my new blue clairefontaine writing journal ready for me to deposit my first words on the brand new pages!
it’s with great pleasure that i sit down to clatter out my weekly dispatch to you. i’ve been engrossed in journal review for the last week or so. i used to write and write and write, but seldom returned to read about the events and thoughts i catalogued so feverishly in my journals.
now i return regularly to sift through old thoughts, look through practical records i made of ordinary things, remember what i had forgotten, return to past creative ideas about art or house repair, find passages from books that moved me, or stamps someone in russia sent me long ago. what was i reading? where was i going?
i sit out back in the cool late afternoons or early mornings and dial back the time machine. the cat posse dozes while i read.
i find so many things.
i look forward to the end of each day when i sit down on the patio and start writing. i think my blog is sort of a journal, a record of my creative life. reading and writing have always been how i make sense of my world. i think it’s what’s kept me blogging for over a decade now. stringing all these words together. into sentences, paragraphs, pages and chapters. a long rambling letter. i was here. this is what i did.
i wonder if you journal too… i bet you do.
having finished all of the longer rosamunde pilcher novels, i’ve started a new series that is showing great promise!
there are 5 books in the series that elizabeth jane howard has written and i’m hoping they are all as marvelous as the light years. this first book, which is rich in detail and chronicles the daily lives of the extended cazalet family, their servants, mistresses, children, and pets begins in 1937. i’m listening to the story and the reader is divine!
by the way, thanks for recommending this series to me… it’s because of one of you who wrote about it is the comments that i even knew it existed!
i have finished my travel journal for my june trip to the bavarian alps! i wasn’t planning to make such quick work of it, but once i started sewing watercolor paper panels onto a long accordion postcard book i just couldn’t stop. my sewing machine hasn’t moved since last summer when i left it under my desk by the window in the living room. had i put it in the closet where it belongs i probably wouldn’t have gotten the idea to use it to stitch this book together.
i got this vintage postcard book in 2011 at a flea market in paris. i removed all of the postcards last year while i was filming STITCH*BOOKERY because i had intended to make a book out of it, but ended up doing something else. and now, a year later i’ve added german postcards, postage, photos, and other ephemera and constructed a book that is about 6 feet long when it’s all spread out!
i’m really excited to be using a different format than my other travel journals and once i get some good photos of the finished book, i’ll share. next weekend i’ll start on carol’s book.
wanna see our house in the alps? we’re staying in a tiny village that’s a stone’s throw from austria for the entire 2 weeks.
it’s the top floor of this house. it’s all about the view and the quiet surroundings.
we’re renting a car and will be exploring this region of bavaria that’s on the border of austria, switzerland, and liechtenstein. the alps!
our weather has been mild and cool and it’s so nice to sit out back to read, write, blog, and plan.
dear moss cottage, you always rally around all my thoughts and ideas. a loving container and anchor in a turbulent world.
it’s a deep comfort to have a space to BE. to listen to the birds, watch the orioles, woodpeckers, goldfinches, sparrows, scrubjays, squirrels, cats. tend the plants, feel the sun and the wind. find the stars at night.
see you soon friends. keep me posted on your wanderings and homemaking.
Always fun to visit your blog Mary Ann. I adore you back patio, that is the coolest! Love to come see what you’re up to and where you’re going. Thanks for sharing!
What Sheila said! Exactly. Always a treat to visit here.
Oh I did my junior year abroad in Salzburg, Austria- you must visit!! It was in the 80’s!! My school was on the property that the sound of Music was filmed. What an amazing year and a beautiful city! I hope you and Carol visit it! It’s truly beautiful to walk around!! It is also known for its 5 or 7 plazas that flow into each other- Leoplopd was inspired by the Italian Plazas!! Also- have coffee at cafe Tomaseli’s!!
Oh! My family and I lived in Vienna when my husband was on embassy duty there! That region is so breathtakingly beautiful. If you get a chance go to Lake Konigssee and Berchtesgaden you will be so inspired. A riverboat trip also would not disappoint. You are going to have an amazing time.
i would love to take a riverboat trip and to see both places you mentioned. takings notes!
thanks paula
I love opening your email and being transported into different worlds with you. Just the peace and comfort of your chair at your home cottage sparks the idea of creating my own little spot, replacing my dog shadow Roky for your little fuzzy one. I’ve followed you for years and maybe now is my time to break out my stash to create a journal.
tis nice to have a cozy special spot !
Oh – I love reading your posts. AND I love that you have made a new journal. Would you, could you do a quick video of it? I am struggling to “see” it all. You are such an amazing inspiration for us all. THANK You for sharing your journeys and journals and such. Cannot wait to see Carols too.
My kittens, Rocco and Koba say Hi to your posse!
XXX
Brenda
yes i absolutely will take a video and will put it on my youtube channel asap! will also try for some better pics.
wyatt and corky want to have game night with rocco & koba. 🙂
I once had a music box like that chalet. Yodel-ay-hee-hoo!
I believe I’m the one who recommended the Cazalet chronicles. So happy you are enjoying it! I had to keep referring to the family tree at the front of the book to keep track of whose children were whose.
16 more work days before I leave for London, taking another journal made using the Ticket to Venice method!
oh your trip is so SOON. do enjoy sandra! thanks for the book rec !
Hi Mary Ann–I love reading your blogs. You have great ideas, take great photos, and are a really good writer. I wish I had the desire to journal like you do. So far, I have mostly done academic and work-related writing. I started writing a murder mystery (a la Trixie Belden from the days of yore) but gave up on that, when I was in 9th grade. I started two blogs but gave up on them due to not having much interest from the outside world. I have a painting in process and have been experimenting with fabric paint on t-shirts. That’s all I’ve been doing lately. Can’t wait to see your Bavarian Alps pics when the time comes! xoxo
hi deborah,
thanks for your steady stream of nice comments. i read and appreciate each one 🙂
I read and make book lists. I devour the beautiful photos of your books. I imagine myself in your travels. But mostly I drool over Moss cottage. What a fab looking place to be. Now THAT inspires me!
oh thanks pauline xo !!!
I’ve been with you since Day 1, Mary Ann.
Thanks for the Miller quote. That was me, alone in Paris at nearly 21. Supremely happy.
oh chrissy…i think of you there in cornwall with your dear hugh and puppers. i remember hearing about your au pair days in paris…you’ve lived a rich life. when i came to a line in CC “you’re no oil painting!” i thought of YOU who taught me what it meant on a long ago day in paris.. xo
CAZELETS. CAZELETS. CAZELETS. My contender for top novels of the 20th century. Yes, Proust included 😉
I love it that you do things with old postcards and pictures and such. It is an inspiration. I have had good intentions of journaling but have decided I am not a writer, I don’t get to the third page. I like pictures instead and I do blog, for many years with pictures and quick explanations. I will be looking forward to your trip….they are always interesting.
hi robin. how good it is to do what calls to you – whatever that might be 🙂
I have read the Cazalets series many times and love it more each time. I was so excited when the last was published a few years ago. The cover alone was amazing. Your journal is spectacular and I can’t wait to see it in action! 🌺💕💕💕
i am glad there are 5 books to last me a loooong time!
I so love reading your blog. It makes my heart happy!!!
thank you marline!
I am still waiting for you to write a book, MAM. You are definitely good enough to do so! For instance, “a loving container and an anchor in a turbulent world”. Pure gold…
Can’t wait to see your travel journal. The place you are staying in Bavaria looks exactly perfect. The VIEW! Now I am humming “high on a hill was a lonely goatheard, layeeohdalaheeodelayheeehooo”. The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies, and I love the songs and the glorious views of the Alps (Austrian in the movie, I believe). The whole area is extremely lovely. So, am I jealous? A little. And that’s okay!
Give Wyatt a pat for me. Sweet boy!
PS. GoatHERD. Typos drive me batty🤪
A book! Fabulous idea. Musings from Moss Cottage …
wyatt says HELLO. he likes to gaze at his portrait often. you know the one!
Your journals are so fabulous!
I think you might enjoy the Vicky Bliss series by Elizabeth Peters. They’re full of adventure and are all set in great locales (the first four are set in Europe and the last two in Egypt).
mmmm will investigate! thx
I love it! Every word, every swish of your paintbrush, the planning, the thinking, the fleshing it out, and especially the living vicariously through you and your sweet Sis!
xoxo & Happy trails!
Sheila 😄
why thank you sheila 🙂
After you finish the Cazelet series, Howard’s memoir Slipstream is equally wonderful…. xoxox
oh looking forward to that!