i am back from a week by the shore with sister. she flew into LA 2 weeks ago today and we had a glorious 10 days together! first spending a few days here at moss cottage, then on a sunday we hopped in the getaway car and spun the wheels northwest towards the santa barbara coast. we rented a house in a cute neighborhood on chiquita off alameda padre serra. the hot tub was a heavenly quiet place to soak in each night. we turned the temperature down to 100 degrees and mostly kept the jets off. very soothing. wish i was in it right now, but i’m on the front porch typing out this postcard to you. the twinkle lights are on, the sky is blue-black, there’s a chill in the air, i’m drinking a glass of coffee, and there’s a cat on the front mat. all that is to say i’m not soaking in warm water, but i am home and it’s really swell to be here with the summer like a delicious ripe peach in front of me.
i had over 50 photos to go with this post and plenty more to say about our time in santa babs, but that will have to wait for a part 2. i just started a new book and i’m off to bed to read it.
by the way, i’ve been asked about rental links recently – when i like a place enough to leave a link it’s HERE in the trip report section. i won’t list the place we stayed most recently because while we enjoyed out time there, it was a bit faded. not so shabby that we didn’t enjoy our time there, we did, but we’re unlikely to return. another reason i may not leave a listing is it’s already super popular and i don’t want the competition for next time i want to rent it. such is the case for the last place i stayed in montecito – i already booked it for a week in november. but i’m pretty open when people email me about listings and i’ll share – just don’t want to put certain places out there for the world.
fill me in on your summer rambles will you? i always enjoy hearing the news from your end.
Mary Ann, I’m subscribed to your site by email — but I’m not getting the emails! (I had wondered if you had slowed down on blogging, and stopped by to see that no, you hadn’t!)
Do you have any thoughts about how to make this work better? Thanks so much.
wish i did anne… have tried all i know to figure it out and can’t. i suggest subscribing with a different email address and see if that works. wish i could be more helpful 🙁
Thanks, I’ll try that. Super weird!
Love to see you enjoy the way you do. I liked when you said the summer ahead was “like a ripe peach in front of you. “. Love it. I just retired – April 30th and so looking forward to the next chapter and so happy retirement started with the summer months ahead. I wish you a great summer. Your trips inspire me to do the same!
What an absolutely perfect way to start your summer holidays!
We won’t be going away until mid September- that, my friend, is the advantage of being retired from teaching…I can travel off-season when the crowds have returned to work. We are meeting Australian friends in Vancouver and travelling by train to Seattle for a few days together. Then we part ways and they go home while we continue to Maui for two weeks.
Summer is quite ho hum now that I am no longer teaching. But I remember the big sigh of relief once all the exams were graded, the report cards completed, and the latest cohort of graduates were out the door.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
Good morning, MAM! Loving your tales of vacay with sis and the art created there-from. Is that a word? My fav art is your rendition of the pod thingy that looks kind of like a cotton boll. What is it? What sort of paints are those in the little pots? Gouache?? Just here dreading the 4th of July. We live next to the Muckleshoot reservation where many illegal fireworks are sold, so it is like a war zone here for about 2 full weeks. It jangles my nerves, and I feel bad for the poor critters, especially my dog, who just shakes. I am signing up tomorrow for a gouache class taught by Lena Rivo (sp). I hope I spelled that correctly. I am trying to spend less money due to the imminent retirement of my husband any minute now. Getting used to a tight budget will be a new thing. I will now have to pick and choose classes and art supplies very deliberately. BUT if you teach another class, I will have saved some $ for that, you can be sure. I have been reading non-fiction, mostly. Currently reading about sailors who set out to cross oceans in tiny boats and the disasters that befall them. Gripping! Today I am expecting a new book in the mail titled Climbing Out Of The Wreck: A Survivors Tale. It sounds similar to The Glass Castle which was made into a movie. A true story about children trying to survive sketchy, (at best) messed up parenting. My kids have been trying to encourage me to write my own story, which falls soundly into that category. We shall see. Looking forward to more of your excursions! I LOVE it when I get notice of a new dispatch!
I love your tree practice! I find trees very hard to draw, but it seems to me they should be simple to draw. I wonder what the secret is? Hmmm…”The Secret of Trees”…kind of like “The Secret of Bees” (great book).
No travel plans for this summer. I am about to start reading “White Houses” by Amy Bloom, however. I love historical fiction!
I think I meant “The Secret LIFE of Bees.” 😉
It all looks so delicious! And, no pressure, of course, but tap, tap, tap, don’t we need a new MAM class? Here in France we are having the most ridiculous heatwave, which I fear is our new normal. There is no air conditioning anywhere, including in our big glass box of an office. Perfectly stupefying. What are you reading? I’ve finally started Robert Caro’s vast biography of LBJ. It is so good.