someone from wisconsin sent me a chocolate easter bunny with very long ears.
i painted some hibiscus blossoms from my garden.
every walk of late is an exquisite plunder:
down alleys where i discover masses of honeysuckle
through meadows and masses of flowers both wild and tame
under oak woodland canopies
past masses of roses, irises, lilacs
the whole of california is abloom and i wait for the weekends so i can go tramping about through it.
i took dozens of photos for painting studies – florals of course since that what the season has on offer just now, but i do wish i had live specimens. i can’t very well cut everything i see and stuff it in my pockets. can i?
school is in session and the children are wild with spring fever. they are tired of sitting in a classroom and so am i. while they dream of shutting themselves indoors – sitting on their couches and beds with video game consoles and phones in their hands, i am imagining long treks with journal and sketchbook and sunbonnet.
or just long porch sits watching the blue scrub jays, knowing there are no school days on the horizon.
today after lunch they demanded “keep reading miss moss!!!”
and so i did! our last read aloud of the year will be:
at least for the next 5 weeks or so i can try and convince them that great worlds are to be found within the pages of books.
on my bookshelf
an audible story in which i am finding much delight! it’s helping to soothe my broken heartedness i felt when i completed the cazalet chronicles. thoroughly enjoyable, but only for those of you, like me, who enjoy thinly plotted stories about daily life. from the original 1956 Kirkus review:
Unique, brilliant, erratic, this first novel from Rebecca West in some twenty years, is certain of a challenging critical reception. Here is a sophisticated sort of Sanger’s Circus tale, as she creates the Aubrey family in a shabby, down at heels London house. There is the father, who loses job after job, despite his brilliance as a journalist and pamphleteer, who makes ardent friendships and looses them through his gambling and irresponsibility. There is the mother, shabby, worried, not knowing how the bills are to be met, worshipping and eternally finding alibis for the improvident husband, and living in the hopes that two of her daughters (Mary and Rose, who tells the story) will be the professional concert pianists she had once hoped to be. There is the elder sister, still a schoolgirl, who has no real sense of music, but who is tricked into believing herself gifted by an idolizing teacher. And there is lovable small Richard Quin, who manages to smooth the ruffled waters in the tempestuous family. Their early days were spent in South Africa; then comes Scotland- home ground for the mother; then London, each step an acknowledgement of failure, a descent in the monetary scale. But always, against the minutiae of early century backgrounds, they maintain an unbroken pride, a generous sense of backing the right, a hospitality that embraces the underdog, an acceptance of the place of music and art and literature in daily living. There’s a gift of make believe that overlays the drabness, and there’s an intense drive in sustaining the goal — whether politically or artistically- that lifts them above the common herd. Not always easy reading. Occasionally polemics intervene to turn the story aside. But the end result is rewarding, as Rebecca West’s sparkle redeems the erratic process of her tale. An important Fall headliner.
After drooling over your flower posts for years, I finally made it to Huntington gardens yesterday!! Wow! Just incredible! We were on our way back north, so I didn’t have time for the museum unfortunately. But those gardens!!!!!! Thank you so much for bringing them to my attention And the people (ahem, family) I made drive out of their way to see them are glad for it too. Where are the gardens at the top of your post?
I am dying of orange hibiscus love. What a way to go!
I so enjoy reading about all your adventures, near and far. Also the adventures in your class room. We’re some of those garden photos taken at Descanso Gardens? Thanks for sharing all your wandering.
That is a lovely blue bloom! Any idea what it is?
I like your sea treasures. We found part of a jawbone in the backyard of our new house. A deer’s, perhaps? No clue how it got there…
yes indeed that is my Echium fastuosum “Pride of Madeira” which bloomed BIG AND BOLD this spring and is still threatening to take over moss cottage!
Beautiful gardens! That driveway with the Wisteria growing over it, is that yours? Absolutely stunning. Those gardens are amazing just like your water colours and Hibiscus you have painted. Very nice. Do something you love everyday, it helps make the soul happy. Keep on painting and sketching the beautiful outdoors.
Hugs from Victoria, BC
lord no! that is a driveway i like to pass on one of my walkies. it’s so mysterious and storybookish.
Saved a few of your buds and flowers to add to my paintings sometime. One can never have too much inspiration can they. Love that you are reading to the class, one of my fond memories of school. I will bet that you also introduce your love of the outdoors as much as you can also.
i’d love to see your rendition of my buds and flowers. fun fun fun!!! xo
Looks so beautiful Mary Ann! I’m also a great rambler as long as I have my trusty cellphone in my back pocket to record my finds. I can’t walk around with a big camera around my neck in Cape Town. That would be courting trouble… BIG trouble YES! The days here are chiller but the autumn colours are takin my breath away with their dazzling array of golds oranges yellows. I’ve just finished reading Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Have to say I loved it from beginning to end. Have you read it?
Bye now, lots of love Bev
bev i LOVED eleanor so very much. so many great characters in that story. i too just use my cellphone. seems i can’t be bothered with a clunky camera anymore. the cameras on the phones these days are really good. enjoy your autumn in the southern hemisphere. my sister has such fond memories of her time in south africa – she keeps a seashell dangling on her rear view mirror that she collected from there. loved the land and the people
The Fountain Overflows is one of my very favorite books of all time, I’ve probably read it five times! I’m so excited you are reading it, I hope you love it, too. I may find an audio version to listen to, this time.
Your wanders are gorgeous! I love walking down alleys.
oh i love knowing that! you’re sure to enjoy the audio version. her reading is fantastic!
Fabulous post with gobsmacking photos! MAM, long, long ago, I was in a Rebecca West phase. Now that she is featured in a book called Sharp: The Woman who made an Art of Having an Opinion, I am thinking about having a Rebecca West reading revival….
Women, not Woman 😉
i am BRAND NEW to rebecca and plan to visit with her for awhile. i’ll investigate the book you mention. thanks luv
My favorite memory of elementary school is my teacher Ms. Rodgers reading after lunch. She read a series that I cannot recall the name of. There was an older woman who went to Mars. And other places. Had lots of adventures. She never was locked up in the looney bin. I have been reading the Hamish Macbeth mystery series by M.C. Beaton. Love it. Will give your shout out a try. Although I had to look up the word polemic. Used to know it. But that was 5 minutes ago when I looked it up😂
ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!! i still don’t know what it means but maybe if i read it in context i can take a whack at it. enjoy your mystery and thanks for mentioning it. i do love searching up what you’re reading!
Your hibiscus sketches are so lovely!
– Tina
oh thanks tina sometimes i do enjoy a sketch with the old paintbrush. very absorbing
Love that you’re going to do Tuck Everlasting !