nyc

Guess what? I'm spending a few days in Manhattan and the entire city is abloom!

 

May your weekend be filled with all that you love. 

these small moments

On a run in the park this week I passed a youngish woman with a Graco stroller of belongings in black garbage bags. I couldn't see her face as she was huddled over her notebook writing intently, in that bubbly cursive script the popular girls had in junior high. She was focused. The words were flowing easily, the way they sometimes do, when the only challenge is to get them on paper as quickly as you can in case the muse vanishes like a magic genie before the final wish is fulfilled. In the glimpse of that small moment I brushed up against hopefulness and connection. I said a silent blessing that her path would be illuminated. I said a silent blessing that she would continue to write.

the omo tribus

matilija poppies and easter eggs

Whimsical Matilija poppies resembling fried eggs, and vibrantly colored Easter gems (dyed with distilled vinegar) were a couple of things that speckled my weekend with cheer. I want to be outside taking advantage of every spring offering these days. Front yard picnics and convertible drives up the coast become necessities. The ocean is liquid lapis lazuli, complete with shimmers of gold. Rave's unwaning enthusiasm for sprinting out the back door to find the sunniest seat in the grass always brings a smile. We lost two trees in our Lilliputian backyard recently, rendering our hammock and favorite nap spot obsolete. However the sunshine is bountiful there now, and the star jasmine I planted along the rickety fence is suddenly stretching to its full potential. I'm pondering colorful additions to the flower beds and a trip to the nursery is imminent. The windows and doors are open and it's that soothing azure breeze, even more than the sunshine, that beckons me today.

What are your favorite springtime delights?

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.

- Rainer Maria Rilke 

dress rehearsal for a summer's day

Saturday I abandoned my chattering monkey mind on the shelf indoors and headed into the benevolent sunshine. It was an orange sundress, espadrilles, and straw hat wearing kind of day; the kind I especially don't like to miss. We excavated the faded blue canvas beach chairs from the basement and took in a street aglow with the ebullience of yellow daisies. Sleepy from an early morning run, I sat with hot sandy pages of e.e. cummings while Bud paddled out into the waves. We napped under shady umbrellas, ate salty french fries, and hitched the hours to the flowing sea breeze.

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears or the sea.  - Isak Dinesen