after i had finished packing and loading the car on our last night in ferndale i sat down to do one last loose gouache study of these lupines i’d picked that morning.
they grow tall and bushy here unlike the ones in southern and central california. must be all that water and coastal fog that cause them to get so oversized.
i pressed some other flowers from earlier in the trip.
how lovely they look on the back of this old wallpaper page.
i imagine a time when i can do nothing but read, write, and make visual records in my sketchbooks. since i have to return to work tomorrow, now is alas not that time.
i might be the only person foolish enough to visit ferndale for a week and NOT take photos of all her victorian buildings and houses.
i guess my mind was wrapped up in the foggy landscapes instead.
i’m convinced that i need to retire in a foggy place with trees and an ocean nearby.
centerville beach close to ferndale has the most incredible beach stones. i spent a long time painting these onto my page. now they’re stacked up on my kitchen window sill in between the bird & bunny knick knacks.
there is a small road that curves around marshland, farmhouses, lambs, cows, fern-lined creek beds, skunk cabbage, stands of calla lillies and daffodils, and all manner of wildflowers. 5 miles to the wild shore and centerville beach.
the museum in ferndale is worth a visit. it is filled with treasures of early settlement days. the man that was working on the day we stopped in was so very amiable. i loved chatting with him.
i’m reading a book i picked up in a eureka bookstore about the history of this northcoast. reading it will break your heart in two. settling places in that spirit of manifest destiny that moved the masses westward, meant death and destruction to the indigenous peoples, the native animals and plants, and the glorious redwoods (only 5% remain). such a sorrowful past and one that is vividly brought to life in this excellent book full of photos, letters, and primary documents.
i have a pot of beans bubbling away on the stove. i’m cooking them down like dottie showed me in ferndale. i started them in the instant pot and then transfer them stovetop for a few hours of low heat. thick bean gravy!
after i clatter out this post i’m headed to the kitchen table to write in my journal. then the last few hours of my “spring break” will be spent reading. and of course i need time for a little sketchbookery.
i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, doing “nothing” takes up a lot of precious time.
i need more time to do nothing!
i picked up that sticker in the visitor center of the humboldt redwood state park. if fit perfectly on the back of my little moleskine.
i wonder if sleeping with a piece of small driftwood in my hand will make me dream of the ocean. i can hear it calling to me. i can hardly wait to return. i miss the salt air, the roaring waves, all the different shades of blue and green, the dark sand.
i don’t belong here in the city anymore.
i’m meant to be collecting stones on an empty foggy beach.
when one knows exactly what one should be doing it is excrutiatingly difficult to do anything else.
let me just go mentally prepare for reentry.
i hope you’re off on a great adventure of your own. whether it’s inside your own house or across the world, do savor it and for goodness’ sake, report back any findings to me!
Nearly 18 years ago my partner and I suffered an enormous loss and just as soon as we could after we hit the road to go be in the Redwoods. That strip of beach in the last photo was open to camping then. We picked up our permit someplace just north of there and set up our tent right in the sand. Sleeping with the ocean, waking up to look out and see the waves, was one of the most healing things we could have ever done. I imagined then never returning to our day to day life, just moving our tent between that beach and the Redwoods. There was a family who was clearly living on that beach when we were there. They had chickens and clothes lines strung up and small children with wind blown blond hair. They kept moving the chickens around so they’d be out of the sun. It was amazing. We’ve been returning to that area regularly over the last 6 years or so. You can’t camp there now but it’s still a pretty special piece of beach.
When one knows what one should be doing…ahhh, it’s so hard. Knowing what I should be doing and doing what needs to be done until I can do what I should be doing. Not sure that makes sense lol.
Oh the glory of doing nothing! One more week until my solo trip to Hawaii for a while week of doing nothing!
I LOVE Lupines. We had them growing wild all over the place in Maine. I think the climate there agrees with them. They grow wild along the road ways and we had a field on our property full of them. I tried to get some to grow in Pennsylvania…. HA!! they hate it here apparently. When in Maine we were fortunate to live right on the Penobscot River and enjoyed the wild, cool weather. Not exactly like Northern Ca. but wild enough.
Thank you, thank you for this post. I loved reading about your visit to this part of the country! Your stone collection and your paintings of them were excellent! I loved seeing such a great variety of colors and shapes and pictures of the beach where you found them. I enjoyed seeing the inside of that candy/antique shop, too😊 Another delightful tale of your sweet adventures.
I have “stone envy.” I think someday I’ll have to visit Ferndale!
What’s the “instant pot”? I always think I’m going to cook beans from scratch instead of using canned but it always seems like a long process.
XO
that’s wonderful photo of your sister….on the path along the coast….just over four weeks to wait before we begin
the first (of many) journeys N of the SFO…..starting in Marin County reaching the half-way point in Sonoma….
end goal is going south to Santa Rosa for an IronMan race for my husband…..my exercise is looking & walking along
the Pacific Coast.
oh do do do enjoy your looking and walking. sounds perfect.
MAM, there is a “sweet” book DEAR MADAM by Stella Walthall Patterson. The refreshing adventures of a woman who at the age of 80 found a new life in the wilds of Siskiyou Mountains near Happy Camp, CA.
Thanks for sharing ALL you adventures.
well i must find that book and read it at once! thanks for telling me about it 🙂
Oh Mary Ann. My brother lives in Maine,, on the coast, one of the most gorgeous places on earth, trees and fog and ocean, but this post got me. I am spellbound. And you said what I think in my head every single day, it is excruciating when you know what you want to be doing and you can’t. Onward.
maine – i want to go to there!
Good grief! I changed email addresses and what a kerfuffle. You disappeared off my radar and I almost had a breakdown. But here I am and needing to go back to old posts and savor. I swooned over the stones you collected. And the paintings and photos and MAM words. I do have to move again sometime relatively soon. And I want to come to California – yes I do! Wishing you a good return to work.
i want to know about this moving business. why? you just arrived and unpacked. i want you in california. i will visit. holly will love it.
Hi Mary Ann. I can relate to the love of fog and beach stones. Alone. That area you were in is gorgeous! Last July, my dear friend and I hiked the Lost Coast Trail. Have you heard of it? The section we hiked was 25 miles. We did it in 4 days. What is so cool about it is that you are next to the sea the whole way and have to mind the tide tables to pass a couple spots. It is a slow trail because the terrain is natural and pebbly (of various sizes) in some spots and ankle deep black sand in others. Not to be hurried through. There is very little elevation to deal with, but there is a little. I am not in the best physical shape and have extra poundage hanging on me, but I did fine! I am 60 and my friend is 62. Our packs were 30 lbs and the water was easy to get to from creeks running down the Kings Range into the sea. We carried water filters, a small burner to heat and boil dried meals. Snacks and sleeping bags. We were able to keep it pretty light. We did carry our food in bear canisters because there are those critters around. But anyway, I am very glad I was able to hike it. You may find interest in it since you were just there! Love your writing and so glad you had a good, safe trip. The Redwoods are awesome. (Have you read “The Wild Trees” ?) Anyway, here is a link to help your dreams.
https://www.wonderlandguides.com/hikes/king-range/lost-coast-trail
oh lori. i bow to your deep exploration of the lost coast. that is MONUMENTAL. i do know of it. 25 miles in 4 days. that sounds doable, but i’m sure was difficult. how thrilling. dottie read The Wild Trees and loved it. i want to get it! thanks for the link.
Yes, Mary Ann, waiting is very hard. I have only two months left until I retire from teaching and even waiting that short time is painful. I feel your pain!
i take comfort in the fact that YOU are retiring. i can feel that excitement.
Oh, honey-I can hear the wistful yearny burny tone in this post. Blessings to you. Hope the kids delight you tomorrow. xo
oh susan. i got it. i got it bad.