All is well here at Moss Cottage. Summer arrived and with it mountains of rose petals. Not from my own garden, but from Pam’s. She came bearing gifts the week after I left the hospital. Roses for each room in all my favorite colors. Along with some old white vases that I’m crazy about.
They will be perfect still-life props for upcoming drawing and painting sessions. I haven’t picked up a brush or pen in weeks, but I’m eager to get back to a daily practice.
Now that school is officially out for the summer I have the time and energy to devote to the unhurried practice of sketchbookery. How nice it is to spend time with other vaccinated humans immersed in art-making. How nice to have a long break from active duty. Instead of driving to work in the morning, my chariot turns towards the wild arroyo where I can walk under the oak and sycamore-lined streets. Past gardens where sage and gardenia bloom. My feet carry me along leave-strewn paths overlooking a small canyon. My eyes scanning for large and small mammals, kestrels, hawks, ravens.
On a walk a few weeks ago, I came across a bobcat drinking water from a large stone birdbath. She watched me as I watched her. For 10 minutes I kept still, absorbed in observation. It was my first experience of seeing a bobcat in the wild. Thrilling!
I had oral surgery 2 weeks after my hospital stint. 1 more week and the stitches from that will be removed and I will be nearly a whole person again. Sans one front tooth. My implant screw will not be ready for a tooth (crown) until December. If you have to choose between a sinus augmentation via a vertical route or a blood transfusion, endoscopy, colonoscopy, and 4-days in the hospital. Choose the latter. If you have to get both done in the same month, don’t panic. You can do it. As with most things, it’s best not to overthink.
No cause was ever found for my upper G.I. bleed, but it is believed to be a result of NSAIDS. A quick google search will demonstrate just how common it is.
I’ve had a flurry of emails lately inquiring about my health so I’ll spell it out for you. I A M F I N E. Good, in fact. I’m not regularly on Facebook so if you’ve messaged me there it’s probably gone unanswered. If I didn’t return your email, you’ll excuse me. I decided to update everyone at the same time with my monthly blog post.
I seem to be a found chair magnet, so when I saw this street art in my hood I knew it was meant for me. Here in the city of angels, chairs congregate by the curbs like orphans waiting patiently for their new owners to adopt, collect, and take them home.
2 more came home with me on a recent evening reconnaissance mission. They were heavy, wooden, very sturdy, and perfect for the porch.
On Sunday I freshened them up with several coats of Greek-island-blue paint.
My new adoptees are divine. I love them and have spent long moments gazing at them. If you come for a visit your tuchus can get acquainted with them. Those with more generous proportions will appreciate the large seat bottom. Memory foam cushions are on their way!
You’re welcome.
And…when I’m not staring at the chairs, I’m watching my epiphylums grow. I dumped the old pots out completely and started over with cuttings last summer. No blooms this year, but the leaves are incredible and healthy.
This is what I’ll be doing all summer: noticing. Everything. Every single thing under the sun. Recording my observations in my writing journal.
I have no plans. Just the usual reading, writing, drawing, painting, walking, living.
Moss Cottage hums softly, gladdened by my steady presence.
I sat in the chair below and drank prosecco in a friend’s garden recently. The world is opening. Next year we’ll probably be back to international travel. We’ll see.
I’m a big believer and supporter of vaccinations. If you were able to get one, thanks for helping the world recover from this virus. It’s a humanitarian mission to which I am happy to contribute.
My awesome neighbor Susan lives inside an art museum. True, her floor tiles have a vaguely cornavirussy appearance, but they’re lovely aren’t they?
I love to go for visits. Which will be happening more often now.
It’s Jacaranda season in LA.
A regular purple wonderland. Just in time for my 2-month summer vacation from working life.
I sincerely hope you are well. Baking cakes, taking naps, riding horses, striding along the shore, collecting shells and pinecones and feathers, playing with kittens, rowing your boats through calm waters, holding hands or basking in solitude, rolling out tortillas, digging in your gardens, watching bees.
Let me know.
ON MY BOOKSHELF
I can unequivocally recommend each of these 5 books that I have enjoyed in the last month or so since my last post. Thanks so much to whomever recommended Miss Benson’s Beetle to me a couple of posts back. A delightful page-turner, that one. I’m always on the lookout for character-driven stories featuring mature single women that do not contain a romantic sub-plot.
The Diane Setterfield novels feel like fairytales. They are glistening and exceedingly well-written. The way she strings words together is marvelous.
As always, I welcome book recommendations. Especially those in the literary fiction category.
Hope you are doing well and taking time for yourself. You have been such a creative example for so many off us. I enjoy your blog travel journal and delight in the visual richness and careful consideration of details. Thank you.
I hope you’re doing OK, Mary Ann. We haven’t heard from you for awhile. I hope you’re able to vacation with everything that’s going on!
I have enjoyed your book recommendations. One for you: The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by M
arianne Cronin
The Bookshop of Yesterdays Amy Meyerson
Just wondering if you’ve read this. I would guess it’s about 10 years old. It came wondering into my brain just now.
So pleased you are back and well Mary Ann. Noticing is an art that needs practicing. You are quite good at it which is one of the reasons I was so drawn to your blog. Your chairs are beautiful and a perfect color to get you in the mood for international travel as well as inspire your painting. Gorgeous roses. I miss them. Being a California native, and avid rose grower, that has taken up permanent residence in Monument, Colorado at 7400 ft. Roses are not on the agenda. Lilacs I can grow along with amazing peonies, Russian sage, honeysuckle, yarrow in all forms, salvias, penstemons, hydrangeas, and crabapples galore. It’s a little more work when you’re raised in California where you can pretty much grow anything. We moved two years ago to a yard completely unloved. 4 tons of red rock in the front yard (this is not and exaggeration) removed to begin making it a living garden. This year the backyard. Keeping us busy and creative. Painting has fallen by the wayside temporarily. Once everything is watered in I will be back in my studio. Lovely to have you back and noticing once again.
Lynn
Glad you are on the mend! Loved the chairs! Happy summer dreaming!
Happy summer, happy painting again!
Oh Mary Ann, had no idea about the health issues and just super duper glad that you are mended and ship shape and homing abandoned chairs. right there with you on getting vaccinated and I got mine as soon as I could. I’ve been on my own health adventure, breast cancer, caught super early, surgery, 7 weeks of radiation are all behind me with an excellent prognosis. Hormone therapy has begun and will go on for 3 years, along with mammo’s every 6 months. Health issues are nothing to mess around with and so much got side tracked during the early months of Covid. So many of my friends are dealing with undiagnosed problems due to not being able to get their yearly tests and check ups. I am very, very lucky. Loving all of your photos and hearing about your adventures in your lil corner of the world. Just finished reading The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen. Not sure it will pass snuff as a read worthy book for you as there is tich of romance but not heavily so, anyway I thoroughly enjoyed it and given I have never been to Venice can’t say for sure if it’s accurately geographically correct or not. There is one part of the story that took me right to that moment in your Trip To Venice class where you found the hidden treasure trove in the place you rented, the main character finds her Aunt’s sketches and journal in a secret hideaway. I couldn’t help feeling a wee bit intrigued and excited at that memory. The real moment back then was truly magical and I was one of the lucky ones who got to view the video you made for the class before you took it down out of respect for the owner. One of my favorite memories from all the classes I took from you. Sending you a ton of good and happy vibes for an enjoyable and restful summer!
always good to hear from you! sorry to hear about the breast cancer, but catching things “super early” is good news. best wishes on your healing journey in the coming months and years.
i remember so well that adventure in Venice and finding the hidden treasure in the closet. Oh Venice!
I believe in curbside recycling and have hauled home many things to my husband’s despair. We had to move once and he said he was not moving my chair orphans. I did not realize that I had 21 chairs in my crawl space!!!! LOL. I took all to the thrift store sadly. Have read 3 books on your list and enjoyed them. So enjoy your posts. Jessica
Hello Jessica…21 chairs!!!!!!! LOL
I am so glad you are well and back at Moss Cottage with friends, flowers and cats. Your imagination takes us far into a sweet world where anything can happen and usually does. Glad you are enjoying the start of a wonderful summer break from school duties. May you continue to thrive in Moss Cottage and share your colorful walks with us.
Sharon,
Thank you. Happy summer to you xo
I eagerly l00k forward to your wonder- full letters to us!
Thank you so much for your art, your photos, your lovely heart. Enjoy vacation time you sweet soul!
Sooo glad to hear you are doing better and enjoying the deliciously long Summer days with art/journaling, rambling through your favorite trails and porchin’
Thank you for sharing your beautiful corner of the big, wide World. Keep observing all of that beauty and I delight in everything you pass along!
Hugs & “hellos” to the Cat Posse!
So glad that you are on the mend. I, too, had a scare in 2012. I thought that my heart was giving out. Several tests later – all of which you had – they found an interanal bleed. I takes time to recover. Sending you best wishes on your recovery.
THANK YOU for the “summer reads” suggestions! I am checking them out now!
Your words, art, and photos always bring a smile, chuckle, and inspiration!
Howdy Teressa,
The double blood transfusion zoomed me into a quick recovery! Within days I was back to normal. Thankful for that!
Happy summer reading xo
Dude! For reasons, I had no idea of your medical travails. You write like a romance novel, but I also had a near death experience in January with internal bleeding and I know, I know! the reality of feeling like you’re trying to move through the thickest sludge to do the simplest things like unwrap a teabag or stay upright on the potty. It’s all behind us now. Onward to the beautiful life that awaits us: eggs benedict, walks with Kinito in the bosque near the Rio Grande, artichokes eaten 30 minutes from being picked out of my garden, hummers in the bird bath right before dawn. So many things to appreciate and notice and indulge in. I can’t remember your time frame, but I hope retirement is coming soon. It’s so good!
Barbara Cartland and Danielle Steel watch out! I’m comin’ for ya LOL
Much love to Pam, you and the chairs ❤️
How I would love for you to be here RIGHT NOW with Pam and I on the porch.
Oh Kristen Hannah”s The Four Winds is the best, best book. I’ve been through a spell where I couldn’t find a book I wanted to finish or read. and then I stumbled upon this one–the joy of reading returned!! I am so glad you are better and starting your summer vacation. I always love your many photos of you everyday life and garden. My favorite thing you said today is this– “I’m a big believer and supporter of vaccinations. If you were able to get one, thanks for helping the world recover from this virus. It’s a humanitarian mission to which I am happy to contribute.” In Missouri there are too many people refusing to be vaccinated-it makes me angry–so from now on I am going to think of myself contributing to a humanitarian mission! Thanks for being you Maryanne and also your sister Carol–your blogs always brighten my day!
Dear Janet,
The Four Winds spun me off into non-fiction reading about the dust bowl and all those migrants who came to California and their subsequent mistreatment. The tendency of people to project hatred onto people and situations they fear. Today’s homeless encampments, immigrants at the borders, etc., That book provokes so much conversation and THOUGHT about what is the right thing to do.
My hope is that more people will stop seeing vaccinations as a political statement and just do the right thing for the world.
Good to hear from you. xo
Moss Cottage is calling me. As is the delightful front porch seating! A perfect spot to re read West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. Maybe this will be the year for me to return to the city of angels.
Cheryl!!! I’m going to look that book up. It’s time for a visit from my favorite SIL. xo
Thanks for the update — am relieved to hear you are doing well! If you want to try something different in a good way, these 2 Japanese novels come to mind: The Great Passage by Shion Miura (if you read a synopsis, it will sound boring, but it’s charming and wonderful, especially if you love books, words and even paper) and The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (since you’re a cat person 😉 ).
Well, you buried the lead.. the anxious Nurse Practitioner in me scrolled until I saw your health news.. only then could I relax into the deliciousness of your musings and incredible photos. I love the color you choose for the chairs and your neighbors “coronovirus” tiles made me laugh .. I really am grateful for the health update .. you know you can always reach out to me if you need a free medical consult.. Who Loves You!
Me Linda! Sending you bear hugs all the way to the east coast. Let’s do the medical consult in Amsterdam, okay? After a trip to our favorite coffee shop.
Omg , getting lost in Amsterdam after our enthusiastic trip to the “ coffee shop” is a tale I have told many times! We have had some real laughs together! Continue to feel better, and totally will meet you anywhere…xo
me! me! me! recommended miss benson. i’m tickled that you liked it – i was pretty sure.
thank you for sharing your observations, as always. beautiful. The Four Winds …i am on a long wait list at the library, but getting there. i’ll ck on the others.
happy happy summer.
I enjoyed Once Upon A River, and will make note of the other selections. Glad you are well, and I enjoyed your post and pix, as always!
I’m glad you’re home and continuing to feel better. I recently read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I really enjoyed it quite a lot.
Kelly! hello old internet friend. I always love it when a comment from you pops into my blog. i’ve added your book to my list. always happy to get a good rec from a happy reader. xo
Glad to hear you are FINE!
The dictionary of lost words by Pip Williams I loved this book.
The collected works of A.J.Fikry by Gabrielle Levin
The birdman’s wife by Melissa Asley. The story of Artist Elizabeth Gould.
I love the tiles on your neighbours floor, so colourful. I may have to go stride along the beach this afternoon, I feel a trip to the islands coming on.
all the best
thanks Wendy for these book recs. Investigating now!
Glad you got my chair ready sister – with plenty of time for the paint to dry before I get there.
Welcome back Miz Moss…was thinking about you during my 2 fifth grade class culminations and hoping you were sitting it out to recover from your recent health episodes. A welcome break to heal this summer.
Thanks! We had virtual culmination with an in-person component. I was back in the classroom to see out the end of the year. Looking forward to the end of Zoom school for next year. I would prefer to only do 1 program next year, not 2. Hopefully a vaccine for children will be developed rapidly by summer’s end so that everyone can be safe for the fall. Happy summer to you!
greetings from Az,
Mrs Benson’s Beetle was quite the hoot. There are a couple on your post that I will read. So happy ☺ you are doing well and enjoying you vacay.
Your porch is so welcoming and petty. Just right.
Really loved your recommendation of Ann Patchets book with the lovely Tom Hanks narrating. I hadnt been a fan of audio books until now. I think you recommended , anyway.
Hope you enjoy every single day. sending a smoke signal this time , for reelz.
One of my favourite series is by Elly Griffiths starts with Crossing Places, A Ruth Galloway mystery.
A very enjoyable read.