On other trips to Los Angeles, it seemed I could not take a bad picture. On this recent trip, however, the landscapes look dusty, uninspired, and ill-composed. I think it was me.
Here on the east coast, it continues to be dry and hot. We missed the scorching heat while visiting my brother, but our plants did not. Through the use of timers and soaker hoses, we were able to preserve a lot, but some astilbe dried to a crisp and several newer shrubs gave up the ghost. I just dug up two of them. I don’t plan to replace them.
I cooked for us all at my brother’s and that was nice but the real contribution of the week was to blow up the solar-powered beach-ball lights that had been sitting in their boxes since Christmas.
It was strange while away to check the daily temps at home and find the Boston area hotter, by five, six, seven degrees sometimes.
It took longer than usual to “arrive” home but here we are. The AC blowing. The dog sighing. Greenery bouncing in a light, hot wind.
Before I sign off, look what Nancy sent me. How nice it was to come home to!
Check out the button! I feel so seen.
I cant believe how hot and dry it is here. Mountain laurels are dying. Just noticing the damage..
The little weavings are a joy.
Well-established lilac hedges near here are wilting. An entire row of ninebark down the street doesn’t have a green leaf left. Trees I planted at the elementary school ten years ago are browning.
I can relate to what you say about the Brown, Flat views. I’ve trained myself to look for green, to zoom in and look close…I’m still working on seeing the dusty landscape as beautiful, although I guess it is in its own way.
Those pool/balls/lights are delightful! And I am so glad you came home to a treat…that you like. You ARE seen, thought of, appreciated so very much. 🙂
There was plenty of beauty al around in LA, don’t get me wrong. I especially love the from vistas from Mt Washington and the sunsets over the pool. I just didn’t seem to be able to readily frame a photo.
Okay, try two…
I can so relate to your dusty views. I’ve trained myself to look for, appreciate and zoom in on the bits of green. I’m still practicing seeing the brown as beautiful.
The bobs of color in the pool balls/lights is so fun!
I’m glad you were able to come home to a treat you enjoy. You ARE seen and appreciated! Big time 🙂😘
Ha. And here I am twice! lol Well, now three times!
yep. I have a very crispy garden in NJ, too. I turned my back on it 2 weekends ago, went to see the Matisse show at MOMA. Then, headed for the hills. I’ll just wait to see what survives come spring. Surely your visit to CA made a huge positive impact on everyone you hugged, fed and cheered along there.
Have you been to the Whitney Plantation in New Orleans? I just heard about how wonderful it is, particular for Black history.Very well researched and reverent to the cause of preservation to Slave history and life stories.
Do the women in your images hail from your family?
I can’t tell if I replied to this while on my phone (the app used to leave an indicator). I’ve read about The Whitney and often thought it’s be worth a trip to go. It’s one of the first historic sites to focus on the enslaved former residents, you’re right.
Recent black and white images are from the Paris Collage prompts.
Nancy’s medicine bags hold so much joy and love, creativity, magic, kindness and connections…your house button is just so right for you; what a nice surprise to come home to.
Well New Mexico is dry and dusty and the Rio Grande near Albuquerque has gone dry in spots but late yesterday, we had a hell of a rain storm, winds, hail and my garden looked demolished and I was devastated…lamented on grace’s blog but today, after debris cleanup, I know that things will grow back and I have more lettuce seeds to plant, I like to plant them in stages…it was just so heart breaking because this is the smallest wee little garden that I have ever had…after I got over my “hissy” , I realized how much we need the rain EXCEPt that we are having massive flood warnings and flooding in all of the burned areas from all of the fires that we have here……
Wow. Sounds very extreme. Our ferns will come back, but the shrubs were fried.
I haven’t quite gotten back to my full round of blog reading yet.
oh so cool! I didn’t know about Nancy’s medicine bags – great!
thanks for the solar powered beach ball lights … perfect for gifting to my girls this coming Christmas …
when we first moved to Texas in 2009, it was droughted and our real estate agent apologized for how dry everything was … at the time I was much taken by the sere-ness of it all … these days it feels dangerous
and yes, Nancy’s woven bags are truly amazing … what a treat to have that to open instead of the usual mess of mail that one has to face upon returning from time away
These particular balls change color, as you probably saw on Instagram. Just magic! Dryness in LA is not that alarming. It is a desert after all. But in the Northeast? It’s terrifically alarming. And we don’t (yet) even have the fire dangers.