The Vista Del Mar Chronicles

~ a menagerie

A beautiful Sunday in Vista Del Mar.

I woke with the morning sun, feeling the medicinal hum and soft ache of Friday’s post-cancer infusion. Clear, quietly energetic, I let Chica, my dog friend, out into the yard. We played a few rounds of ball, enjoying the cool morning air on my tender skin.

Shuffling into the kitchen, I prepared fresh ginger and started my chai ritual. As I unloaded the dishwasher, a desire inspired by ripening bananas came over me.

“Let’s make banana bread“, I whispered out loud.

As the chai simmered, I enjoyed the precision and rhythm of baking and the gentle purr of the stand-alone mixer. While the bread baked, I set up a small painting area outside in the shade, nestled among lemon trees and rose bushes. I returned to a golden painting I’d started the night before—rich, vibrant reds, Naples yellow, shimmering golds, and softly blended whites.

I left the painting out to dry in the warm sun, only to return later to a few small yellow hummingbird droppings scattered across the canvas.

At first, I was annoyed. Aggg, was the reaction that came up…
Then I softened, I found myself smiling at the tiny little droppings. After last nights musical, Hummingbirds adding their signature to my painting seemed like a subtle nod to my art.

Settling into a chair beneath the Santa Barbara palm trees, I listened to the local birds in conversation.

A little early, isn’t it, ladies?

I spotted a group of small black birds with white-tipped wings, sipping rosé from tiny wine glasses. Bird Laughter rained down on me as they raised their glasses in my direction. One asked… quite casually, if I was planning another musical skinny dip in the pool anytime soon?

Blushing, I watched as the lady birds returned to their morning gossip.

I don’t speak bird very well. I can get by… ask directions, exchange greetings, catch a phrase here and there. The morning’s conversation seemed to revolve around local gardens and the spectacular dahlias blooming in the large yard of the Duke and Duchess who live just down the way in Montecito.

What the birds didn’t gossip about however, was last night’s swim and show.

Donned in nothing but goggles and light blue flippers, I took to the pool at sunset. My small music box rested at the pool’s edge, playing Billie Holiday as I mermaided about. My dark, naked butt bobbing like an unbothered sea mammal just before my flippers arched toward the sky in a playful dive to the bottom.

Chica, my foxy-eared companion, leapt to the pool’s edge, presenting her tennis ball for a game of catch. After a few tosses and joyful returns, I felt a shift in the air.

My entire world grew calmer. Sweeter. Softer.

As I inhaled deeply, preparing for another dive, the smallest of birds flew past my ears and chirped.

“When a woman swims like she has no worries in the world, it gives the rest of us in the ecosystem permission to relax.”

Laughing, I dove again—gliding underwater across the length of the pool, noting the blue-grey floor beneath me and the ripples above as my slow exhales bubbled to the surface.

When I emerged, taking in a conscious breath of cool evening air, I heard them before I saw them… a trio of hummingbirds perched atop the statue of Ganesha at the head of the pool, singing along to Billie Holiday’s “Having Myself a Time.”

Surprisingly, they were STILL except for a gentle sway to the rhythm of Buster Baileys Clarinet. I was struck not only by their presence, but by how much larger their voices were than their bodies.

Shimmering in greens and reds, iridescently they performed with such enthusiasm that I found myself hooting and hollering at my own private hummingbird concert.

Chica, curious about the commotion, jumped back to the pool’s edge. She whined, then howled, then somehow—found her own voice, closing the song with a surprisingly convincing Norah Jones tone.

The sky, now a wash of deep blues and sunset golds, encouraged the creatures as they rolled effortlessly into “Pennies from Heaven,” keeping time with Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson.

The Vista Del Mar Chronicles

All visual images for this written series were inspired by my imagination, paintings, writings, and the landscape of Vista Del Mar. Collaborated with and designed by AI – ChatGPT. 

All rights reserved by the author.