Dispatch From LA

A Blaze Of Yellow And Blue

As much as I've loved the winter rain, dripping trees, and bright moss forming on the bluff out back I need more to stretch out in the sun. To move around under a blaze of yellow and blue.

84 degrees worth of bone soaking warmth today. I drove all the way home with the windows down. I had forgotten the feel of warm wind on skin.

The remnants of sickness still holding on in my throat and sinuses, but today felt hopeful.

Went looking for sandals after school and came home with plates. So beautiful! Who could resist?

If you ever come for dinner at Moss Cottage you might recoil at my densely patterned plates.

But not the bowls. Who doesn't need a nice deep bowl to lap milk out of? I haven't bought bowls in years and years. The truth is I needed them more than sandals. The truth is I didn't even make it to the shoe department. The dishes got me first.

In addition to feeling physically sick the last couple of weeks I've been completely drained of creative energy. I almost posted this photo the other day instead of the sanitorium. See that stagnant puddle of water there? My visual journal is underneath that. Somewhere...

Eventually I'll fish it out and get it up to the surface. More than you hate coming here and not finding anyone home, I hate not being here. So thanks for all the comments and emails when I've had so little to leave out for you.

Last year at this time I was full of vim and vigor. Among other things, I made valentine mailart. The photo in the piece below is yours truly being held by Papa Moss.

More.

Looking at the photos of mailart that is long gone seems like just the right elixir.

Slowly I'm being pulled back into the world of ideas.

Untitled

Here it is. An actual photo of the sanatorium of my mind where I've been confined for the last couple of weeks. I prefer to keep my trap shut at times like this. Silence and blogging don't exactly go hand in hand. Bear with me.

Regular Programming Will Resume

As I type this, rain is making a beeline towards Los Angeles.

Between the monkey wrangling at my day job and the flu the old blog has hit the skids. Not to worry. Regular programming will resume any day now. Got to catch my breath first.

At the little classroom in the city Valentine's Day came and went.

Things were made. Candy was eaten. Valentines were exchanged

And a T-Rex took everyone hostage for a few hours.

Mob Boss

I sure wish I would have had my camera with me this morning as I drove south on Beaudry heading for Wilshire. This is where I hang a right every morning and swing west towards school. The view of downtown is pretty spectacular along this route. I mean, if you don't mind 6 or 12 lanes of merging, crossing traffic. I don't. Plus it's good practice for driving in Rome.
The combination of fog, steel, glass, and light made me gasp. Imagine a lavendar colored fog spinning around the buildings. Shafts of yellow light cutting through the moist air. A cool river of deep buildings and glossy shadows. Morning sun rising up through the shrouded streets as you cruise by. It's visual poetry. Yes it is. My two eyes were the only lense I had, and maybe that was a good thing because my eyes can do what a camera can't. They remember.

I wish I could take a 1 minute video of this part of my drive, this most favorite beautiful slice of my day. 1 minute every day and then replay all of those thousands of minutes when I am 90.

When I reached the school yard the usual suspects galloped out to meet me. Bright with enthusiasm. Eager to help. I hand one my lunch bag, the other my purse. We walk across the long stretch of yard. I point towards downtown. "Look," I say, "Magic."
"Oooooooohhhhhhh," they say, solemnly nodding to me and each other, "Magic."
And it was.

You know what these are. And you know where they came from.
Do I need to say more?

You know how when you start writing down your dreams you start remembering them more and more? And pretty soon you're dreaming these War & Peace epics every night?

It's the exact same thing with graffiti posters.

Who knew?

Gifts. A lovely bird collage from TYN

Tin and wire from PAUL . A necklace for the porch. Stunning. That brothah of mine is a wizard with wire and tin.

Go check out Mother Made at once! I do love to see a baby rolling in paint and...her mama's paintings are beyond fabulous.

9:32 p.m. 64 degrees

Lately on Saturdays, My favorite brothers Tom & Ray on CAR TALK keep me company on public radio while I head out across the long expanse of city. Driving, driving, driving. Trying to remember where I saw the gaping jaws of the graffiti shark and the boombox. Accidently running into Jesus along the way. I hit the motherlode with this one. My shriek of laughter careened off the buildings and bounced down the sidewalks.

Oh look, a bunny!

The shark. Check.

Birdie on a boom box. Check.

Euthanizing vampires. Great Scott!

Cut across a few lanes of traffic near Chinatown to pull over for this snowy scene. Imagine if you will, an abundantly sunny LA, windows down, palms swaying in the balmy breeze and the Swiss Alps looming on the horizon. Here is a city that comes when I call. A place that knows just the right thing to rouse me out of hibernating tendencies.

Then home with energy for the visual journal.

And a box of pirate treasure from eb .

A good day all around. Now let me get back to the important business at hand. A Charlie Brown Valentine Special.

Talk Amongst Yourselves

The photos are going to do all the talking today. More from my treks over bridges and into downtown.

My inner mute button is stuck in the ON position. But the driving tours continue.

Wordier posts may resume sometime in the near future, but I can't say when. In the meantime talk amongst yourselves.

Post 200...Who Knew?

More pictorials of my cruise through the city east of downtown. Over bridges, past murals, fading graffiti posters, across greenbelts, through tunnels, past ginseng warehouses, and all manner of urban lore.

Oh yes, even in LA, the eternal sunshine and technicolor hibernate for a few days or hours. Long enough to let in some of the milky light. Enough to remind us that it is winter.

Meanwhile back at Moss Cottage I'm still in hibernation mode. Barely stumbling out of my den to type these few words.
But even bears can get excited. Tomorrow is Super Tuesday after all. This she-bear is all aquiver with excitement. Wondering if the absentee ballot I cast a few weeks back will hit the jackpot. Oh Muchachos, I hope so!

Between that and Jane Austen Regrets on Masterpiece Theatre last night I'm almost ready to burst out of hibernation for good. Well...at least long enough to buy my ticket for the Amalfi Coast. Those 2 blissful weeks of Italian recreation are heading straight for me.

As I settle into these last couple of months of monkey wrangling my travel abroad will be restricted to these wonderous country stats. Stop with the eye rolling already. Some of us are more easily entertained than others.

This is my 200th post since last February when I began Dispatch From LA. I am stunned. It's been a whirlwind of words and photos and art. If you're thinking of beginning a blog...don't think too hard. Just jump in and do it. I wish you great boldness and confidence. 200 posts ago I had no earthly idea where all the words and art were going to come from. I still don't.

More Are Coming

Meager offerings tonight. One photo taken on my new route home across the Spring Street Bridge. More are coming.

A mosaic of faux mail from Flickr. Lovely I thought. And reminiscent of Nick Bantock.

. Dr Anne Lucas, 2. faux-mail, 3. Lyuba Knyazeva, 4. Norge, 5. Marie Mathelin, 6. Great Britain, 7. Mlle Jeanne de Bret, 8. Ciceronis, 9. Vercors de la Sema

I await my letter just like this to arrive next week by carrier pigeon. Inside a round trip ticket on The Orient Express. Naturally, some time travel will have to take place.

A graffiti fragment along my route.

Wyatt and Knitty Kitty go down for a nap. Who says tough cats don't like babydolls?

Are you sure you don't want to install the free Sitemeter widget? The country pie chart is endlessly entertaining. Hello Latvia, my love. Fancy meeting you here!