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DON BLANDING
"Mostly California"

Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1948
Printed by the Vail-Ballou Press, Incorporated, Binghamton, New York
Hardback, 158 pages

Poetry, Illustrations & Decorations by Don Blanding

Dedication:
To you, my friends, many and varied, old and new,
Casual and intimate, and to a few
Who might think you are enemies... but are not,
And to you, dear ghosts, and to you, the treasured lot
Of half-friends, could-be-friends, as long Tomorrow Road extends
Into the half-glimpsed years that shape ahead
I dedicate this book in gratitude for the thread,
Varicolored, many textured, dull or gleaming,
Which you have woven into my living, my dreaming,
My small triumphs, hopes realized, laughter and tears,
To make the gorgeous tapestry of my years
In California

Acknowledgements to Ralph Parker of Science of Mind, Rexford Sharp of American Bard.

Contents:

To you, my friends, many and varied...
This Might be Called a Preface
No Sudden Love
Random Treasure
California, Portrait by a Lover
Gnat and the Sequoia
Sequoia Wisdom
For Catherine
Question
Hearts West
California Sundae
Small Boy and the Artist
Late-Made Friend, California
California Boy, Seaquence
Falling Stars
A Question of Bravery
Candid Camera, Los Angeles
    San Francisco
    Hollywood and Vine
West Born
Ivory Player
The Immediate Wine
From Broken Stones
November Road
Old Sycamores
Tears of the Moon
Talk with a Tree
Sequoia Sketch
I'm Glad You Asked Me
Ghost Town Romance
Aspirin
See-Saw Sea
Suggestion to Tourists
Candid Camera, Palm Springs
    Carmel-by-the-Sea
Shasta
Wordachrome in Sibilants, Hollywood
The Slip
Chart
Aunt Cally in Callyfornia
Aunt Cally on "Spendin' the Day"
Aunt Cally on "Free an' Equal"
To the Dwellers in Tree-Toad Trellis
Mountain Talk
Sierra Peaks
...And Walk
Understandable If
Celestial Punctuation
How Big is a Heart?
California Boy, Desert Sequence
Might of Silence
The Hidden Seed
Guards
Web of Commerce
Cultists
City Park
The Faceless One
Within These Borders
Kindly Veil
Dear Neighbor
Redwood Forest
Food Riots
Obsidian Mask
California... Open Country
The Ubiquitous Dandelion
Such is Glory
Diet Rule to End all Diet Rules
Bubble Bath
Unwritten Law
Sunset Wines
Carmelody
Sketch
Still Life, Pioneer Kitchen
High Moment
The Desert is Never Lonely
Gay Spot
...Or Do They?
Creamed Chicken
Tia Rosa
My Kind of Day
Beauty Knows
Seascape
For "Revisers"
Joshua Trees
Dyes
Moon Songs
"California, Here We Come!"
Smoke in the Mountains
Eternal Questions
Candid Camera, Santa Barbara
Enough
Trees in Our Hearts
Good Night
California Montage
Out There
Maverick Land
Maverick Branded
Maverick, Harnessed and Driven
California Speaks
You're Welcome

Illustrations:

Frontispiece
Montage
Dusk Lace
Cypress in Mist
Sequoia
Small Boy and the Artist
Sea Boy
Tree in Storm
Ivory Prayer
Old Sycamores
Talk with a Tree
Ghost Town Romance
Mount Shasta
The Slip
Pepper Branch
Mountain Talk
Celestial Punctuation
Desert Boy
Desert Silence
Procession of Palms
Poinsettias
City Park
The Faceless One
Pepper Lace
Obsidian Mask
Acacia
Pioneer Cabin
High Moment
Peacock Girl
Tia Rosa
Joshua Tree Dance
Forest Fire
Eucalyptus
Manzanita
California Speaks
Eucalyptus Song
Aloha, Adios, Until Again

Notes:
The Aunt Cally series was written for Aunt Cally.
To the Dwellers in Tree-Toad Trellis was written for Marcus and Ruby Lytle.
Tia Rose was written for Tia Rose.
For "Revisers" was written for C.C., H.H.J., E.H.G., F.W., N.L., F.G., H.H., D.B., E.B.Y., B.M. and M.D.
Eternal Questions was written for Frank Palomares.

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