I love the weather in California. Yesterday I walked to the village under a sun so warm that the light sweater I was wearing was too much. The temperature rose to 80F (26.6 C) from 60F (15C) or below for several days the week before. Nights are coldish to cool right now, which means I… Continue reading Christmas in California……..
Author: Kathleen Hall
Follow the yellow brick road —
You travelled down a a pretty tree-lined street to reach Janet’s house – it might as well have been Oz to me, coming as I did from the other end of town where homes were a little more modest. It had a small front yard and a very big back one, with fruit trees and… Continue reading Follow the yellow brick road —
Well, whadayaknow.
I feared that my life experience, which includes living in two countries besides my own for over 20 years, would be a barrier to making new friends in this southern California community. I knew that the Latino population would be influential, and indeed, many public signs are now in both English and Spanish. But I… Continue reading Well, whadayaknow.
In With the New
I am starting anew yet again, this time closer to my roots. Not France, or England or even North Carolina, but California. Now, what I see outside the west window of my study is a lush Jacaranda tree, not the ancient stone wall in front of the chestnut, fir and beech trees of my… Continue reading In With the New
Deus ex machina-Shere-ing Time 3
The gods arrived on Thursday morning in the forms of a Phillipina cleaner and an English gardener. Before Carmelita arrives I always clean house so she won’t think I’m a pig, so there was that to do, then young Jack Dew(er) lives up to his name by bounding to the door fresh as a spring… Continue reading Deus ex machina-Shere-ing Time 3
Shere-ing Time, 2
Okay, so here’s what happened next. I plunged into the Slough of Despond, paralyzed by fear and sense of loss, extending back to the age of about 6, and thinking that such a small person could not possibly cope with the vastness of moving an entire house, indeed, pretty much an entire life, back into… Continue reading Shere-ing Time, 2
Shere-ing Time, 1
It is early morning in late winter, and cold outside, as it has been for days. Elm and chestnut trees stand denuded of leaves, their untidy branches and bony twigs scratching at frozen air. Evergreens stand stolidly, silent giants biding their time, waiting for spring. But I am cozy in bed,alone now, huddled under a… Continue reading Shere-ing Time, 1
Claremont, California, Ashland, Oregon, and Peralta, New Mexico
Gray Sandhill cranes, bent to pluck bugs and seeds from the fields, have been gurgling their strange, raucous call since dawn. They look almost like sheep from a distance with their long necks reaching down, or small, gray emus closer up. Pale winter fields, fallow at this time of year, stretch all around my sister’s… Continue reading Claremont, California, Ashland, Oregon, and Peralta, New Mexico
The way to San Jose (and Saratoga and Los Gatos)
Spe nt Thanksgiving in San Jose with part of the family, including two nieces, a grandniece, a sister, and a grand nephew. It was my first Thanksgiving in the states for many years. All the traditional dishes made it around the table, like roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and… Continue reading The way to San Jose (and Saratoga and Los Gatos)
On the road….
On the road again…..Ramsbury, Wiltshire, Here in Ramsbury, in the county of Wiltshire, the weather is giving me a great send off to my long trip to the land of my birth. The wind has been howling around the chimney pots all night, rain drumming on the skylights, and now, at nearly noon,it is still… Continue reading On the road….