i present the very last images from my trek to the humboldt coast, including my sketchbook pages.
i may attempt some coastal scenes using these or some of my other photos.
when i was very young i had a recurring dream that i could go inside pictures. i would look at photos and they would begin to move, like i was watching a tiny screen. then i would be inside of the scene. i dreamed this over and over. except it didn’t feel like a dream it felt real. now it’s just part of my dusty bank of memories. did it happen or were they all dreams? it’s been at least 40 years so i can’t remember, but i wish mightily that i could place myself inside these pictures.
feel that cold ocean wind. breathe in the salty air.
this morning i walked up the stairs from the parking garage and onto the schoolyard. i felt something crunchy in my windbreaker and reached inside. pulled out a small redwood branch.
lifted it to my nose and breathed in the scent of damp forest, those wild trees.
swallowed the lump in my throat. kept walking.
after a week break the children are subdued. a classroom of sleepy racoons.
but soon they’ll wake up.
my mind should be fully back in los angeles by then.
crescent city lighthouse
smith river as seen from jedediah smith redwood park
i must relearn to BE HERE NOW.
life’s no good if you always want to be somewhere else. so i will sink back into myself. tether myself to the 2 big oak trees in the front garden.
occasionally allow myself to slip inside a photo for bit.
i know of no better way to root myself in the present moment than by drawing and painting and writing and walking.
going to bed to read the wild trees.
Be here now is an ongoing process. It is a good mantra to have, to be present wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Thanks for posting all these great sketchbook pages and photos. You are an inspiration to all of us who would like to make time to make some marks!
Súper fresh! I appreciate any of your post. Love your drawings and paintings , although walkings when you post a video. A fresh air coming to may face any time i open the DFL blog subscription.
Your photos are magnificent. I can almost smell the air.
Thank you for sharing your many talents, Mary Ann.
Oh, you DID see Paul and Babe!! I don’t know if you saw it, but I commented on FB when you posted the photo of the Hwy 101 sign! When I was young, I took a road trip with my family on 101, and I wanted so much to stop at Trees of Mystery and Sea Lion Caves, but my dad wanted to push on for the next several hundred miles! But we made the same road trip after I was old enough to help with the driving, and you can bet we stopped that time! 😉 What a great trip you’ve had!
i missed the sea lion caves 🙁 next time! it is a wondrous area…
Perfect post😊
Love the photo of the grassy hillside with the cattle grazing. I understand the “pain of re-entry” completely. Coming home from 3 1/2 weeks in Europe with all the old, beautiful architecture, to a street of duplexes that all look the same, about killed me. One year to retirement seems like 100 years away right now. But I’ve added Humboldt County to my travel list!
one year?! oh joy!
I love “The Wild Trees”, I hope you enjoy it, too!
I am moving soon to a quieter, smaller place. Not to the sea, that will have to wait. But while going through my stuff I found some vintage postcards from the German Alps. If you are interested, let me know. I’ll be happy to send them to you!
why thank you I’ll attempt to zip you out an email…:-)
Thank you for this. I don’t even know what to say because this may be as close as I ever get. Incredible post!
thanks and hi sharon!
Your lists full me up with the live if travel and the reminder that each day is a journey to celebrate and treasure, no matter where you are. I am a little het lagged and missing being in South America. I had a marvelous time but I must now make every day home a joy and delight. LOVE the sketches. XO
oh you are my travel hero, michele! my godmother lived in rio (mom’s sister) and bogata columbia. pop traveled a lot to brazil. dottie lived for some months in bolivia and i wanna go to cuenca ecuador.
my parents took us on this trek every year as kids. We lived in the OC and would go as far as Washington State , generally a road trip in whatever station wagon we had at the time.Tree’s of Mystery ,where Paul Bunyan and Babe, in your picture reside. These photos are beautiful and bring me back to those days. Thank you
what dear memories to have sharon. road trips in station wagons. ahhhh the good life!
the photography is amazing…i can actually imagine being there. thank you for that.
hi stacey 🙂
Those photos are gorgeous! I have never been to California, I live in New England, but for the last couple of years have had this desire to go. I thought I wanted to go to Southern California, not so sure now! Thanks for the views!
well i must tell you that if you’re a first time visitor i recommend the santa barbara area OR monterey bay (pacific grove & carmel) NOT southern california. no no no. i’m a traitor i know, but it’s too crowded here and the ocean is not as wild or beautiful.
Yum, yum, yum. The best post of many great ones!
I absolutely understand your wanting to be up the coast; it in insanely beautiful. But I also know that the children in your class need to have their minds expanded, their horizons broadened, their eyes opened like Ms. Moss can do and very few others can. Life is good but it is sometimes hard. Often
Your paintings show your practice-they are getting better and better. I am sketching as well as painting these days too. And I am improving a little also.
I hope that this week goes well.
oh thank you dear caroline…
Wow, Mary Ann, those are some stunning photos. Especially one particular one of the surf. Before I even read what you wrote I felt drawn into that one. Amazing! Also, so good to see your wonderful sketchbook paintings. The clover looks real…glad you got your mojo back. Mine is still missing. Don’t know what it is going to take. Anyway, thank you for the journey!
Forgot to say, the color of that river is sooo pretty! Out of adjectives here.
Oops..not clover…redwood sorrel. Is that a clover?
redwood sorrel yes! a kind of oxalis. we also were stunned by the color of that river. it was brilliant.
The wild trees is an amazing book…. I too am having reentry issues, it’s too quiet when I wake in the night, I long to hear that pounding surf… s
miss you. let’s make a date soon. i want to come to the ranch and draw with you.
A really delightful post. Being a teacher, I remember all too well the difficulty of the first few steps into school after a break. A couple of hours later I was over it, but oh! that commute was especially difficult on those particular Monday mornings. Sketchbook rocks are my favorites of many great pages.
yes it’s the anticipation of vacation ending that’s the worst isn’t it? once you’re there it gets better.