Dispatch From LA

i'm home!

i'm back from a short little roadtrip to the eastern sierras with my sister.  scenic & fabulous.  wowza!

will have a full post tomorrow with a bazillion photos.  for now just a bit of fun with dottie...

i just couldn't help it

from the very bottom of my heavy heart i thank you for your loving comments & emails.  they are helping to heal me. i only wish everyone was as lucky as i to receive such an outpouring of CARE.

from the very kind dr. leslie at highland park animal hospital, to the sweet & funny dr. and his assistant who cared for me at urgent care, to the lovely dr. gregorian (not my regular dr.)  i saw today for a follow-up thumb check.  wow.  these are people who went above and beyond.   dr. gregorian who rescues dogs and is an animal lover literally erased my fear of buck's last moments of life.  she took my (good) hand, moved in close, looked me in the eye, and explained exactly what happens to an animal during such trauma.  she was so tender and dear.  i will book all future appointments with her!

and i'll  never forget all of you good people who have rallied around me right here.  the loving support from my neighbors, family, friends, and this awesome blog community.  

thank you for letting me babble about buck and show more photos.  it's what i need to do right now.

baby buck

he preferred to have me personally open the door rather then enter through the cat door.

he hated every cat that ever had the displeasure of living with him.  he was a very jealous boy.  wyatt is the only one who forced buck to love him.  they were best friends.  buck would even let wyatt lick him.  lick him!

also, wyatt was the only cat ever to defy buck moss!

i could almost never get a picture of him outside because he would dash over and nose the camera out of the way.

must be pet.  must be pet now.  pick me up!

he would jump up on the desk over and over and over.  the most demanding cat i'd ever had!

the second i got home he would come inside, or wake up and follow me everywhere.

in the morning he would sit staring at me.  willing me to wake up.  usually batting my face with his paws.  

i am a love machine!  and you are the object of my affection!

one march 9 years ago buck moss went missing for 40 days.  i put up signs all over echo park.  every freeway exit/entrance.  i finally gave up.  he was gone.  then one day i pulled into the drive and the neighbors greeted me with the news that buck had fallen down their flue.  straight down the chimney and into their fireplace!  the vets couldn't believe he was still alive.  not just alive, but aside from losing half his body weight, in not too shabby shape.  

oh there was lots and lots of love and rejoicing that may.  i kept him in for a couple of weeks, but buck was an explorer.  he could not be contained indoors.  he was nuetered but lived like a tomcat.  a gentleman tom of course!

brawling and carousing with the best of them.

always the victor.

he would literally chase dogs out of the moss cottage property.  once he launched a full frontal attack on a wandering BIG dog before i could stop him.  got him good too!  the dog ran off crying.

 fearless to the very end.

i constantly told him he was the king of the cats, the most important one, the one i loved the most.

when my sister would visit she would say, "don't say that!"

but i couldn't help it.

i just couldn't help it.

oh and also...

while in kansas city my sister took me to the filling station coffee garage.

good grub here!  how does an apple muffin with a dollop of maple icing and crumbled bacon on top sound?

yeah.  that's what i thought.

if i lived in this union hill hood  i would bring my book & camera and set up shop at one of the tables.  my journal.  an inky pen.  a warm river of coffee.   i'd be a regular.

i'd ride my bike over.

or my steed.

either one.

 

i love old neighborhoods that have an urban feel.

it reminded me a little of angelino heights, here in the city of angels....which i've always loved.  tree-lined streets with a backdrop of downtown.  my kind of happy.

through the {kansas} looking glass

old fans & typewriters

someone getting ready for bed

porch swings

cloud piles

reflections

mama moss eating sheridan's custard.  i got some on my seatbelt too.

 

hello

this morning i arrived back west.  back to california.  i've been in the great plains!

visiting mama & sister moss

it was well over 100 degrees all 5 days of my visit.  except today.  which is when i left and flew home.  at the crack of dawn.

when we weren't traipsing around the steamy streets i sat in the cool a/c and read and read and read and read.  one of my favorite summer reads so far.  based on real women fossil hunters from jane austen's time.  riveting.  it was officially unputdownable.

then to round up my azheimer/memory loss trilogy i read this.  excellent.

when i wasn't reading we drove through cool neighborhoods in kansas city.

in kansas there are lots of houses with screened in porches.  i really wanted to knock on doors and ask if i could sit and read on their screened porch.  but then i would have had to ask to be fanned at the same time.  and spoon fed crushed ice.  and had an icebath drawn for my red hot feet.

you can see where this is going.

 

listen to this

 

In one of my early visual journals I have this poem written.  I remember how funny I thought it was when I came across it in a book I was reading.  I read it aloud to a friend.  We roared with laughter.  You have to have a certain level of appreciation for your own past or current paranoia in order to like it.  It appeared the other day in Writer's Almanac and with no one around except Buck Moss to listen, I read it to him.  Sit still for a minute.  I'll read it to you.  

We Who Are Your Closest Friends we who are your closest friends feel the time has come to tell you that every Thursday we have been meeting as a group to devise ways to keep you in perpetual uncertainty frustration discontent and torture by neither loving you as much as you want nor cutting you adrift your analyst is in on it plus your boyfriend and your ex-husband and we have pledged to disappoint you as long as you need us in announcing our  association we realize we have placed in your hands a possible antidote against uncertainty indeed against ourselves but since our Thursday nights have brought us to a community of purpose rare in itself with you as the natural center we feel hopeful you  will continue to make unreasonable demands for affection if not as a consequence of your disastrous personality then for the good of the collective by Phillip Lopate

~

More summer reading.  So good!  The east coast Moss troupe and I retire to the patio each early evening for reading & cocktails.  Yesterday found us here.   A little known jewel of a park where we lolled about on blankets & pillows reading and picnicking until early evening.

The day before we scooted up the coast for a Santa Barbara adventure.

The weather has been mild and pretty close to perfect.  Happy summer dreaming from LA...to wherever in the big wide world you happen to be (!)

happy birthday sister!!!

Coffee in the afternoon.  Yes please!

Today is my SISTER'S birthday!  Saturday is my other sister's birthday!  I'll leave it to you to figure out who's who.

 

Tuesday Evening 63 Degrees

I have a secret to tell you.  Shhhhhhhh.  My sister started a blog.  And she's written 3 posts in the last few days.  GO SEE.  I know you'll give her a warm rousing welcome to the blogosphere!

Dear Sister,

I know I said I would just quietly slip your blog into my sidebar and NOT bring out my trombone and start blowing it. I lied.

xoxo

Essential

 Mama Moss was chillin in her Kansas City crib when I ran out of blue thread.  There is no relationship between those 2 events except that I put them together in 1 sentence.  From deep in the bottom of the sewing basket I found some lime green thread.  Meanwhile, Mama Moss put on her party pants and turned up her Essential Miles Davis album.

Back in the real world I found another Hammerpress card!  Sewed more paper to other paper.  The bed photo card came with an etsy order.  It was taken by Flo Kane in Ireland.  Her flickr stream is HERE.  I left the top unstitched.  In case I need to tuck something inside.

Found this old postcard I sent myself back in 2005.  Decided to sew it into the current Paris journal.

These old photo albums are so inspiring.  So many different lives waiting to be lived.  Endless ideas for book building.  Journal binding.  They've really caught my heart on fire. 

When we get to Paris I'll show you more details.  Maybe in a cozy cafe... by the Seine... over a gleaming white cup of cafe creme.  I'll keep you posted.

~

If you'll be going on walkabouts in Paris soon, real or virtual, I've listed a few outstanding books in my sidebar to add to your arsenal. My enthusiasm for and insider knowledge of Paris are inversely correlated.  Don't imagine me an expert by any stretch of the imagination.  An excited chimp with a map is more accurate.

p.s.  the HELENSBURGH post that went out earlier today on google reader was a flub.  i meant to post it to the ROD class blog.  oops.

Out & About

Where My Sister Comes For A Visit

Did I mention that my sister is visiting for a few days?

We're just up to our usual tricks.

Oh and..enjoying my respite from cat herding...

I Did Exactly None Of Those Things

It's been a looooong time since I went hiking in the local mountains.  If you aren't from LA you might not know that there are a few LARGE national forests in our backyard.  Or that several long and lovely mountain ranges traverse the entire long length of our northern city boundry.  Or that in the winter lots of Angeleno's head up into these mountains with snowboards strapped to the roofs of their cars.  Snowboarding, skiing, winter wonderland cabins all a stone's throw from LA city proper.  True story.

 On Saturday I did exactly none of those things.  But I did go on a forested walkabout.  You know...as a show of good faith.  Got the old tuckus moving.  I felt sort of like a lumbering bear walking on her back legs for most of the hike.  My friend (who's a person) was WAY ahead of me.  She kept coming back to check and make sure I hadn't toppled over into a ravine.  I hadn't!

My slow pace didn't lessen my sense of exhileration at being under a canopy of blue, surrounded by all of the sweet smelling chapparal.  Long skirted ferns grew in the shade, a cold stream roared along down through the bottom of the canyon.  Black birds cawed back and forth.  Forested bliss.

I have stacks of books on hiking trails in the local mountains. Books from a former life.  Collected by a self that I haven't been in a long time.  A 30-something self that hiked, biked, walked, moved through the world with more ease.  Seems like getting older is less about meeting new selves than getting reaquainted with older selves that have gotten lost along the way.

Maybe you have a former self you're wanting to get back in contact with...?

The comments are open and we're all ears.

A former former self.  The original mary ann moss:

Who wandered off by herself (away from her Athens, Greece home) in 1964 and got lost.  I'm the little punk in the middle who's smiling.

Homecoming

My sister & I drove 5 hours northward up the grey coastal routes.  Down highways that mirrored the sky.  Flotillas of high clouds traveled with us.  Through lovely mountain passes heavy with fog.  All the way to here.  A wild little bit of coast with stormy coves and inlets.  Wet trails overlooking tidepools.  Rain or no rain it's all good along the California coast.

At least we thought so.  Dottie & I.  Tucked into a small inn with an ocean facing room .  Reading through the storm.  A fireplace for heat.  The roar of the ocean just outside.  Warming up then back outside to walk along that rollicking Pacific.  Whitecaps shining in the dark night.  And whether it's in sunshine or rain, arriving at the shore is always a homecoming of sorts.

something I loved from A Tale of Two Cities...

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.  A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret;  that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret;  that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!

~

p.s.  Daniela from Germany AND Judy from Az.  I'm unable to send your class info as the email address you provided results in FAILED mail delivery.  email me via link in sidebar.

Where I Post Some Of My Sister's Istanbul Journal Pages...

..with her permission of course!  I'm hunkered down here at Moss Cottage trying to stay out of the 100 plus degree heated up bunch of HOTNESS that is ... whew...our weather for the last few days.  Also one member of the cat posse was 40 feet up a giant pine tree for a few days which necessitated all sorts of disaster preparedness chinese fire drill type activity.  Off to collapse in front of the a/c!

Good-bye Kansas

I'm home!  Left Mama Moss behind and flew back west this morning.  Thank you for all of those great comments while I was gone.  My sister and I had fun reading them!

Since the hunt for the wagon ruts, I've pretty much gone off the deep end.  I'm breathing and dreaming covered wagons.  Thinking about all of those pioneering people who came out west.  Thinking about how 160 years or so isn't that long ago.  Thinking about how young this country is.  Thinking about how Istanbul is so steeped in history.  Lots of thinking, comparing, wondering, imagining. 

I read that this area of prairie is still the same as it was back in the mid 19th century.  A sea of green and yellow. 

I have my next Kansas wild goose chase all picked out for next time:  The hunt for Laura Ingalls Wilder's house!   Thanks Nancy for planting that seed!

I'm thinking of a reverse Santa Fe Trail road trip all the way to Kansas.  Sometime.  You know... in the future.  Matching bonnets for Mama Moss, my sister, and me. yadda yadda yadda

 

Luis.  Giant grey Kansas housecat.  Meow.

What was waiting for me when I got home this afternoon:

The Path had bloomed.  wooooooosh.  And just like that I was back in California.

Covered Wagons

 

While my sister is preparing dinner I'm upstairs in her art room rummaging and pillaging.  YOu know...foraging.  Through her journals.  Snapping a few pics here and there, but also looking through her computer for blog post fodder.

Here's what I came up with:

This is her current visual journal.  It's more of an altered book.  I did a journal like this once and looking through hers reminded me of how much I enjoyed journaling right on top of the old book pages.  Another pot set to simmer on the back burner of my mental stove.  There's a few pots back there.  Hope I don't end up having to call the fire department!

She just paints right over the existing pages.  Then cuts pastes doodles & writes over the top.

I think I've posted some of these before but I'm too lazy to go check.  The weather in Kansas has cooled since my arrival.  I'm not having to suffer through any 100 plus degree days.  whew...

We've been taking it easy.  Lounging about, going on wild goose chases.  Today we headed out determined to find the wagon ruts from the Santa Fe trail.  After much circling through tiny towns and tromping through a field of sunflowers we found them!  They weren't petrified wagon wheel mud track things like I had imagined.  They were more like gentle sloping depressions in the land caused by all of those covered wagons.

I had imagined we'd find the remains of an old wagon.  The torn white canvas top rustling in the wind.  We'd get in, climb up on the seat and say, "giddyup horsey WESTWARD HO!"  Along the way we'd duck from flaming arrows, stop and repair wheels, ford rivers, steer our wagon out of the way of buffalo.  Maybe stop at a little house on the prairie.  Help Pa fix a fence or two. But all we saw was a field of little sunflowers, tall prairie grass, some blooming purple thistle.  NO covered wagons.  Not a one.
 

I guess the whole fun of a wild goose chase is imagining what you'll find when you finally get where you're going.  Having that story live inside you.   I guess it doesn't matter in the end if the real thing is actually there or not.  The chase itself is pretty nice. 

Dontcha think?
 
  
 

I'm Packing

In the late spring I repotted all of my epis into 3 big pots.  Their new location suits them, they have lots of new growth.  Several leaves have buds on them.  I've never seen them bloom at this time of year before.  Must be our mild summer.

 

Last night I went outside at around 1:30 am to sit out back and look up at the stars.  Up here in northeast Los Angeles the skies are a little darker at night, but there is still too much light pollution to see much.  I wish city life could include an inky black sky and a blanket of stars.  If it did I would get a telescope.  The Perseid meteor showers were putting on a show last night.  I wanted badly to see at least 1 shimmering tail streaking through the night sky.  In the space of an hour I saw only 6, the sky just doesn't get dark enough.  But, I was drunk with glee to see those 6.  Brilliant white flashes in the northeastern sky.  More little moments of being alive.  Of being HERE.

And while I reclined in a patio chair with my eyes mirroring the starry sky,  my friend Miss Spider was sitting in her gossamer web under the veil of night.  She's been here all summer.  I have never paid so much attention to one spider before.  I know her schedule by heart.  What time she starts spinning, what time she stops and climbs back to the rafters.  Besotted by a spider.  That's me.

Today was the last day of school for 48 days.  I'm on a year round schedule.  {excuse me for not explaining, it too complicated!} 

I'm packing for my flight to Kansas tomorrow.  Heading off to see Mama Moss & my sister - the one I'm going to Istanbul with at the end of August.

 

Talk amongst yourselves until I get back on Thursday.

Wanted To Cry. Just Kept Going.

Dottie's travels on the mother continent continue.  She shares with me, I share with you.

Simple.

...climbed Table Mountain today; the most strenuous thing i've done here.  didn't think i could do it.  wanted to cry.  just kept going.  here's the view!  there are some little captions under some of the photos.

thinking of you all.

love,
Dottie

Penguins Are Deep Thinkers

Dottie's bold South African adventure continues.  This time at the Cape of Good Hope.

 

I like this name.  Though I suppose for the passengers and crew of The Flying Dutchman it may cause the hackles to rise slightly. Doomed as they are to make attempt after failed attempt to round the cape.   For all eternity.  Dang!

 

Dottie wasn't watching out for any drunken pirates or ghost ships though.  She set her sights on...PENGUINS!

She caught this group right in the middle of an important  meeting.

She shared a contemplative moment with this fellow.  Penguins are deep thinkers.

Jagged thoughts become smooth again after going for a swim with friends.

Plenty of walking keeps the thigh and ankle muscles robust.

 

Dottie sent this note along with the photos.  There was no p.s.  attached that said, 'please don't turn this into a blog post.'   Someone like me with no moral compass really needs a  p.s. if I'm not supposed to do something.

Dear y'all,

from the beginning, 3 of the things i was most looking forward to laying my eyes on in south africa were: 
   -- robben island where Nelson Mandela was in prison for years
   -- the cape of good hope which i remember being captivated by in 5th grade social studies-- i remember imagining those big ol' sailing ships getting here
   -- penguins.

today i got to see # 2 & 3.  wow!  Wow!  WOW!! is all i can say.  wonders to behold.


with love from the adventure in south africa,

Dottie

Pull Over NOW!

My sister, Dottie sends me missives from South Africa.  Details of her daily life.

 

Exploratory jaunts to interesting places.  In the shots above, a journey to the vast territory known as the Great Karoo to see outsider artist Helen Martin's Owl House.

 

I like knowing that one of the Moss sisters is off on another continent roaming far and wide.  

 

I wonder what this monkey is thinking about.  Probably wondering if a monkey above him is getting ready to crash land on his head.  Or maybe he's wondering if it's going to rain.  He could be thinking about the dream he had last night.  I wish I knew.

 

Look at that downy coat and chocolate eyes.  Small curious hands.

 

About 25 years ago on a narrow highway in the Florida Keys, Dottie screamed for me to "pull over Now!" so she could stomp off into a swampy area to chase an elusive blue heron she thought she saw.  I rolled my eyes and stayed in the car to smoke a cigarette.  She was gone for a long time.

 

I wonder how long it took for Dottie to get this shot.  I wonder if her traveling companion blew smoke rings out the window while she waited.  Somehow I doubt it.

IN UNRELATED NEWS:

One of my clever REMAINS OF THE DAY students, Jill, posted these slide show videos over in our Flickr group.  I love her use of photos and rubberstamp letters in the journal she stitched together.  Lovely & amazing.  You can see for yourself HERE and HERE.

Estie & Jake

My sister, Dottie sent me another dispatch from South Africa.  She's at a university there until early summer with a group of African Studies college students from Minnesota.  Unlike me, Dottie is endlessly patient when taking photos.  Knowing her, she waited in this hallway for a looong time waiting for this story to unfold. Here.  Meet Estie & Jake. 

 

 

 

Baby Monkey Animals

 My sister, Dottie was given an extraordinary opportunity to live/work in South Africa until May.  Yesterday saw her at a nature preserve where she masterfully captured the long lashes of this flirtatious giraffe.  

 

Since I am constantly dreaming of frolicking in a field with baby animals of all persuasions these photos pretty much excited me.  Especially the monkeys.  I am very very fond of monkeys.  I would like to sit in a big rocking chair under a shady tree and just rock baby monkeys all day long.  I think I could fit 2 at a time on my lap.  The bigger monkeys might not fit on my lap, but there's no reason they couldn't rock beside me in rockers of their own.

My other sister.   You know the one that was just here.  The one that forced me to go to all of these LA restaurants and eat fabulous food and drink fabulous wine.  That one.  She has landed squarely back in the middle of a Kansas snowstorm.

 

Right about the time Eating Sister and I were diving into that guava & cheese empanada in the upper left corner, Safari Sister was getting ready to bite into a smiley sandwich of jowl of roasted sheep head.  She's the experimental eater in the family.

It's raining in LA tonight.  South Africa sister will be waking up soon.  I hope she sends me more photos of animals.  Some baby animals would be nice.  Baby monkey animals. 

 
 

Butterscotch Budino

This week my sister and I shared this butterscotch budino with maidon sea salt and rosemary pine nut cookies on the side.  Sublime. That was after the Coach farm goat cheese, leek, scallion, garlic, and bacon pizza.  And glasses of Pinot right in the middle of the afternoon.  The early afternoon.  Pizza Mozzeria.  You come to LA?  You get your hiney over to Pizza Mozzeria.  STAT.

 

We visited my friend Joe.  He's starting a blog.  I can't wait!  I've visited his house before.  You might remember.

 

While Carol distracted Joe, I snuck this chandelier out to my car.  I have no qualms about stealing things from friends when they aren't looking.  None whatsoever.

 

In between eating and stealing we went to see the succulents at the Huntington Library & Gardens.  They were putting on a triple X porn show.  Voluptuous blossoms.

 

Dear Aloe Marlothii,   you bloom, I die.  Simple as that.

 

I didn't catch the name of this plump blue girl, but I thought hard about it.  All of that thinking made me hungry.

 

Yamashiro.   Who loves ya baby?   The Moss sisters, that's who!   

HERE are the rest of our dining experiences.

 

Where I Hijack Another Email From My Sister And Turn It Into A Blog Post

My sister sent me this email.  And I did what anyone would do.  I copied it in its entirety and reposted it to my blog.  Without her permission.  Or her husband's permission.  Or even her cat's permission.  I was going to cut & paste my cat's pictures over her cat's pictures and resend the whole thing to all of MY friends.  But you've been reading this blog long enough to know that my fine moral character wouldn't stand for such hijinx.  I thought about it though.

Ho Ho Ho!
I am only sending this Holiday e-mail out to you because your Christmas card might have gotten wet when it was dropped in a snow drift when it fell out of my purse as I was endeavoring not to let my mother fall and break her hip during the struggle up the icy steps on Christmas Eve while a stinging sleet blew into our faces and took our breath away.

I picked up the cards and attempted delivery once again on Christmas morning when I ventured out of the house to take my mother back home through the 6 foot high drifts that had accumulated overnight.  I was not daunted by the fact that the streets had not been plowed.  Nor did I let the stuck cars along the route stop me from my mission.  However, the mailbox that I planned to drop the cards in had been slammed by a city snow removal truck and once again I was foiled in my attempts to send holiday greetings.
After Mom was delivered safely to her apartment I headed for home.  While I was gone the lawn and snow removal guy had roused himself from a long winters nap and gotten the driveway cleared. Some of you may know that I sometimes have trouble making it up our driveway in inclement weather.

After I dried off and warmed up I set out to make a suitable holiday dessert for the X family dinner that was to occur that night.  While attempting to flip out the sponge cake that was to become the pumpkin roll I heard a loud crash.  Lewis and Clark while playing a game of "Pull the Nose off Rudolph" had knocked my glass of wine over onto the pile of already soggy cards.  I settled my nerves with a test slice of the pumpkin roll.

At that point I decided the holiday cards had been cursed in some way and I opened the back door and threw them out onto the deck.  They were picked up by a flock of carrier pigeons that happened to be on their way to a family reunion.  So, it could be that a card will make it's way to you at some unknown time in the future.  But it does seem highly unlikely.  For that reason I send you electronic holiday greetings.  It just seems safer somehow.
Happy New Year!
Carol