may swept by in a flurry of cool air and rain and walks by the seashore. tidepooling, finding a dozen wavy turban shells, and whelks with sea snails inside.
here is where i spill my photos onto a table and let you sort through them. there is no chronology here and today’s narrative may or may not match.
my mind has been speeding towards the bright future of summer and the end of another school year. i’ve ridden these last weeks since my last dispatch and held on tight. the road has been bumpy and twisted, but there have also been times of quiet passage and smooth sailing. for example, i spent a glorious afternoon in carpinteria with dear joyce and sharron recently.
a few weeks ago i cut masses of honeysuckle from a vine tumbling over an old fence in an alley. breezes through open windowns wafted sweet scents through the rooms of moss cottage for days and days.
it’s been so cool and gray i’ve had to turn on the heat. there are still flannel sheets on my bed. i’m loving our strange weather. even though i know all the extra water is creating massive plant growth that will eventually turn to kindling for wildfires across the west, but we’re not there yet. speaking of weather extremes…a mile wide tornado passed very close to sister’s house in kansas a few days ago and i know some of you are living in flood zones. and there are extra strong pacific jet streams wreaking havoc on the plains. boreal forest fires of epic proportions in canada. rapidly melting sea ice. there’s a lot going on in the natural world. so much.
all i know is this:
everything the ocean washes onto the shore is a revelation.
i can’t wait to fall into bed each night with a book.
there are 5 days of school left.
i have 2 chapters left to read aloud in TUCK EVERLASTING.
Oh I’m just catching up and realized today must have been your first day of summer vacation. What a relief it must be. I recently took a week off to vacation at home. I thought of you during that week and tried to just be at home. I often go go go if I’m not working but my mind and body needed rest. I read, and knit, and painted, and gardened, and sat. I just sat listening. I sat and knit more than I have in probably 30 years. It was the best vacation ever.
Gorgeous pix, as always! Loved them. We, too, were hunkered down in our basement with the nearby tornadoes that night. Emerged unscathed. Glad that your sis did too. Looking forward to your next travelogue!
Love all your pictures! Have you shared where you’re travelling this summer? I am headed to the Baltics and wanted to ask how you determine how many pages to leave per day / per city etc. when you portion out your journal pages in advance. We are hitting 8 countries in 14 days and I’d like to section off my pages beforehand, but can’t decide how to go about it! Would appreciate any advice you can offer.
Wishing a fellow teacher happy end-of-school-year juju and a summer filled with adventures!
Beautiful photos, as always. What are those glorious towers of pink blooms? I’m sure they’re nothing that will thrive here in the midwest, but I’d love to have one for the summer months.
I was delighted to find your post waiting for me after a long day of garden work. I finally have been able to be in my garden with peace and quiet. 6 weeks of having a new roof, gutters, and fascia boards put on was a little much. We had 4 1/2 feet of snow on the roof and it tore all the snow guards, gutters and fascia boards off. This was the worst winter since I moved here. So looking at your gorgeous photos was wonderful. Plus I was going through my remains of the day book. I love it so much. Happy summer to you. Sharon
I feel refreshed just looking at these photos. I can almost smell the sea air. I adore that open sketchbook towards the bottom😍. So glad for those spared from the tornados!
Thank you MA for sharing a glimpse into your life. You are totally enjoyable to follow and when a new post arrives in my inbox I squeal a bit out of excitement. Any trips brewing for this summer?
hello emie,
carol and i are off to santa babs for a week of blissful retreat by the sea – my future home.
Oh Mary Ann
I love hearing from you. It’s like reconnecting with an old friend. I love your curiosity, art explorations and visual journeys along the coast. I soak it up.
And so appreciate your kid stories from school and book recommendations and all the cool trips and all the people you art with.
Truly an inspiration.
Please keep on keeping on with this.
A loyal fan, kathy
why kathy, thanks so very much for this. makes me smile to think of all you nice peeps coming to visit and reading along. xo
I just wanted you to know how much your blog is helping me through a tremendously difficult time in my life!
I may not comment often but I love your posts!!
❤️♥️❤️
linda- sending you some salt air and a basket of roses for those hard times. xo
I just adore all of your posts and look forward to each and every one. Enjoy the last few days of school!!
next week at this time i’ll have come through the storm of good byes and tears and smiles and a big exhale…
Oh my goodness!!! Such a wonderful plethora of pix guaranteed to to remind me of life on a CA coast!! Thank you for the wonderful memories!
Hello! Ten more days of school here…don’t the years go by quickly??? If possible, please read The Wishtree by Katherine Applegate over summer vacation…you’ll love every word! 😉 😉 😉 😉
ooooo a summer read. i can’t wait! going to check it out right now 🙂 THX
Hang in there Sister!!
The weather is really pleasant here at the moment in Queensland ..If only I could store up a cool day or two to use in midsummer!
You could develop a meditation app with all your relaxing photos. I am doing some painting in the Shag Palm Springs style. Fun to try a flat expression of objects. Hope to get some summer trips in as I have the summer free for the most part. Any new classes brewing in your cranium? TTFN.
well now i’m curious so i’m off to master google to find out if SPS is a real thing or a VCB thang. nothing brewing at the moment. will keep you posted. xo
Ha ha. Not fooling you this time. Almost done with it. Wanna see?
Sister must live really close to my kids. One is in Lawrence and the other in Olathe. The tornado cut a path between the two!! I’m so glad our loved ones were spared. As always, I enjoy your photos and sketches. I hope you have a fabulous, relaxing summer.
i bet she does! tornado narrowly missed her house. they were hunkered down in the basement. i’d never heard of a wedge tornado before. yes…lucky us – no casualties of any kind.
Lovely photos. Love everyone of them.
Delightful post, Maryann and I loved pawing through your photos. Sure doesn’t feel like summer here in San Francisco but that’s ok with me.
Congratulations on the school year coming to an end! I’m looking forward to hearing about your trips!