Long ago in a faraway land called Key West, my sister Dottie and I got aboard an old schooner and sailed away. I was wearing a shirt made from a tablecloth. In those days (mid ’80’s) I had many such wardrobe oddities. It was a wild ride, but we held on tight and loved our outing. Just the two of us and the crew. Now, as then, I love boats and water. We both do.
Flash forward to 2020 the year of the Pandemic Bobcat Fire Smoky Conditions, and as of Friday night Big Earthquakes. The jolt came when I was sound asleep. It’s been at least a decade since I felt such a big earthquake. It wasn’t a roller or a gentle rumbler or a barely there shaker. Nope, it felt like a giant picked up Moss Cottage and dropped it. I was up in a second and under a door frame. Surprisingly nothing seemed to shift or fall. After a bit I was back in bed, back to sleep.
So about that smoke. It’s been smoky for the last couple of weeks since the Bobcat Fire began to burn in the Angeles National Forest. I live in Northeast LA close to Eaglerock and Pasadena. I am NOT in a foothill community, thus have not been in danger except from the suffocating smoke. I’ve stayed inside, kept the a/c on and suspended walking until the air quality moves from hazardous to unhealthy for sensitive groups.
In the last few days I have glimpsed blue skies which are even lovelier after the ashy gray conditions that persisted for so long. It seems like forests need to burn and it probably works out better if it happens more frequently than once every 30 or 60 or 80 years. Perhaps we can get back to controlled burns which native people did for centuries. I haven’t a clue what the right answer is, but with 33 million acres of forest land California is in need of some good land stewardship. Thanks to our fire crews working tirelessly around the clock some of the blazes are being contained.
There are certain houses on my walking route along the arroyo that are exceedingly lovely. This one, designed in 1917 by Louis DuPuget Millar, is an English Cotswold Revival. I am very fond of it and walk by often.
This was my vantage point during a ZOOM break one day last week. Couch collapse.
Much staring into space and porch sitting is required for virtual school. As I remarked to a fellow teacher a few weeks ago, it’s like trying to communicate with tin cans and tangled strings.
Okay kids ready?
Everyone get your tin can walkie talkies out!
Cut or tangle the strings. Your choice!
Put on your blindfolds.
Turn off the volume so you can’t hear a word I say.
Let’s all use our robot voices in the rare instances when communication is possible.
Okay! Ready?
That’s just some days. Other days communication is easier. I’m rolling with it. It’s looking like we won’t get back into the classroom until after November at the earliest. Some districts in the state have already declared that the entire school year will be done virtually. Kids & teachers are learning how to do hard things, be resilient, figure things out. That’s not a bad thing.
I took cuttings of all my epiphylums this summer and had my gardener lift the heavy pots and dump them in the green waste can. Then I added fresh potting soil and stuck my cuttings in the pots. Now they’re busy growing new roots. I was getting fewer blooms each year and the leaves weren’t looking so good. It’s amazing how fast the leaf cuttings root!
In the last few days the air quality has gotten so much better as the Bobcat fire has surged north into the back country. I left the house yesterday morning before sunrise and drove to a favorite beach just over the Santa Barbara county line.
The salt spray, fresh sea air, and wet sand were like a benediction.
How good to be alive and present at this place.
Anemones and turban snails rested in the cool pools between the rocks.
Afterwards, I climbed back up the hill and sat on a bench under a tree. It was marvelous to drink in the cool air and watch the seabirds.
Were you aware of the healing properties of cold watermelon eaten outside on a porch?
Here I am in my virtual classroom waiting for the kiddies to show up. Attendence is good. Despite the curveball the pandemic has thrown all of us I’m learning how to do some really cool things online that I’ll continue once we’re back in the real classroom. Things I’d been meaning to do for years, but couldn’t find the time to figure out. Now it seems we all have plenty of time.
I’ve enjoyed these series on PBS via Amazon Prime recently:
My taste in “television” is very predictable. Some would say boring, but it suits me perfectly.
My dispatches have grown few and far between, but I’m still here. Keep me posted on your own big or small adventures.
I always enjoy your dispatch and all the photos. Especially the beach pics. I miss the ocean so much during this shutdown. I always love looking at people’s bookshelves and The California Field Atlas really caught my eye. I looked at it on Amazon and it looks wonderful. Do you recommend it?
Thanks!
Cheryl
thx again for taking me on your photo journey it’s always so refreshing
So happy to have received a post of you again. I so love your stories and most of all beach photos. So here I am learning that California hasn’t gone back to school. Here in France we had some month of virtual classroom organisation but we’re back in class now: masked!! That is so suffocating; I feel like a naughty dog with a muzzle on. But if it is all for the good cause, I will do it. As I teach primary school kids some English I wear a transparent mask like a screen so the children can see how I form the words.
It is true that teaching online has certain advantages: no discipline problems and access to interesting activities.
I am most grateful not to have to wear a mask all day in a classroom. I can barely stand one for the 15 minutes I am at the market. I am enjoying my freedom while it lasts. Some parts of California have returned to school, depends on the area you live and the number of virus cases. We still have too many so they don’t consider it safe.
Wishing you much luck in France, Anja!
Been thinking of you during the Great Smoky Days. Glad to hear it’s letting up. We had some, but nothing like what you did. I’m heading off to the little cottage next month. Haven’t been since March when I left early due to that nasty shelter-at-home thing. sigh. Oh, well, it is what it is. We have similar tastes in ‘television,’ which doesn’t surprise me. Meanwhile, I weave and watercolor and garden. The Saving Graces, I called them recently while texting Sharron. Stay safe and, somehow or other, have fun!
oh i’m glad you’ll be up there! i was last there in may. am heading back in november but our cottage was booked so i’ll be in santa babs. how i’ll miss the salt marsh. i love it so. i’m on the drive-up-plan for september into october. it’s only 70 minutes to bates road from my house so i went up on saturday crack of dawn. simply lovely and so worthwhile. will go again this weekend.
enjoy your saving graces, linda xo
Oh my! The snails and shells rock! How wonderfully amazing. Thank you for taking me to the beach.
I used to have a night blooming cereus. It smelled divine when it bloomed.
Take care and check in more often. I’ve missed you.
i shall indeed. mmmmm night blooming cereus what a heady scent….
Good Morning,
I so enjoy hearing from you. Carlos and I haven’t gone anywhere but we are thinking of driving somewhere this week. I did visit Dana Point yesterday. The ocean is divine.
I recently left Facebook so it is good to reconnect with you this way.
Take care of you and the kids.
oh hanna. i miss sweden. i dream of walking in the allotment gardens again in a gentle rain.
Cutie patootie! Beautiful scenery too! xoxo from NE!
(Where for some reason there is no corn to be purchased anywhere). 🌽 corn 🌾 I don’t understand a lot here. I need to get -out-and make some friends!
😘
hi sheila!!
Hello!
I’m so happy to hear you are doing well.
I always look forward to reading your posts. Love your photos too!
The fires and an earthquake are definitely scary.
I bet all of your students think you are wonderful.
Be safe!
Please, keep your witty and charming posts coming. They make us happy!
Thanks!
Love that pic of you in your tablecloth shirt with Dotty in the ‘boat’. And your fab plants, cats, ocean adventure etc. You are always my most inspiring pal! AT1
dear art tart no. 1 i wish more than anything i could drive up and visit you on your deck. and watch the eagles and water and your glorious garden. xo
We weathered the Walbridge Fire. We were really lucky to not have to evacuate or have our power turned off. Luckily not a ton of people lost their homes this fire (compared with previous year’s fires) although of course if you lost yours, it would be so devastating. Loved looking at your bedside pile of books. Loved Obi Kaufman’s Book, California Atlas and the next one, State of Water. His new book on the forests should be coming out soon. I have been taking nature journaling classes from John Muir Laws, since January 2019. First they were in person and then online. He has a new book out about teaching nature journaling and has been teaching 3X/week online. Looking at the Edwardian Ladies books on your bedside table, I think you would enjoy his classes, which are all recorded and can be watched later if you can’t watch them live. There is an online nature journaling conference in October.
So good to hear from you and your latest news/photos/movies/books/sketches. A kindred spirit to keep me on solid footing during these scary times and slippery slopes. 🤗
jane! hello. i bet fall is settling in nicely out there isn’t it?
Having some beautiful Fall weather here! It hasn’t turned frosty yet.
yes to cold watermelon-porch therapy…what ever shall we do when melon season leaves us ?
i shudder to think of it
Hi MAM! Long time. No comment. I was doing some stuff on my laptop and came across your dispatch. Good to hear you are surviving things in spite of fires, Covid and now earthquakes. Me? I live in hurricane country and we’re dealing with after effects of Hurricane Sally. It is a mess in our fair town but we got our power back in only 36 hours which is nothing short of miraculous. During Ivan it was more than a week without power. It ceases to be fun after a day or two. Pretending to camp out has its limitations! We’re doing ok now that we have power back but our water is still on a boil water notice.
I must say the challenges of virtual learning just got a wee bit more taxing with the hurricane. It went from virtual to no learning. All classes … in person and online….are cancelled for a few more days as we clean up the town, assess damage to the schools and other infrastructure. I guess it is just one more layer to the challenges that 2020 has given us. My neighbor is a virtual teacher but reports to her school daily. To hear her tell it, it is a fun adventure to teach this way. Maybe fun is not the right word? LOL
Anyhow, glad you got some respite at the beach. Right now, beach therapy is off limits to us because the bridge connecting us to the beach got hit by untethered barges during the storm and is now closed. So the detour makes a 9 min. trip turn into 90 min. And the Gulf Islands Seashore has not opened back up because the paved road on the island is covered with sand and probably washed out in some places. It is a wonderful, wild place on good days with Bald Eagles, Ospreys and all kinds of shore birds. So I’m hoping they get that place ready for humans soon. There is a campground out there, too, but I’m pretty sure that will need some work before they are ready to accept campers and RVs.
It has been a crazy year but looks like we’re all hanging in there just hoping 2021 is a little kinder. Meanwhile there are projects to keep us busy, books to read, movies to watch. We will get our absentee ballots next week, I think. So we’ll vote at our kitchen table and take our ballot to the supervisor of elections office to be counted and tallied with the rest.
Take care and keep those posts coming.
best wishes in returning to “normal” after the hurricane.
i can’t WAIT to cast my ballot. if we can get an adult in office it will be awesome.
I am embarking on new adventure…studying for a Masters in creative writing! It is through The Open University, which is a UK school almost totally on line. And WAY cheaper than any of the US grad programs. I am also taking a watercolor class at the local community college, again on line. I actually like the on line teaching and working. I have so much more time to do things now that I only change pajamas once a day and my grooming routine is maybe brushing my hair once in a while. No more commutes and parking issues! I would think teaching a 5th grade class on line would be challenging. Love your virtual classroom:)
distance learning IS a challenge, but less of one that IN PERSON teaching. quite frankly. your classes sound promising. i’m quite sure you’ll excel in both.
Thank goodness you and your gang are safe. There you are, keeping on keeping on.
Your taste in entertainment looks very Bristish to me!
can’t wait to plant my feet on cornish soil!
Good to see you! And gorgeous pix, as always ~
Our beloevd CA has been hit so hard this year… I cry for her.
Stay safe ~
Your posts are always marvelous…. I always feel as if I’ve spent time with a truly creative woman….you bring all five senses alive!!
Your students and readers are extremely fortunate to have you as their creative muse!!
Here’s to a fantastic new year in your virtual classroom!!
I totally agree with what you have written!
I have been thinking about you and wondering how you were faring in all this! Really happy to read this Dispatch! We have blue sky here today, and it is a very welcome sight.
yoo hoo gwen! i’ve thought of you up there and hoped you were okay. the blue skies are SO welcome!
I loved home fires and was disappointed that it wasn’t going on. I found you could buy more in books on Amazon. Keep the Home Fires burning parts 1,2 and 3.
I checked out the books but they had dismal reviews. Very sorry to have that series end on that cliffhanger. oy!
Still loving your dispatches all these years later. It is so lovely when a new one pops up on my screen and I greedily soak up every word. You are appreciated. Keep ‘em coming MAM.
good to know. thanks Helen xo
I enjoy your posts. Have you watched the Poldark series? I am loving it.