i’m poking my head up from packing and sorting and all of that to say hello. how are you? i’ve had my eye on the horizon for weeks scanning for plumes of smoke, but not to worry smoke and flames are nowhere near the little hillside in northeast los angeles that i call home.
climate change has brought a longer, more destructive fire season here to california, and more extreme weather to all of us in general. it’s a wild ride we’re in for, but i guess we’ll adapt.
i’ve been testing out various white tints of paint for the walls and trim of moss cottage; which are finally, after years and years, getting brightened.
whitetail for the walls and ceiling. extra white semi-gloss for the trim. the walls of my art room, as seen below are being plastered. i had the most dreadful orange peel texture in there and the walls were a dingy beige.
in addition to painting i have a slew of other handyman problems that hector is fixing. squeaky doors that stick, a plywood wall that’s being removed, holes repaired, and gutters cleaned. out with the old, in with the new and all that business.
home repair tends to go in spurts with me. much of it dependent on finding a Reliable Person to do the job. here in LA that is v.v. difficult. out of work actors, stuntmen, people on the lam, and ne’er do wells are attracted to “handyman” work. i have an internal magnet that reels them in it seems.
crossing fingers that hector turns out to be the exception rather than the rule.
in other unrelated news, i recently went to the central library downtown to breathe in the ambiance and revisit my old haunt. how good it was to see everything just as i’d left it over a decade ago.
i recently finished the saga of the central library fire via susan orlean’s marvelous – THE LIBRARY BOOK. how i devoured every word, hung on one lovely line after another.
these words in particular from an essay contest about the library shortly after it burned:
for years i was a castle in the library, sharing a countryside of silence, in silence, with others similarly locked in their own solitude
i wandered the halls and various departments. poring over all the new books which is how i discovered AFTER THE FLOOD. which by the way, is thoroughly readable, enjoyable and dare i say, unputdownable. well there. i said it.
as if i wasn’t giddy enough just being in the central library, there was an ansel adams exhibit chronicling a year he spent photographing the city of angels and her residents.
and there was a bookplate exhibit!
naturally, i was drawn to the seascapes.
after relying on kindle and audible for so long i’m afraid the public library fell by the wayside, but i’m back on board. checking out books and reading up a storm.
i’m patching together this blog post here at my plastic covered desk in the living room where i sit looking at these old walls. hector just popped over for a consultation before he begins tomorrow’s work. the cat posse are sprawled on the dusty floor dozing at my feet and i’m getting ready to join them. not on the floor of course but reclining on my bed with the new leif enger book. oh joy!
i hope you’ll see fit to regale me with news from your end of the world. what you’re planting, what you’re cooking, what you’re reading, where you’re off to. that sort of thing.
on my bookshelf
Before my big move this past summer, I donated the year books containing 36 years worth of weekly newspapers my grandfather owned, to my local library. It was a community paper and those books are a treasure trove of the history of our section of the city. Once I retire, (in the next couple of years I hope) I plan to visit those books again. My hope is that they will add to the larger history of this area for those researching the years 1936 to 1972.
Anyhoo….your photos of your central library made me want to visit mine sooner rather than later.
The library….my happy place since childhood. When I’m out and about if I have time to spare I’ll drop into the library wherever I find myself. Fun adventure of the bookish kind.
I lived at the central library when I was in high school 50 years ago. Love it and the book…
I love libraries too. I’m a public librarian in Portland Oregon. Glad you’re not in the line of fire! And so glad your blog post was in my inbox. I just read a wonderful literary fiction romance called Red White and Royal Blue. It’s a romance between the First Son of the United States of America president and a British Royal prince. It was so touching. Themes of letting people be who they are and love who they love. Ahhhh painting our homes lotta work hope Hector works out! Thanks for the dispatch!!
a librarian! after reading the library book i’ve become convinced that in another life i could have gone down that path. willingly. gratefully.
in this life i guess i’ll keep trying to convince kids that books are worth loving.
Hello Mary Ann,
Presently, I am reading 1914 by James Farner. I looked him up and he has written so many novels and travelled to so many places…and I was gobsmacked to find out he is 20! I still can’t believe it. I expected a middle aged man, never a 20 year old to write with such a seasoned voice. I am still trying to find more info on him because if the info I found is correct, he would have had his first novel published at 15? I still can’t wrap my mind around that…especially as I was a high school English teacher for all my life and never met a student with such success so early in life.
Well, you asked what we were up to…so that is what I am reading. I am also in the thick of pet portrait commissions …busy time of the year for sure!
Good luck with all your renovations!
Louise
hello louise – thanks for mentioning james farner. i must look him up myself!
Hope your home projects go as planned. I know how it is with trying to get a reliable “handyman”. We have the same issue in Miami. Bet your plaster walls will be awesome!
hello susan. yes. i can imagine miami and LA have similar “handyman” types. i’m ready to hire someone to play the part of husband for my next renovation project.
I so love finding your newsletter in my mailbox…so glad to hear you’re away from the fires. Can’t wait to see you all set up again.
i’m only a week in and i’m dying for it to be over and done with, but hector is sloooooooowwwwwww. house not even 1/4 done at this point. oyvey
I loved the word “internal magnet”. I laughed out loud. HAHAHAHA. Yes, handyman people are hard to find. I married one. More laughing. I hope he cannot read this. Since we have our swimming pool now I have my own ‘cabana boy’. Your turn to laugh now. 🙂
Best,
Barbarella
P.S. Be careful what you wish for…..we live very close to the beach now. Stuff rusts. OMG!
barbarella! i remember when you and H visited me after i bought moss cottage. you said while looking out the big window in the living room, “i could look at that view for a long time” or something like that. that was nearly 20 years ago.
WARNING…. I LOVE LIBRARIES so this will be lengthy.
Loved the pictures of the LA Library. Never had the privilege to go there though I used to haunt the library in Reseda (in the San Fernando Valley) when I lived there and then San Diego. I love my little town library here in Bloomsburg. When I was a very little girl we would visit my grandparents for the summer every year. And while there I would READ. The library was just up the street so I would head there nearly every day. I read FAST so would finish their limit of books every day or so. I had to get SPECIAL permission to get new books every day or two. At first they didn’t believe I was really reading them but my mom set them straight. I started reading when I was 4 thanks to my parents being teachers!!! I will be on the lookout for “After The Flood.”…Doesn’t sound like a happy subject but will be an important read I am sure… I just finished my 85th book this year…. I do run a small business but I have a book with me always so in between customers I read and I DON”T watch TV even though I worked in the TV business for years.
And here is a side note: I lived in the Bangor Maine area for many years. (Home of Steven King) He once went on Jeopardy and gave the money he won to the Bangor Public Library.
oh your childhood library story is marvelous Beth. also the bit about SK who i think is such a good writer, i follow him on twitter and he is funny. i love knowing that about the BPL. cool!
oh sugar, I love this post so much! I love, love libraries and we have so many good ones here. I’ve just returned from 2 weeks in West Virginia on a mission of mercy and am sooo glad to be back in the land of sunshine and blue skies. Since beginning a plant based journey a few years back, I’ve done lots of experiments that maybe 7 outta 10 turn out edible and recently have been loving roasting veggies with a variety of sauces. One I particularly like is from Susan Branch and has a caramelized onion sauce another is apricot and thyme sauce. Both are easy and delish and I change up what I roast by what is available at the growers market. My new favorite author lately is Jane Harper…mysteries I can’t figure out…my favorite! Glad to know you are busy and embracing change, moving forward and still loving that amazing beach life! Smooches!
those sauces sound 100% awesome. i try to do plant-based as much as possible, but inevitably succumb to the addictive properties of crap food. i love dr. greger – i bet you follow him too.
Hey Mam! So glad to hear you and your cottage are no where near the fire! I have been doing a lot of reading this year, late at night. I’m reading The Chocolate House which is a fascinating 2nd book to The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Braxton. It’s a fascinating book based in the UK and about time travel. Fascinating! 🙂
well as a time traveler myself i will have to look into your chocolate house. sounds good!
Oh you are back !I kept checking and worrying.Such a big job painting interiors.We have ,well the husband has just finished months of painting this old house of mine and I musnt moan but he stopped at my craft room,disassembled as it is now it looks pretty awful.But he did make me a whole room into a library and rebuild my kitchen so one mustnt be greedy.The calves are in our paddocks and summer has arrived one month early down here in New Zealand.I wish you well.We hope for updates of course.So lucky are you having a major city library within your grasp!!!
susan…a big hello to you down there in new zealand.
kitchens and libraries.
and baby cows. swoon.
xoxo