feeling, away

standing at the edge of summer, we had a lovely long weekend in Mexico. 

hope your weekend was wonderful too. xx

A sea change

But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange. 

From Shakespeare's The Tempest, 1610

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After a few weeks of easy living, I am putting the sea to rest. Back home, back to work. It's only a few short months until summer. How that is possible, I don't know. 

What does it take to make a sea change? A phrase I have long loved. I've had ideas, almost executions, starts and stops, in my head, out of hands, for literally years now. Along the way there are many successes. So many incredible things in life to point to and say, this is the result of my work. But for some reason, it does not feel enough. There were three things that I wanted to accomplish this year. Once those are done, I think, I will feel my sea change. 

Walking in the yard I pulled two avocados from my tree, leftover fruit of last year's yield. I set them on the counter to see if they would ripen. Sure enough, yesterday, they did. 

Maybe we're always in the midst of change. Do we ever arrive? How long can you stay? 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. xx

A little lost

“For me, childhood roaming was what developed self-reliance, a sense of direction and adventure, imagination, a will to explore, to be able to get a little lost and then figure out the way back.” Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost

This is the place where our children explore. They can run a bit free. The beaches are empty, the vineyards have hidden paths, the roads are dirt. They run around together, in the feeling of another country, almost another time. Under our watchful eye, there are places they can escape to, to feel unwatched, feel independent. 

Earlier I talked about letting kids take risks, what about letting them be just a bit out of sight? Thinking back to my own childhood I had such freedom. My girls are really young, but there are places that I feel comfortable letting them roam just beyond my glance. How about you, do you let your kids wander a bit? Did you have that luxury in your childhood? 

It's Monday, have a great week!

13/52

"a portrait of my children's artwork, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Don't you just love the saying en plein air? It's that cute French phrase that describes the act of painting outdoors. It's spring break and we're at our house in Mexico with the four little ones. Needless to say, staying outdoors is a necessity. When not off adventuring, we painted rocks, shells, sticks, dyed easter eggs, painted feet, legs, eventually each other, balloons, leaves, and snails. 

s. Aside from the eggs and body art, which occupied much of Sienna's time, she did this small painting called, the dotted.

o. Olivia loves tiny things. If she's missing, look down. You'll likely find her hunched over, digging into small crevices extracting microscopic objects. She spent hours in the garden collecting snails and rollie-pollies. Since the rollie-pollies moved to fast, she decided to paint the snails. Here's her painted snail collection. 

A few more shots from the week below.








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52 project links: I thought this blurry shot of her boys, by Pink Ronnie, was perfectly captured.

in the sea

with brand new nets in hand, they went hunting in the sea. 

[the catch]
three sand dollars, 
twenty-two shells, 
four bits of sea glass,
an old yellow star,
one bottle cap,
two weathered sticks,
an army man,
three giant clamshells,
and seven smooth rocks.

are you on the hunt for anything this weekend? i hope you enjoy a great one.

collected, weekly

Found this shop, Stilleben, via instagram. I love nothing more than art piled high. This collection of watercolors by Trine Struwe are beautiful. 

Caitlin of Sacramento Street did a workspace profile about Joanna Williams of Kneeland Co. Every photo is perfection. Joanna is the kind of woman I find totally inspiring.  

via simple lovely, i dream of california

My favorite characters in books and films are always places. In this article on being a California writer, Marisa Silver describes the California landscape as, "a series of characters, as mysterious and alluring as any people I might invent on the page." So true. 

Do you read The Gentlewoman magazine? This interview Getting to know Penny Martin, The Gentlewoman was great, especially her vision behind the magazine. "I think it is very important that you can hear the way women sound. I think women talk to each other very differently when men aren't in the room and I wanted that sound of their voices,' she says. 'What I wanted to reproduce was that thing when women sit down and say, "God, I love that."' She mimes pulling at a jacket. 'You know, they touch each other." 

via a drawing diary

Simple adobe beauty. Definitely some of my favorite architecture. From the book, Georgia O’Keeffe and her houses.

Ever since Erin of Such Small Steps recommended the Phosphorescent track “Song for Zula” I have been hooked. I've played it a million times. Know how I mentioned finding your song of the season? This is springtime in Mexico right now.

Finally, I took this photo yesterday. The kids were playing with punching balloons. I have many more bright and lively photos, the camera settings got messed up on this one, but I love the feeling that came out of it. Another reminder to love our mistakes.

Hope you're enjoying the week. xx

wandering

"He made the world to be a grassy road before her wandering feet." Yeats

There's nothing I like more than exploring without agenda. It's not always the easiest thing with four littles in tow, but by now, they're pretty used to our wandering ways. 

Basic ingredients for family happiness: chilled wine, local olives, bread, cheese and honey, colored pencils, paths to roam, flowers to pick, and the occasional farm animal. 

What are your ingredients for a happy family outing?

along for the ride

Life is ours to be spent. 
D.H. Lawrence

the last bits of living, 2012

We're still down in mexico living the last few days out of the year. We had friends come to spend new years and my birthday with us, which has been so much fun. And we went zip lining! 

We've spent so much time down here exploring what we thought was every nook of the place. Apparently we had missed this magical zip lining adventure tucked away in a little valley south of ensenada. With six zip lines, five wobbly bridges and two brave six year olds, we had such an amazing time! 

The rest of the week we watched movies, played games, took an impromptu group dive in the cold ocean and just hung out. Nothing better than family, friends and a getting out of our comfort zone, to wrap up the year. Wishing you all a good end and a new, fresh beginning. xx