well, darlings
we have been Very remiss this week at updating our digital-diary (this one, we don’t keep another one – not digitally, anyway).
and as we drove home from consulting this morning over There *pointsvaguelytowardsthevalley* we came back via Coldwater Canyon (because the lovely people at the Library said they had More Books Waiting for us) and had the oddest Sensation.
it was as if we were suddenly thrown forward (metaphorically, not Literally, thank goodness, as we were in the process of operating an automobile) in TIME (yes, it was s t r a n g e and m y s t e r i o u s – but that sort of thing happens now and Then).
the moment only lasted, well, a Moment.
but it was profound.
we just had this overwhelming sense of peace.
not sure how far forward we had gone (and there wasn’t time to check the Outfit to see if we were indeed Of The Future in garment choices).
the general feeling was one of “everything is perfectly as it should be”.
now we *might* have been reading too-many-books recently (and many of those are of a Science Fiction Nature due to the current commission about technology/digital which required Research into What People Thought The Future Would Be Like) and watching movies of a similar nature (for exactly the same reason – Such fun).
or maybe that’s what happens in L.A
it does appear to exist on a few fault lines *saidnervouslytocamera* (with reason, as it happens – editing this from the Future) so it’s likely to be a different sort of place to live than one that is built on bedrock (does that come with a comforter and bolster pillows or just european square ones?)
we’ve been Back in Los Angeles for 239 days now.
isn’t that astonishing?
do you remember the Day we Returned? If not – here’s the link (we did the search query for you).
such a lot has happened in 239 days. and nights.
a lot of sunrises.
many naps.
a vast amount of Reading. 
a tremendous amount of dreaming.
and wistful thought. 
some re-shoots for the Book as it slips (elegantly) into Final Layout Stage
we HAVE enjoyed this process working with our Publisher in Manhattan (such a delicious phrase) on the Manuscript (although it wasn’t written by hand – at least not the majority of it – but typed on a Macintosh-to-go) and captioning and selecting new pictures and enjoying the Designer (for there are Two – cover design and interior design – or do we mean internal design – gosh, that doesn’t sound right – you know – the pages in the middle of the book) and Proofing and seeing the galley *innersqueal*.
perhaps tomorrow – or the day after (when we’ve delivered the First Draft of a New Commission to our Editors in Mexico City) – we’ll show you a couple of pages.
it’s all terribly exciting.
before we go there is just One thing that we’d like to tell you.
although we are hesitant to do so.
without going into a long story (because we don’t know much of the story at all) – – – – this week we found out the names of our great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.
and it sort of shook us.
you see we don’t know very much about the lineage of who-we-are-in-RL – secrets, early deaths, the War, emigration/immigration, silence, pain – – these are the elements that make families become just a collection of individuals thrown to the Four Winds, struggling (sometimes) to make it out there or relieved to have nothing to hold them to ancient traditions that might stifle one’s own Path…….
anyway.
sarah jane summerson & elizabeth bourcier
names.
of. real. people.
whose foibles and speech patterns and freckles-on-the-nose and long lashes and a tendency to get plump if one doesn’t exercise and a love of music (did they both play the piano? sing?) and Reading and walks on rainy days without taking-an-umbrella we may well have Inherited.
or not.
one thing we do know.
they never Published.
we wish they had.
“I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.” A quote from Kurt Vonnegut and an I love you from me. Back to the editing and visions of white roses.
that’s beautiful.
*wavingthroughyourstudydoor*
*shhhh*
Ms. Lester Is Editing.
I too have experienced the wondrous minuscule time shift between canyons :)
*smiling* – tis a mystical place indeed ;-)
family history… oh yes. beautiful names!
it’s so fascinating to discover things. even painful things. they remind us of other things that are very important in life…
(to share one of my family tree fascinations: I have an old picture of my father as a tiny child – a sweet, cute, blond, curly child with bright, slanted eyes – with his grandfather, his mother, his aunt, and surrounded by his uncles whom I never met – all of them have really piercing, beautifully bright eyes. I look nothing like them which is strange, given that there’s a whole bunch of them looking like a clan!)
I also second Gallivanta on finding Your Spot. it’s so important! I think it also has to do with autenticity and being Who You Really Are and acting accordingly. this is a very, very happy place indeed!!!
so I’m very happy for you, and for you catching the wave of the bright future. hugs and kisses from berlin!
*wavingtoBerlin*
family resemblances (or anti-blances) are indeed a strange and mysterious thing.
there’s one family member that we didn’t grow up with at all and when we met him we got a sudden shock – we have EXACTLY the same eyes.
cue: *spookymusic*
that’s spooky. yet beautiful!
I am a sucker for family history and not just mine – I looove who do you think you are. just fascinating to me. I am sure you have Sarah Jane’s temperment and Elizabeth’s tendency to read voracious amounts…PS have you been to Sedona? Energy – tastic. Stepped on a vortex and I totally tripped ( not the physical way but the meta way). You should totally go – I just have this feeling about it.
hmmmm, that’s a lovely idea.
going to put in a Trip To Sedona in the diary.
curiouser and curiouser said Alice – we wonder what we’re meant to find There.
(and thank you for saying that about our great-great-greatness of female relatives – we do Hope so).
Oh I like Sarah Jane and Elizabeth, very much. How wonderful. Xx
Ps they did sing.
if anyone would have got a message from beyond, it’s you.
so we’re Thrilled to hear that, darling man. thank you.
Quintessence……lovely. Your profound moment…perhaps because you found your place, your lineage. To know the names is grounding and yet allows one to fly. Have I ever mentioned to you a wonderful Maori concept ‘turangawaewae’ http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/papatuanuku-the-land/page-5 I have nearly found my standing place, I think.
we have no earthly clue why Los Angeles is our Tūrangawaewae but it really is.
perhaps because the bits we love look so much like english countryside or verdant irish hills and little parisian cafes or trinity library and quiet backstreets of lisbon and a beach in greece – all in one place.
One never knows why, but one does know when it is found. I am sure of that. I am 95% sure mine is here.
Oh how amazing. I don’t think that I have found mine yet. I need to think on this a bit…
As I struggled with 239 days! Reeeally? So much wonderful has happened. So very much and by the sound of things, there is more awaiting…
Bisous.
PS. Remi has made some similar discoveries about his lineage this Summer and it has been interesting to watch him open up doors that he didn’t even know existed.
curiouser and curiouser – tis strange to think we have a Past – of Others.
*wavingtoFrance*!
YES 239 days!!!?