Dispatch From LA

where we make C.A.H. little books at the art retreat

let's see where was i...

oh yeah.  i was just about to tell you how carol & i played marco polo in the pool.

and rode big beach bikes in the neighborhood.

and juggled lemons.

and all that was good and fine, but one of the funnest things we did was draw with ink on brown craft paper then paint it in.  i have seen pam do this before, but never did it myself.  holy cwap.  

she showed us how to get started and we were trotting off down our own artistic superhighways.

then she showed us how to cover some small book boards she brought and sew in some pages to make these cute-as-hell little books.

sister & i were rapturous with the entire process! now we have 2 cute-as-hell little books to paint cute-as-hell designs all over the cute-as-hell pages.

oh the joy of creation!  the feeling is divine.  whatever the outcome.

and when you're with your favorite people in a pretty place making beautiful messes together.  well that's pretty special.  these are the experiences that give life a patina of richness.

but the truth is that with or without an art posse or a yellow & white citrus house, that feeling of growing big with possibility, that feeling you get when you are actively engaged in making things (anything!)...is pretty doggone good even when you're with just one other person or all aloney on your owny.  

plenty of tomfoolery  doesn't hurt either.

and crazy hair

and a nice big sturdy table.

all 3 of us also worked on little side projects.

i brought my temporary journal to fool around in.   but i'll have to show you all that stuff manana.  i've got a travel journal that needs my attention.

venice eats

Venice eats.  all excellent.  the fried olives in the  middle photo were v. tasty!

i still can't get over the fact that while my comrades will be returning to school on monday i WON'T be.  thinking about everything i want to do.  so keen on this idea of a break in the middle of one's career.  and then i saw THIS on TED talks.  very long and not really necessary to watch the whole thing to get the gist of the idea.  which i think is brilliant!

one thing i want to do is begin my days with no technology.  the first 2 hours - no computer, phone, ipad.  back to basics.  going to try it.  will report my findings right here!

tinkering

 venice nuggets.  mental souvenirs.  still absorbing it all - the nuances & details of my time there in that most serene republic.

i am radiantly happy to be home tinkering around in my creative workshop up here on my little hill.  working on travel journaling videos for class today.

grateful to all of YOU who came along and made my trip so RICH and lively.  it was fun wasn't it?

49.9999

hello.  here i am.  right where you left me.

i returned from Venice on monday. 

which, if i'm being completely honest.  was unbelievably excellent.  

a fairy tale complete with swirling fog, cool air, a little rain, more sun than i expected, delicious food, long meandering walkabouts through storied streets, gazes out across the grand canal  which is what i was doing on this last night of mine in venice.  watching that golden moon grow big and beam into my window.

now i'm home and contemplating a smooth new surface for the life of mary ann moss age 49.9

this requires much thought from a reclining position.

where i have surrounded myself with a mountain of the most intoxicating italian paper.

and when i get up i am going to drag myself to the market for provisions

and then scoot home and prepare some moroccan meatballs.

and then after i am sufficiently nourished and rested

i am going to come back here.  this very place.  and share some trip pics with you.

yes i am.

postcard from venice

 

San Giorgio Maggiore

 

i arrived under cover of swirling fog.  the next day the sun shone and the skies were blue.  it's not as cold as i feared.  anyway just a quick note to say i'll just be here.  exploring, dreaming, writing, travel journaling.  life is good.  hope you are well.  lots to show you when i get home!

xo,

mary ann

my glass dome of memory

my sister and I on a small ferry zipping from one little italian village to another.  i remember this boat ride so clearly.  the wind, the smell of the sea, trying to spot our rental villa from the boat, my spell of seasickness, clambering off the boat and walking the rollicking plank held down by 2 men.  each of us passengers dashing across one by one.

we stopped for refreshments.  everything was aqua and white.  the sea shimmered below us.  blue blue blue.   an older gentleman- a writer giving an interview to a young woman at the table next to us.  the man said with an accented voice, "I detest..."  for the rest of the trip i wanted to use that word and say it exactly the way he did.  but there was nothing to detest.  so i couldn't.  then the waiter looking all over for us because we took the restaurant's copy of the check.  whoops.

these little italian boys playing and shouting and chasing and laughing just outside a grand old church.  oblivious to us.

it's all living here inside my glass dome of memory.

we waited for the boat back to Amalfi.  i saw this woman alone.  with her cane and her book, warm sweater, her white bonnet of hair.  and as i always do when i see older travelers, i thought of my future self.  and wondered what sea i might be sitting by in 25 years.  waiting for a boat to carry me away.  reading a book that has yet to be written.

~

thank you thank you thank you to the overwhelming positive response and registration for TICKET TO VENICE.  i am honored by your enthusiasm.  i've been crazy busy here at command headquarters.  simultaneously preparing for departure to italy in a few weeks, launching the class, and receiving much awaited news about another matter. (that i will share in a separate post!)

i laugh in the face of chaos!

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

guess i better pack my swim costume!

oh hi!  just me here laughing in the face of chaos.

all photos from The Guardian.

you can read the article & see more pics HERE.

i like rubber boots

antique french paper on my venice postcards?  

sure why not!  i'm just playing.  i'm just saying.

no school across the district today due to rosh hashana.  happy holidays my jewish friends!

for me it was an extra day to tinker with big ideas in my workshop.

i'm dying to show you what i'm doing, but i'm afraid i'll have to be secretive until december.

i will show you my apartment v. soon though.

i'll be in the  dorsoduro sestieri which has the highest land of all the neighborhoods.  and least likely to flood during the acqua altas.  which only last a couple of hours anyway.  plus i like rubber boots.  and it will be exciting to walk through the water. and i'm sure i won't accidently step into a canal.  no, not me.  uh uh.

come with me

venice in winter. oh yes!

and all because i happened upon THIS.  that's when i knew.

and to prepare i already have my very own dog-eared copy of joseph brodsky's WATERMARK on my nightstand.

with this passage marked:

 Hence my sentiment for water, for its folds, wrinkles, and ripples, and – as I am a Northerner – for its grayness. I simply think that water is the image of time, and every New Year's Eve, in somewhat pagan fashion, I try to find myself near water, preferably near a sea or an ocean, to watch the emergence of a new helping, a new cupful of time from it. I am not looking for a naked maiden riding on a shell; I am looking for either a cloud or the crest of a wave hitting the shore at midnight. That, to me, is time coming out of water, and I stare at the lace-like pattern it puts on the shore, not with a gypsy-like knowing, but with tenderness and with gratitude.

This is the way, and in my case the why, I set my eyes on this city.

 

a lovely visit

 sister & I had a lovely visit yesterday with the GORGEOUS mistress of longears.. of kansas city. carol wrote about it on her blog with links which
I'm unable to do via iPad. I became acquainted with jeanette in the comments of this here blog... years ago...so I didn't feel one bit rude inviting myself and the other moss sister over to tromp through her garden.
she fed us, made us cocktails, introduced me to her sweet baby rabbit, and let me rummage through her art supplies, play in her luscious watercolors, and boy was it fun!
when she sends me photos I'll post a couple here.
back home tomorrow. goodbye kansas you were fab....

jeanette only sent me teeny tiny photos with her in them so you'll have to get out your magnifying glass to see them!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad

breezy, sunny, cool today in los angeles.  i puttered around attending to various tasks.

in the kitchen.

i'm finishing my travel journal.  i came home with lots of blank pages this time.  a good 1/3 of my book unfinished.  i did a lot of my writing in the tiny notebook i brought to carry in my purse.  i like writing on location.  finding a cozy nook to jot things down.  ideas, impressions, stuff.

 blogging AND travel journaling are difficult to do at the same time while traveling, but i knew my summer was free so i didn't mind so much not finishing the journal.  now i'm going back and coloring in some rough sketches.  also adding more sketches {from photos}. and of course adding in photos.

it's engrossing.  

i  made a blurb book of norway.  waiting for it to get here!  the first thing i did when i came home oddly enough, was to make an iphoto book of my trip to paris last year.  it arrived today and it's HUGE.  the paper is divine.  it is such a thrill to see some of my photos super-sized.  i'm going to go back in and add some small nifty labels to a few of the pages.  it's completely photos - no writing.

i'm wondering...have you made blurb or iphoto books of your travels?  did you have a preference?

and one more question...have you read GONE GIRL?  did you like?  

someone is feeling curious today.  like a cat.

my heart is made of tin

i finally hung up all my little mexican tin hearts.  they wanted to guard the turkish evil eye who has been repelling danger and evil from the door of moss cottage for the last couple of years.  i like looking at them when i put the key in the lock and step over the threshhold.  home.

in my norwegian treasure chest i toted back across the mighty atlantic are a small pile of vintage books.

we found them in a second-hand store in Bergen.  I was all ready to do battle about the price when the gentleman behind the counter insisted they were all 2 for 1.  he could not understand how or why we would not buy both since they come as a set.  such a reasonable fellow.  i dared not argue with such logic.

so i got my 4 and sister got her 2.  one of mine has a wild boar on the front.  i don't know where he's off to, but he looks to be in a hurry.  

run little boar, run away home!  your house is on fire! your children have gone!

i looked rather like that boar as i rushed over to the bookshelf to push my sister out of the way and get at these books.  the other patrons in the store looked alarmed.  i smiled to reassure them that it was all in good humor, but a grinning boar with big shining tusks does not exactly inspire calm in people. 

now you're going to just have to hold onto your shorts when you see this next book.  

 it is the home of my new visual journal.

the one in my mind that i have not built yet.

i approach these things slowly.

there is much to consider.  much sitting to be done.  much thinking to do.  much running my hands back and forth over this gorgeous golden & blue surface.

i'm ready for a smaller visual journal.  this one is about 6 x 8.  it is the largest of the 4 books i bought.

 it was extremely heavy with glossy magazine-like pages.  so i cut out the book block and left it in norway.  when you have a tin heart like mine it is not difficult to do such things.

don't fret. 

i placed it oh so carefully in the perfect place for someone to find it. someone like us!

i kept the fabulous end papers.

such handsome books!

each with lovely illustrations on the first inside page.

all destined for bold & wonderful adventures in their new lives at moss cottage.

Finishing up in the air and at airports...

I'm over the cold north on the long flight home. Looked out my window earlier to the whitest, most stunning mountain peaks covered in massive snow drifts & frozen lakes. I'm thinking that a trip like this, in the heat of summer, was a splendid idea. I'm sitting here on the plane poring over photos. Some of these I've shared on instagram, but for you who don't spend time there I'll include them here.
Our dining table looked like this most of the time. A big fat mess.
BUT...to be perfectly candid it was carol who made the biggest mess.

The stairs to Carol's attic hideaway were covered in this fabulous floral design.

The church across the street was being renovated so part of our view was of plastic sheeting. We didn't care. We were in Norway!
The other day we hopped on a silly little train to ride around town and sister turned to me and said, "We're on a tiny train in Norway!"
Both of us like to restate the obvious whenever possible.

We loved the little lane our favorite kaffe shop was on. Norwegians are coffee connoisseurs.

When I look at these pictures I am back here again. Smelling the heady scent of wild roses.

Marveling at how abundantly everything blooms here and how little watering needs to be done I n a rainy climate. Tidy small patios right in the lanes. Last night we watched a woman set up her clothes hanger/ dryer in a lane outside her house. Getting ready to hang out her laundry in the sunshine at 8pm!
Imagine that!

We were delighted by these yellow poppies that bloom in every crack. The wild stands of foxglove in woodsy areas of Norway were also spectacular. Up north in aalesund we saw meadows and roadsides thick with purple lupines.

There were also blooming pansies in pots everywhere. Their bright colors only made more vibrant in the milky light of grey days.

That coffee shop I was telling you about. Just up the hill from the funicular.

This fine fellow operated a small old ferry across the harbor. You sort of climbed on when the boat was next to the dock. Gang planks are for sissies. We boarded the old fashioned way by jumping on! The boat chugged across the harbor and when we were almost across our captain stepped on the gas and sped towards the dock. Full speed ahead into the tied on tire bumpers... Chuckling with great humor as his 6 passengers tried not to scream out in terror.

I appreciate a salty dog with a sense of humor.

I'm finishing up this post in Toronto...getting ready to board the last flight for home. Back to the cat posse. Back to moss cottage. My Norway dispatches are coming to an end. I'm going to unplug for a few days and finish up my travel journal. Piddle. Listen to music. Drink a cold beer on the back patio. Have breakfast with friends. See you back here next week!

Sent from my iPad

so long Norway. I'll miss you...

I have a few more Norway posts that will be arriving on your digital doorstep from Los Angeles. We're heading out tomorrow on separate flights. Flying home.
Thanks for keeping us company. We enjoyed it!

the sun came out today! Our little house glimmered in its finest white tones.

we've been lighting candles every night. Mood lighting for journaling fools.

sister got really excited by one of her big thoughts. I think she was thinking about how much she'd love to sherpa my bags outside in the morning.

In the late evening light we strolled out for our last supper in Bergen.

the air was like silk.

the light golden.

Yesterday's coffee at sakristiet. If your fairy godmother takes you out for a round of kaffe talk this is where you'll go.

our last meal in Bergen at leone di mare where we were waited on my a charming fellow from genoa.

I had a pasta called strozzapreti in a cream sauce with homemade sausage, rocket. Oy. Unbelievable! Carol had gnocchi with seafood which she enjoyed also. We sat at a corner table by a corner window for 2.

Another fine meal at Enhjorningen in Bryggen ...in Bergen. King crab, monkfish, wine. Succulent and extraordinary. Every. Single. Bite. 

Sent from my iPad

hewwo

my name is tom. I don't like to pose for pictures. It is beneath me.

Kitterpants schmitterpants!

Moonstruck at midnight...over bergen. Swooning here at our dining room table till the wee hours of the morning.

a few delectable treats we've been devouring...

Everything tastes in Norway.

my name is Gunnar. I catch my own fishes from the cold north sea.

I bite.

these are my fighter paws.

the back kicker feet. ( Shortly after this pic he leaped to the ground and ran to kick the arse of another cat. I broke them up.)

hewwo. I am a nice girl catter puss. Fighting! Hmmmph... It's so uncivilized.

beef, lamb, chicken. I'm convinced the Norwegians can make anything taste delicious. Carol is doing a post on a crazy good tapas place we went to last night. Mmmmmmm. That was a thoroughly delectable experience... Go to tall tales from Kansas to see. (can't link from iPad)

Extremely savory. Looks like meat and potatoes. Tastes like heaven.

Sent from my iPad

details

today I share a few apartment details. And the feline king of Bergen.

and a few street details. Norway loves these blackletter fonts. I dig too!

Scandinavian design makes my heart race.

you knew darn well I was going to take you to get more paper. Maybe I need more. I might. Maybe.  The Danes are acknowledged throughout Scandinavia to be masters of design.  SOME of this paper is from the danish designer rie elise larsen.  it's only available in europe it seems.  The 3 handmade rolls on the left are of norwegian design.

the scene of my afternoon nap. Vacations are for leisure and relaxation. All this rest is what I need to furnish my mind with important ideas.

don't be a jealous cat. If you lived next door I would share.

The world outside the window is every bit as interesting as the one unfolding inside.

Sent from my iPad

this is not a wig

More pics from our Hjørundfjorden and Geirangerfjorden  experience...

We're in Bergen now. I'm days behind!!

This is not a wig.

Sent from my iPad

our day on the geiranger fjord

 

3 boats 1 little bus. A spectacular day spent fjording.

Pure wonderment. Cinematic beauty. LARGER THAN LIFE.

Floating in a perfect cocoon of salty sea air and clear blue water. I did a lot of this: nothing.

Staring at all that snow melt water falling over rocky cliffs. Cradled by the Sunnmøre alps. Yes. Somehow there really is an alpine coastal mountain range. I don't understand it either. Pure green nearly vertical mountains, some rising 5600 ft. straight up from the fjord.  Abandoned farms which were once home to people, goats, cows. Conditions so challenging only a truly hardy people could carve out lives up here. Some climbing ladders to get to their homes. Some mothers tethering their children to ropes so they didn't tumble over the edge.

Avalanches, rock slides, paddling across a fjord daily to bring water for humans and animals. Nothing was easy. But they did it. They did it all. Growing apples, apricots, and pears. Many died. More lived. If you come to Norway you can hear their stories on the little boats that ply through these waters. Touching and beautiful the way the people who worked this land are still remembered and spoken about.
Lost goats rescued by brave men. Search and rescue teams who rescued the brave men. 7 human and 4 goat lives lost. Stories like that.  The kind that make your heart twist and wrench and feel glad to be alive.

And then there's us of course. 100 years later. Drifting through the glassy fjord water in our boats. Still not believing we are here. In Norway. In the summer. It's true. It really happened.

sister threw my glasses overboard. I had to buy new ones. There weren't a lot of options. But since I always wanted a nice pair of ROUND white glasses to accent my ROUND face I thought I'd give these a go.

my sister only looks innocent. She is not.

Here we are riding through a technicolor landscape in our tiny bus. Rambling down little lanes? Passing mountain lupines, meadows with cows wearing leather collars. flowers flowers flowers. 5 people on board. Fjord hopping. Snow and green and rushing rivers and still waters.

Impossible to capture the whole thing on camera.

the majesty of it all.

I snapped photos and taped them to the inside of my mind so I would remember.

It was 2 seconds after this photo that my old glasses met with an untimely end.

did I mention the wooly warm blankets you get to wrap yourself in. Warmth for a land just below the arctic circle.

as usual this is part 1. I can't fit it all into 1 post!

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aalesund Norway

Sister and I went on a walkabout through the rain in aalesund. Soft drizzly drops. Cool & gray. We found a secret passage leading up through a wooded hillside. Queen Anne's lace made clouds of white blossoms along the path.

We found a school with bright plastic trucks and pails scattered across the school yard. Signs of life everywhere but few actual people walking about. Quiet.

there are a few shops and restaurants.

we stomped around looking for action.

sister was perplexed at the absence of inhabitants. She endeavored to study the situation more carefully later.

there are no lack of lupines, pansies, queen Anne's lace, wildfowers, and a vast assortment of other blooming plants. drunken bees gorge on nectar cocktails. The scent of flowers hangs in the air.

the plant kingdom in aalesund is rich & happy.

We were also happy when we saw our dining room at our hotel. They layout complimentary spreads of food morning, noon, and night. Waffles are served between 1-6. Our room is big and we spend lots of time watching all manner of sailboat float past our windows.

the buildings are mostly art nouveau with assorted iron and plaster ornamentation. Pretty.

Like in Bergen, the water comes out of the tap icy cold & delicious. We gulp it down. 2 horses drinking from a trough.

we think a lot of our other sister Dottie, who we know would be in boat heaven here.

We noisily slurp down great bowlfuls of fish soup. Sister quite a bit more noisily than I!

a sweet little place. Still...I miss my beloved Bergen.

In a few hours we'll leave the snowy mountaintops of aalesund behind and get our head and tail feathers pointed south.

Sent from my iPad

here I am

We found a large antique store with a wide assortment of goodies. But the best part was this tiny seating area literally on the water.

We sat and stared, watched the gulls play diving games and fly in formation, sipped our pear sodas which are locally made. And dreamed about being sailors on the 7 seas.

In an atmospheric setting such as this the mind plays tricks and writes stories. I'm on my second novella and carol is on her 3rd opera.

Next time we conduct botany experiments and study the flora and fauna more rigorously.

For now we are content to find a shabby rocker where we might sit and spin tales, untangle sinister plots, and in general lend our keen crime solving abilities to aalesund's cold case file.

First case: figure out where all the inhabitants have gotten off to and who is partying so late at night and listening to johnny cash and waylon jennings at 2 am.

hmmmmmmmmm...

Sent from my iPad

the skerries

Hello you.

I'm here in aalesund, norway with carol. It's cool and rainy. we're eating lots of creamy fish soup, drinking beer, and pear soda. It's all good, but that's not what my post is about today. I have to finish ... I mean start...to tell you about my trip to the skerries.

i begin here in an express boat that moves very very quickly through the water.

the boat didn't have many passengers. people were getting off at various places. I booked a round trip ticket to the isle of leirvik. The trip took me through the western coast of Norway which are dotted with thousands of mostly uninhabitable islands called skerries.
The skerries are glacially formed appearing at the mouths of fjords. Some are rocky points others are large and mountainous. They form a protective barrier all along norway's western coast.

Making for a lovely scenic ride.

I filled my eyes with so much blue, staring off into that wide sea.

Thinking about polar explorers and the arctic circle and puffins and people who fashion their lives around the sea and navigate through perilous passages. That sort of thing.
The outer deck of a boat is a good place for thinking. And drifting.
And of course the bathroom is sort of like a photobooth.

It was windy and wild on the outside deck. Sane people stay inside on these fast moving boats.

the sun shone down on the tiesten the entire time. Sun and wind. Salty air. Snow capped mountains. On an express boat speeding through the blue blue sea.

Stopping for no more than a few minutes at each small port.

Leirvik was small & sleepy. Not a big tourist destination. I meandered, ate lunch overlooking the harbor, wrote in my journal and called it good.

90 minutes later we headed back to Bergen. I took up my position as lookout on the outside deck.

Tomorrow carol and I head off to the geiranger fjorden. A fjord so beautiful and special it is a unesco world heritage site.

by boat of course.

Go check out Carol's version of Norway on her blog and instagram (cmulvenon). 

Sent from my iPad

the flight to alesund

wordless + spellbound by norway's western coast.

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random things

I'm plunked down in front of the window at 11 watching the sun go down. Red clouds lighting up the sky. Rain is coming tomorrow. I want to tell you about my forest ramble and the site I found to take sister on a picnic and the skerries I saw today and how much I love standing on the deck of a high speed boat and watching the bright blue north sea whizzing by.
And a zillion other things, but I have to pack and give my travel journal some attention before I go to bed.
More tomorrow from alesund!

In the meantime here's some randomness...

cups to go with the bowls anyone?

2 am in Bergen.

this is getting folded and packed tomorrow. Headed to alesund, Norway tomorrow with sister!!!!
Will miss my little Bergen loveshack, but am looking forward to tramping around alesund which is a very luscious very small fairytale town further north (we are flying). Around the turn of the century nearly the entire town burned to the ground in a terrible fire. Germany sent war ships filled with supplies to rebuild. The entire town was rebuilt in jugendstil (art nouveau) style. It's the town in my Facebook cover photo!

My Norwegian loo. Bright and gleaming white. I talk to the neighbor's kitty through the window.

dreamy

A resting place on the way up the hill!
Today I splurged and took a cab. Sweet heavenly bliss to be transported directly to my little house. Like magic.

Everything you need right out your front door...I adore these tidy little entrances. Even the weeds look good!

so many plants in windows. All competing for the rare and precious sunlight. They all seem to be thriving.

Sent from my iPad

Random things No. 1

Oh it is a joy to roam these labyrinth walkways between houses. If this was all we did, you and I, it would be enough. Wouldn't it?

Big thoughts have been thought on this bench.

and some little ones too.

I am taking my sister to the forest for a picnic!

I found where your fairygodmother lives!!! It's here. She invited me in for tea and gave me a letter to give to you. It's written in Norwegian.

I caught the moon by her tail and took this pic just before she dove down to the other side of the world!

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Yummies

Sweet young woman at baker brun in bryygen helped me select goodies yesterday. In order to provide accurate feedback I had to sample them all. If you like buttery flaky pastry with excellent custard and gooey icing you will also like spandau the best. It made my eyes cross. But... they were all fresh and delish.

Ran into this tiny hot dog stand. Me and a few old Norwegian bachelors stood around smacking our lips, chewing, and taking big gulps of the lemonade that comes with. Those are fried onions on top. outrageously delish... I go get another one today after boat ride.

more paper.. Showed already on Facebook and instagram.

while the big orange half moon was setting I was sketching my krem.

Future writing journals!

it's 10:30ish I just woke up to another sunny day in Bergen. Locals tell me this is rare. And wonderful.

Your comments are so fun to read when I wake up every morn. Blowing kisses from Norway!

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