do you remember when you were a kid starting letters that way to your relatives and penpals who lived over the river and through the woods and across the plains?
i do.
i’m still playing in my small sketchbook daily.
i’ve painted the (faux) brass clips a couple of times. it’s an enjoyable puzzle trying to capture the brass color & gleam. today i used black paper that i ended up cutting and pasting into my sketchbook.
i think i’ll paint another roll of washi tape next. or maybe one of my travel bottles of sea water. or my glasses. or a cat. or.
the birds are singing, the sun is shimmering, a breeze is moving through the windows.
my chalice vine is in bloom and my cheri hibiscus is covered in tangerine colored flowers.
i left the house early – out for a hill walk. i saw my old friends, a flock of red-crowned parrots, high up in a camphor tree (below) eating the dark purple berries it produces this time of year. i love spotting the wild flocks of parrots in my neighborhood. they are a raucous delight.
armed only with my iphone, i didn’t get a clear shot, but see if you can spot the parrot in the photo below!
here’s a great video of parrots of california if you’re interested.
i’m in training for the bavarian alps in early summer. not sure that the hills of highland park will adequately prepare me, but it certainly can’t hurt!
too bad there aren’t any freezing plunge pools i can dip into every night in preparation for swimming in some alpine lakes. i suppose one cannot prepare for every potential adventure though can one?
i’ve started a new book after having listened to 2 rather bad ones in a row. i love that audible lets you return anything you deem unsatisfactory without asking any questions. my returns are all legitimate, but i have done it quite a few times! i’m not sure that i should mention the 2 i found so idiotic, since reading tastes vary so widely. i almost never find reviews useful. if you want to avoid misfortune and you happen to have identical taste to mine i can let you know in the comments if anyone asks…
in any case this is what i’m listening to now.
a story about a reclusive weirdo. right up my alley!
okay you crazy kids, i’m outta here! take care and keep in touch.
p.s. in case you missed them HERE and HERE are some v.v. good posts my sister wrote about our recent time together!
Oops! Never try to comment while riding (not driving) in a moving vehicle. I can’t seem to hit the right keys in the above message 🙀.
I love the video of the parrots. How much fun to see them on your walks. CA is so nice this time of year. We have had s lot of rain but warmer weather than last year, thankfully. Your little paintings get my creative juices flowing. ThNks as I have been LAc in that lately.
Really enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant! Also right up my alley.
It always makes me happy to see your flowers and the lovely California scenes, and of course your art journals!
I love those little daily paintings! And the parrot thing was like a Where’s Waldo. I used to keep all sorts of birds in aviaries – it fascinates me to think of them living wild in places around the world. Mine were all domestic bred. My best buddy was a Pacific Parrotlet, a parrot the size of a thumb in the same family as the huge Amazons. He had the feisty personality of the big guys. He’d sidle up to my ear and say, “I love you” in his wee sing-song voice.
I gave up on a really really dull book recently. I’m sorry I paid $16.95 for it. I rarely buy books anymore because the library is cheaper, the library needs everyone’s business, and I might be moving and don’t want to add to the stuff I have to move!
I’m jealous of your neighborhood parrot flocks, so colorful and gregarious, out of cages and able to live naturally. I would be interested in the two novels that you thought were disappointing. I have a weakness for English mysteries, and am currently listening to Charles Todd’s latest “Racing the Devil.” Funnily enough, both he and Deborah Crombie, another favorite “English” mystery writer, are both Americans. Oh, also checked out the latest in the Durrell in Corfu trilogy from my local library. I agree with you. It is absolutely charming. Have a good week at school. I understand; I was an elementary school teacher for many years.
“Before We Were Yours” and “The Alice Network”
I finished the first, but overall just thought the writing was poor. The second I couldn’t even get through it. Both had rave reviews, but just weren’t my thang.
re: books
yes, please
“Before We Were Yours” and “The Alice Network”
How wonderful to live somewhere you can go out for a walk and see wild parrots!! The Bavarian alps sounds like a great adventure and I love all your little daily drawings–especially the cats and the clips!!
Oh thanks Janet, The parrots are so playful and loud. v.v. charming!
Hi Mary Ann,
What I remember from long ago was writing notes back and forth in 2nd grade to would be boyfriends.
I like you.
Do you like me?
[ ] Yes [ ] No
What a fun thing thing to recall after all these years! My mother actually kept a love letter I got one summer from a hopeful suitor. It went something along the lines of the example I gave. I don’t know whatever happened to that letter but sure wish I had it now. Happy memories of childhood.
On another subject, your flowers are just lovely. I must admit to a tiny bit of jealousy because we are having real winter this year. A cold front came through at the end of December and honestly, everything in our yard looks like it was hit with a blow torch! Well, except for one lone nandina bush that has red berries. Everything else is brown and crunchy. Not to worry though. By March or April, things will green up and put fresh shoots out to let us know the cold didn’t nip them completely to death! Azaleas typically bloom here in April and seems like every home from the lowliest little shotgun house to the mini-mansions on the bayou have a few of the colorful plants.
Thanks for your updates and photos. They keep us wondering where your next grand adventure will be!
i do love the azaleas especially when they have that divine light fresh scent that some do…
direct 2nd grade communication. we seem to get away from that as grownups. sometimes to our detriment 🙂
your spring will be a wonderland of green
It took me a few minutes but I found the parrot! This morning, I went outside in the freezing cold and heard two small woodpeckers tapping and drilling into my black walnut tree. I am on the lookout for robins, but alas, the groundhog is not as eager as I am for spring. At least I have woodpeckers.
I am always interested in your book recommendations. I am listening to Amy Snow right now and like it. Eleanor Oliphant sounds intriguing, but I will wait to see how you like it.
Thank you for the pictures of blooming flowers and green foliage. I am so looking forward to no more snow. I will be leaving for Spain in a little over a week and am hoping that it is warmer there than in upstate NY. Cheers!
SPAIN!!!! how exciting. where?
Amy Snow. believe it or not, it’s my go-to that i listen to when i can’t find something right away. so old fashioned and utterly charming i thought. narrator was fabulous.
Eleanor is a hit so far. and getting better the more is revealed about Eleanor…
In Spain, we will be visiting Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Sevilla, Costa del Sol, and Málaga in 9 days with a quick stop at the Rock of Gibraltar. I’m bringing 17 students!!!
I spy a parrot, even with my challenged eyesight. Those painted clips are cool! Are you saying you want a penpal???? I am sure that’s what you were reminiscing about. Teehee! Cuz I can write your socks off! I think letter writing is a lost art. A few years back I tried writing to a couple of friends, and did mail art and the whole thing. They didn’t reciprocate. I guess it truly is a lost art. Oh well. Ever since I was little I have loved getting almost anything in the mail.
The hills are aliveeeee with the sound of muuuussssiiicccc! Okay wrong alps. That sounds like a dream trip, you ask me. It will be fun to receive dispatches from there. So glad to see your little gouache paintings on accounta because they just make me happy. And it’s amazing to see all of those blooming flowers! The only thing I have blooming are two brave helliabores (spelling?).
Hey I got a “commission” for a painting today. Okay, it was my daughter and it’s not for money, but yay anyway!!!
Have a fabulous rest of the weekend MAM!
what will you be painting for daughter?
i must say i liked the early days (for me) of mailart and exchanging art/correspondence. i had the best partner for a couple of years and we were in SYNC.
For daughter, a stormy sky watercolor similar to the one I posted on my Instagram only 12×12. She and I share a love of wild storms (as long as nobody gets hurt) and we want to go storm chasing. She was even looking up prices last night.😃
Loved the book!
I did spy the parrot. I was so very thrilled one evening a few years ago . I spotted a parrot here in Phoenix , on my hummingbird feeder. Sent me to the moon.
Love the little paintings.
You’re back!
That was not encouragement.
Never.
encouragement can be sweet, what i dislike is the kind that dismisses or invalidates a feeling being shared and is trite.
here’s an example of what i mean…
person A: i’m not myself lately, i feel off
person B: oh i’m sure you’ll be back to your usual self in no time!!!!! here’s what i do when i’m feeling off….(blah blah blah)
Hey, I recognize that washi tape, I have it and it’s one of my favorites for journals.
LA looks so luscious in Winter, I’m jealous. I was hard pressed to find anything green in my yard to sketch today besides holly.
winter is our best season. but some rain would be nice.
i agree that tape is very nice in a journal!