in the fresh air of morning i sat at the kitchen table with some shells. a collection plucked from the wet sand on some beach, somewhere in the last couple of years. it would have been deposited in my pocket and at the end of a day i would have found it and probably several others rattling against each other.
did i leave my keys in my pocket? oh, it’s the shells.
i would have lined them up on the dresser and as the days went by they would have multiplied. sand would have accumulated. at some point i would’ve rearranged them in order from biggest to smallest. and at the end of the week they would have gotten scooped up and dropped in a ziplock bag. now 2 or 3 or 4 or 1 year later i find them in the back of a desk drawer. almost exactly like shell collecting at the beach, but different.
this is the very last page in this sketchbook and wouldn’t you know it, i put the wrong date.
i wanted the last page to look like the first page.
here are more pages from the same book. you’ve seen them all before in various posts.
now i officially have a reason to make another BIG sketchbook. this one only had 2 signatures. and seems to contain many painted collections of sea stones, shells, seaglass. many of us have the need to record the narrative of our lives in word and picture and drawing.
i was here. this is what i did. this is how i lived.
i’m no different.
oh look! a cuckoo clock segue.
there she is, friends. found in the storybook village of oberammergau, germany. my very own cuckoo clock.
you cannot know how much i love this clock. she has a personality!
every half hour and hour i wait for the call of the cuckoo.
when we were kids we had a cuckoo clock. none of us can remember what happened to it or where it came from, but i am sure this is its cousin. it feels perfect for moss cottage. i did a fair amount of cursing while i was unpacking it and figuring out how to get the cuckoo to sound. after 2 days of tinkering and about 12 youtube videos, i got her working!
wish mama moss was here to see. i think she would approve.
have you ever had a cuckoo clock? they aren’t for everyone. somewhat impractical. but i love winding her every day. pulling the chains down, watching the pinecone weights move back up, shutting the sound off at night.
i glued a piece of paper to the back with the date, my name, and a few sentences. i am positive mama moss would have labeled our old clock. she labeled everything.
someone, somewhere out there has our childhood cuckoo clock. i like to think of who they could be. maybe a little old lady who found it in a junk store in arkansas 15 years ago. or a 10 year-old girl who likes to tinker with things, whose dad bought it for her on ebay last year. and it’s in a house. by the sea. where the windows are open right now. you can hear the roar of the waves and white stars are blinking on outside the window. and just now it cuckooed, the curtains stirred, and the song of it drifted out of the window and into the night.
AT2 – Your watercolor shells and stones are divine! actually.
When you said, “many of us have the need to record the narrative of our lives in word and picture and drawing.
i was here. this is what i did. this is how i lived.” . . . I totally resonated with those words and feelings.
Thank you, dear person.
Oh yes! I love your clock. I have one grandma’s cuckoo clock (I wish it still worked but am afraid to let anybody tinker with it. Must find a cuckoo clock expert.) and my other grandma’s anniversary clock. Both stand out in fond memories of my childhood and both now have honored places in my living room. I remember grandma locking up the cuckoo at night.
if you live in or near a larger metro area i bet you’ll be able to find someone to fix your cuckoo clock. i already found someone here in LA should the need ever arise.
I’m slow, been busy with many birthdays which is a nice way to be busy. I must follow your lead and make an effort to find a cuckoo expert. I would so love to see it working again. Tick tock, Cuckoo!
When I was growing up we always had a cuckoo clock. I even had a tiny one in my room. It was carved wood and kept time but didn’t actually cuckoo and the pine cones didn’t move. Love that you got one! Mary Ann I so enjoy your blog posts more than you will ever know!!! Thank you for sharing your beautiful and interesting life with us!
hey thanks jessica for popping over and leaving some love…xo
I had a small plastic one as a child. Sat on a shelf, not hung on the wall. Loved it though.
Mary Ann – your writing about your cuckoo clock brings a flood of memories to me. Thank you.
something about those cuckoo clocks… they’re so enchanting!
Is that a Susan Branch mug I spy? Love her books!…My parents had what they called a grandmother clock (like a grandfather, but smaller and it sat on a desk). When people came over, the tick-tocking drove them nuts. I couldn’t sleep if I couldn’t hear it bong, bonging every hour. Funny the crazy stuff we remember!
yes yes yes! i too enjoy susan branch so very much.
a grandmother clock? wow. cool, i’ve never heard of that.
i’ve adapted quite well to the tick tocking, but next time my sister dottie visits i know it will drive her bananas!
Mary Ann,
Just love the last lines of your post… the curtains stirred and the song of it drifted out of the window… Sound like lyrics to a beautiful song!
howdy susan…thanks xo
Dar Dar Darling, all of it, MAM! I can’t get enough of your journals/journaling!
xoxo
Sheila
hello sheila!
thank youuuuuuuuuu
I love your cuckoo clock, Mary Ann! I bought my mom one on my first trip to Europe (1972) in a darling shop in Montreux, Switzerland. Hers was very different with lots of color but I also love the one you purchased as well. I agree with you on some clocks having their own little (or loud) personality. 🙂
Thanks for sharing yours with us. Hugs…Nancy from Northern California
nancy i bet your mom had a chalet style cuckoo clock…that’s the kind we had as kids. saw lots of beautiful ones like that!
Lovely clock!I have collections of stones and shells
Stones with holes in, colours, smooth beach pebbles Dont have a cuckoo clock but always loved the sound or the cuckoo when we lived in England.I dont spose the small birds whose nests she popped her egg in where quite so happy! Your post is the second post in as many days I have had about clock nostalgia.I used to love to visit my dear old Mum-in-law who had a grandfather clock and a sturdy little chiming clock on the mantelpiece. We would sit in companiable silence and knit or read accompanied my her clocks.
I. ADORE. CUCKOO CLOCKS! I used to have the teeny tiniest one, but I don’t know what happened to it. It was a true miniature, and just the sweetest thing. I also grew up with a larger one, which is probably why I love them to this day. That is one fine looking clock, MAM!
Me looking at your journals 😍😍😍😍😍
A delightful post about noticing and resorcefulness.
so much to notice…like that foxy pic of you on facebook that i seen with my own 2 peepers!
This brought tears to my eyes, in all the best ways.
you’re sweet 🙂
Just me, sitting here in Kansas, smiling at your cuckoo clock and sea shells. 🙂
waving to you and my sister over there in kansas xo
Always wanted to go to Oberammergau, too! Great story about your cuckoo clocks. My parents eventually ended up with four chiming clocks! I inherited one, but it would drive me crazy in my place now, so my brother has it. When I lived in a larger place with more walls, I loved the chiming.
Were there doll factories in Oberammergau, too? Do they still do the Passion play?
yes they do the passion play, don’t know about the doll factories…?