Long ago in Greece the Moss kids stood on the porch and someone took their picture. That’s Carol on the left, Ray in the middle, and MAM on the far right. 1964. Do you remember where you were in 1964?
The Retirement Club met for breakfast again on the very first day of school. We’re all happy as clams to be finished with working life. It’s fun to get together a few times a year and compare notes.
Earlier this month I got swept up in the art and history of Lover’s Eyes when I happened upon The Paris Market by way of Pinterest. Oh boy! I decided to start painting my friends’ eyes. Then I wondered what would happen if I painted some on loose paper, cut them out, and stuck them in my Peruvian mirrors. Like everything else in sketchbookery land, I’ll continue exploring this idea until I’ve had enough. Who can say when that might be? No one, least of all me.
Earlier this week I got up earlier than usual and went for a hill walk in my neighborhood. I had forgotten how cool the air is this early, or how the sky is like milk. The way the grasses float in the slight breeze. A sleeping world.
on my bookshelf
If it’s “on my bookshelf” I liked it v v v much. That’s the extent of my reviews. Your mileage may vary. If you like other books I’ve read, you might enjoy these too. Anita Brookner is the latest writer on whom I’ve focused. If she interests you, I’m linking a couple of articles about her HERE and above.
I’m still reading Harriet the Spy (1964) and am enchanted. A friend recommended it to me with these words, “We are Harriet.” Naturally, I had to investigate.
This morning after my walk I took Brief Lives to the French Cafe on Union Street in Pasadena. Just a few miles from Moss Cottage, it’s a great place to enjoy an iced Americano and a baguette with arugula, brie, pecans, apples, and honey.
Keep me posted on your worlds and let me know if you get my smoke signal from the city of angels. I’ll just be here making art with my homies, wrangling cats, using power tools in the garden, cleaning the garage like I do every summer, solving crimes in the neighborhood and NOT going to work.
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Greetings from Oslo, MAM! I will add Harriet to my reading list – she joins an old favorite that Jenny Doh inspired me to revisit – Pippi Longstocking. We’ve been entranced by views of Oslo fjord, cool breezes that remind me of PG, and endless grass at Ekeberg park for pups to run downhill on – fast as the wind! We return to Nice in a couple of weeks.
I just found you on substack and oh my I am loving your videos. I came across this blog in January 2025 and it made me feel so inspired at a time in my life where I was going through a very difficult time, still am…but I went ahead and bought some gouache and started playing with a brush and it brought me so much dang joy and gave me something to look forward to…my first go at a painting was a papaya..awesomeness. thanks for sparking me some joy. Oh how I hope to take “oh my gouache” and “sketchbookery” one day. Always look forward to reading about your adventures. Cheers.
gladdens me to read this Maddie, thanks for it. both of the classes you mentioned are going to be open to registration soon (free). keep playing through the rough patches. I’m rooting for you.
I so wish I were in LA more! Your French Cafe hang sounds divine and I’d meet you there in a second if I could! First I wanna say, great sketchbook pages!!!!! You are a juicy painter and always inspiring! Your ideas are only predictable in that they’re always fresh, slightly kooky and have great color sense and mark making magic. Also, I must tell you I did a crazy thing! I went all the way to Colorado for the 8 day “Proclaiming Basic Sanity” meditation retreat with Susan Piver and Michael Carroll! He’s the best!!!! She’s even better! It was amazing. It was transformational. Last thing and possibly most critical: I’ve been a Harriet the Spy devotee since I was 10. I kept my journals I a comp notebook to be like her. I still have my OG book. She is a lifelong heroine of mine. Now so are you. Xx jojo( my new name) deal with it:)
I made Jambon-fromage baguettes tonight for dinner. I’ve been craving them. A side salad and pickle rounded off the meal. It was delicious! I just finished reading Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of The Water Lilies. It’s non-fiction and took me too long to get through. But nevertheless interesting because in June we were at Giverny and l’Orangerie. So fun to tie it all together.
Looks so fun! I’d love to go do art and eat French pastries with you. Trev and I just found a new French bakery in Victoria and we can’t wait to pack up our art in our bike bags, (I have a basket of course) and eat French treats in a funky place to draw! Come on over, we have lots of space and rooms and so many things and places to draw, eat, e-bike to and chat about! Cats welcome 🤗
on my way! find a bike for me!
❤️ Harriet the Spy. A million years ago, when I was teaching 4th grade, I read the story to my kiddos and we made a Harriet the Spy scarecrow for the school’s scarecrow contest. It was a delight with all of her gadgets included. Fun memories.
Hi MAM,
Your postings are always something I love to read. So happy for you to be enjoying your much deserved retirement. I went camping in my car for the first time, this last weekend. It was alright. I am near age 69 and felt a little uncomfortable the first night but it was much better the 2nd. I have a very old car. 2004 Subaru Forester. I met family at a beautiful lake in the Willamette National Forest, Oregon. Waldo Lake. Primitive camping, haul in my water. Build a campfire. I was surprised they allowed campfires. The area around the lake has burned a few times. It is still beautiful. Very deep clear, clean water. Pristine. Perfect sandy swimming area for everyone. My grandsons paddled around on the stand up paddle board, smiling the whole time, imagining a wonderful adventure . Im so proud of myself for going. It was so good for me.
I just read, By Any Other Name. I enjoyed it. Also, Calamity Club. Really like it! I am listening to The Hobbit since it has been such a long time since I first read it! I have outside and inside work that gets done better, with a story in my ear. I would rather read, hold a good book and be comfy in my green naugahide lazy boy. Anyway, if you read this far, have a sweet evening and thanks for your writings, suggested books and inspirational drawing/paintings and photos.
Dear Lori how I enjoyed your car camping story and long note. The lake sounds a lovely place to do it. I’ve often entertained similar ideas. I haven’t camped in nearly 20 years but I remember it fondly. thanks for the book recs too.
Mary Ann,
Harriet the Spy… sigh. Love that book. I was an avid reader as a girl, but not until 1968 (in 1964 I was 2). Also my very first job at the age of 14 was at the public library in the children’s section. It was awesome. Still love children’s books! I still read a lot of fiction as well. I am currently reading a non-fiction work about the down-winders called American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War by Carole Gallagher. It is really intense. Gallagher was a journalist who interviewed hundreds impacted by all the nuclear testing done in the southwest US. I can only read a few of the stories at a time. So very sad what was done to those people… and that was when we thought the government wasn’t so bad???
Love the EYES… hahahaha
Anywho… definitely coming to LA in January (arrive 1/18) and staying two weeks. Looking forward to that. Before that traveling to Seattle, hoping the smoke is not too bad. But definitely looking forward to escaping the Houston heat for a bit. Considering Paris for next Spring but still unsure at this point. Busy weaving beads and binding books. Loving Fodder School and other online art classes. Retirement is THE BEST! So glad you are enjoying it as well, Mary Ann.
Have safe travels; I’ll be green with envy!!
Susan
How could I forget 1964?
I was au pair in Paris, as you may remember. Had my 21st birthday there which went utterly unacknowledged by everyone except my friend who was au pair for another branch of the family. She brought me a cake, just a little one and one for herself.
The world was still rocking from JFK’s assassination but British 60’s music was really taking off. I am English so was often greeted by,
‘O Les Beatles’!
I loved every minute I was there.
Oh Chrissy I remember well the wonderful au pair stories you told me. a little cake for each of you. sounds perfect. Wish you were meeting me in Paris in 6 weeks. How lovely that would be.
Always a pleasure to hear your updates. I was a huge fan of Harriet the spy and I totally relate to the way she navigates through life, my husband often calls me Harriet. When i was a kid my pal Julie and I would walk down to the library get our stash of books (hers always included some Nancy Drew), hit the market get a bag of candy (which we’d then meticulously split back behind the store) then hoof it home climb up into her tree eat our candy and read our books..still think that’s a good template.Bye for now have fun
The very best reading template for how to do it, Carolyn. Candy corn sounds good this time of year. xo
I received your smoke single despite it being mixed with wildfire smoke. I decided to start reading fiction again at the beginning of summer. Unfortunately, a lot of misses for at the beginning even though they were on acclaimed by celebrities or on best-selling lists. I started to look into some of your recommendations. I am currently reading Anne Tyler’s “Clock Dance.: I think you recommended here a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, love it. It’s the same flavor as A Far Cry From Kensington, which I finished last week. I will have to check out Harriet the Spy. I loved Pippy Longstocking and her strange world when I was in third grade. My mom braided coat hangers into my braids so I could get them to stick out and do her signature swoop.
I loved Harriet the Spy.
I wasn’t reading at age 4.
I entered kindergarden, Fall, 1964 @ 4.
In Silver Springs, MD.
Rumor has it I gave everyone in our class
chicken pox.
We are going to Paris in 38 days, during Pope Leo’s visit and Fashion Week.
Wearing sneakers. Avoiding Crowded venues. I will look for Parisian eyes at the cafes.
Holly in Goochland, VA
You gave them immunity. What a gift! Paris in 38 days. Holy hells bells me too more or less, but only for a night on my way to Burgundy by train the next day. I’ll send you a lover’s eye wink from across the city and wish you many glorious days in Paris. Sneakers are the only sensible thing to do and you’ll see all the French agree. Send me a pic of you in front of something. Anything – maybe one of the Wallace fountains. xo
So there you are in Greece and there is my Schwinn bike…in Greece? And I was riding that fat wheeled thing
hard up and down hills from 1955 to 1965. But not the hills of Greece. Same seat. And at 76 I will read Harriet
the Spy. My first chosen fiction book for just me. I worked in Manhattan Beach Library for 13 years, and ran
2 book clubs for 14 years. The only fiction book I read was Carrie while working at the library. I took the
paperback in my long tub and my husband found me in cold water reading until I finished it. I had left the
building with that book. So Harriet will be my chosen #2. I retired my book clubs in 2018 and am ready to read!
Missus Vicki Timmons I love your comment and imagining you pedaling your Schwinn up and down those mid-century hills – legs pumping hair flying. In my next life I will be a librarian. Enjoy Harriet!
You are too adorable in that 1964 photo. I have one similar and know we would have been fast friends back then 😁.
Ciao!
1964 is my birth year, January 4 in Gainesville, Fl. My Cabana Boy and I have been traveling in our Airstream for the past 10 weeks. Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan… National Parks are our focus while we still have them! Ugh!
sounds so marvelous, Pearlie. Enjoy every second. Our birthdays are 4 days apart xo
Oh my goodness, who is this black cat? Is he retired too? What do the Cat Posse think about him being outside and yet on their table? (Of course one must understand that everything in a cat’s world belongs to them!) Anyway, hope he’s happy!
that is BUTCH the bestie of Iris & Otto. He comes and hangs out over here on the porch and patio and talks to O & I through the screens on the windows and doors. They love each other. He’s lonely since his brother, Steve got hit by a car a few years ago. I’m his auntie and he lives next door, doesn’t come inside, but does consider my entire place his domain..
Ooooh! Like Kas I was desperate to know all about the gorgeous black cat. I’m so glad he has you for an auntie and that Iris and Otis love him too.
Love it when you pop in spur of the moment. You’re always welcome.
Sorry you have to carry the conversation. You’re really very good at that.
Americans give me palpitations.
Until next time.
my vivid imagination keeps many conversations going. some I wish would end. ha ha ha ha ha ha
Harriet the Spy was my absolute favorite book as a child. I read it over and over. I’m 54 now and re-read it last summer just for fun, and I was pleased to discover that I still found it to be excellent reading.
I love those eye drawings/paintings! What a fun idea to paint the eye of your friends in that frame.
Thank you for sharing.
I am still soaking in that morning sky as milk.
I painted some lovers eyes a couple of years ago because they were mentioned on Bridgerton and also in an online class I took. They were much fun to make!! Hope there are no fires too close to you–its been horribly hot where I live in MO-heat index 105!! Just starting to read -Remarkably Bright Creatures for my bookclub.