A popular radio show talker once advised his callers: “Before you pick up the phone and dial this show, ask yourself the important question: Does anyone care?”
Eh, well, it’s my blog, and I know most of my readers as friends in real life, and know you all would be polite if I rambled about these things in person.
I won a book for the first time in the GoodReads give-away. This is after about 4 years of trying. The book is Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly by Evy Poumpouras, a former Secret Service agent to 3 presidents. If you are on Goodreads and want to follow me or (or be followed by me), I am simply under my name, both first and last.
If I had to eat only the food I was able to grow, I’d starve to death. But I will never stop trying!
I wouldn’t be very successful if growing to supply florists, but I won’t stop trying to grow flowers either.
Pippin is so appealing. The cats found a way to sneak out at night, but I think I have stopped that rebelliousness.
Tucker, before the grass got really tall. (You should see it now!)
Dang, a card game – when a certain friend comes to our cabin, she forces us to play games. She taught it well, but without practice, I’ve already forgotten how. It might have been fun. Being with her is the fun part.
Yahtzee research – while she was there, I got curious. How many times does one need to roll to get a Yahtzee? We did it with 3 rolls per attempt, like in the game. Several times it happened in just the first three attempts; one time it took 63 turns. The average was about 17-20 tries, and the game of Yahtzee only provides 13 turns (maybe it is 15). We also tried it with rolling as many times as necessary. This was entirely random, and I have forgotten the results, although the number 94 seems relevant.
Borgi – a neighbor had a weird little dog. I said, “What is that? A cross between a Border Collie and Corgi?” She said, “Yes, it is a Borgi.” WHAT? In spite of my cat preference, I guessed this. (Gold Star for me.)
Transplanting grass – Our one remaining lawn is sparse and spotty. I have been transplanting clumps of grass from the back side of the house where the lawn was wrecked 21 years ago in the remodel of this place. I have requested that Trail Guy not mow in case these clumps will produce seeds, or perhaps spread by root growth. The cats are loving the tall grass. Will Miracle-Gro help? More will be revealed.
I need a reason to paint – When work ceased to come in, I lost interest in producing. This is mostly due to an aversion to excess stuff, whether paintings, drawings, or one-function kitchen items. I like painting, but not when it just builds up my inventory without hope of showing or selling.
“My choices are not a commentary on yours.” I read this somewhere, and it seemed appropriate after I talked about all the things I like to make from scratch. It might have made some of my readers feel inadequate. No reason for this, because my choices are NOT a commentary on your choices. Really. Just be you, and I’ll be me. It will work out just fine.
“Prone” means face down; “supine” means flat on one’s back. I didn’t know this until a lengthy conversation with a doctor friend who went into way more detail than I could comprehend – hence, I came away with 2 new vocabulary words instead of whatever else he was saying.
1996 Honda Accords are no longer the most stolen year and model of car – Fernando is safe! (Safer. Besides, can the bad guys drive a stick shift??)
Stand up paddle boarding is FUN! There is nothing athletic about me, and I have zero interest in sports of any kind. Stand up paddle boarding is a way to motate on a lake in a quiet manner. I probably won’t pursue this in any large way (as in buy the equipment), but it was quite thrilling to realize that this is a sport that I can do.
Upper-middle-aged non-athletic chubby chick, zig-zagging her way across Hume Lake and NOT FALLING IN THE WATER!
Incoming work ceased. While drawing lessons resumed, I waited for several conversations to become custom art jobs.
They have. There are more of these unfinished conversations, but for now this one is enough.
These are now on hold.
Did I show you this painting? It is in Lemon Cove, and was a thank you gift to the farmer who graciously let us glean in his orchards this spring.
While I was working on this, someone sent me this, wanting it painted on a 3′ diameter circle, but substituting lemons for the mandarins. These folks are in Orange Cove.
So, let’s think about this: I painted oranges for Lemon Cove, and next I will be painting lemons for Orange Cove.
Only in Central California, and I am happy to be your Central California artist, making art that people can understand about things and places they love at prices that won’t scare them.
Now, excuse me while I keep priming and sanding this giant circle.
In 1986, the Mineral King Preservation Society was formed. The idea was to stop letting the cultural resources of Mineral King just fade away, without documentation or any attempt at preservation. (“Cultural resources” is fancy talk for things that come from humans, like buildings or mines.)
They (we?) have come a long way. Now there is a real curator, a real director, a real assistant – 3 paid employees. This is after many years of volunteers wearing themselves out to keep the thing together. The MKPS now has a grand vision for including the Southern Sierra. In addition, they (we? – I’m not on the board, but it feels like I belong to the organization anyway) have a room at the Three Rivers Historical Museum (with 3 murals in it by me), a website (with a blog where I post when requested), a separate office building at the bottom of the Mineral King Road, and (drum roll) a new logo! (Nope, not gonna show you the old one. We are trying to forget about that.)
The little building in the logo is the Honeymoon Cabin, which has served as a mini-museum for many years right in Mineral King. It is now nicer inside than it has ever been, thanks to those afore-mentioned employees.
THANK YOU, Hard-Working Volunteers, for your many many many (many many many) years of service to preserving the cultural resources of Mineral King.
P.S. You too can become a member of the MKPS – go here and do what it says.
Last week I had the privilege of spending several days at Hume Lake with my friend and a new friend at my friend’s cabin. (Friend friend friend – just wrecked that word for myself.)
This is the 4th summer that she has invited me to join her, and through the times spent together, I have come to know and love her cousins, gotten reacquainted with Hume (worked there the summer of ’78), and become quite close with my old friend from childhood.
Rather than go into a bunch of personal blah blah blah, let’s do our usual thing with photos.
Look on the lamp table. There is my oil painting, cleverly titled “Hume Lake I”.“Hume Lake II” was very well received, as was “Hume Lake III”. (Most of the birthday party attendees began shouting their birth dates at me.)So calm in the evening.Wild Azaleas were in bloom.Because there were no campers around, we got to go places that are usually not open to cabin folks.One of the places that we explored was the children’s camp called “Wagon Train”.Instead of cabins, the kids sleep in these covered Conestoga wagon replicas.The lake was so serene without the hundreds of camping kids present. This is sad, unless you view it as a temporary condition.This wildflower is new to me. I don’t have to know the name because it isn’t in Mineral King.We ate way too much, so I force-marched my companions around the lake one evening after dinner. One of them had a Fit-Bit that recorded 26,400 steps that day. (Those steps didn’t counteract all the ice cream,)I went to Inspiration Point in search of a red Mariposa Lily. Guess I was too early this year, because all I found were Farewell-to-Spring and profusely blooming Bear Clover.I drove home a different route and saw Hume from an overlook.
There are so many options for coming and going, unlike Mineral King with one road in and out. Hume Lake also has electricity, wifi in some cabins, many many cabins, and provided the best summer of my life (1978) until I worked in the Mineral King area (Silver City Store) in 1985. (And I thought that BEFORE I met Trail Guy at the end of that summer, so there.)
We had the pleasure of witnessing the baptism in the lake of 3 terrific kids.
Another distinct pleasure was renting stand-up paddle boards. We almost opted out, but I remembered our decision last year that we would do this, combined with the fact that the day was hot, there wasn’t much traffic on the lake, and that “everyone” knows that people regret what they don’t do more than what they do. (My sister and I often remind one another to “Do It Anyway”, in spite of our reservations, fears and doubts.) It was great fun, and I didn’t fall, but I would like to learn how to paddle without the zig-zag effect, which greatly impedes forward progress.
Oh – ice cream. Did I mention ice cream?
Someone needs to cut off my end of the table.
P.S. I have FOURTEEN books on hold at the library. WHEN WILL THEY OPEN AGAIN??
After not painting for a month or two, I was stuck. The large unfinished oil painting of the oak tree just gathered dust, and it didn’t call to me. Painting Hume Lake shook something loose, meaning that it was fun and suddenly I wanted to paint more.
Early one morning with bright sun on it.Can you see that the upper left corner of the tree has a bit more detail now?Here – can you tell now that the left side of the tree is tighter, and the right is unfinished?Better branches all over, better fence posts, grass, and rocks.
Now it needs to dry again. Meanwhile, that was so fun that I have begun a new one. This is a Just Because, a subject that I have never tackled before, a Why Not Try This decision.
All my gallivanting around California, taking photos, getting them printed, and never painting them because I don’t think I have a market for the various subjects, finally coming into use. Maybe. If it doesn’t sell or no one likes it, it might become another Mineral King painting.
That coat of arms requires much mulling, both by me and the customer. I have done 4 revisions using Photoshop Junior. (The current wonkiness of the blog is only allowing photos to appear as squares, so these pictures aren’t showing you the entire image on new photos.)
The original coat of arms
Revision #1 – Narrower and fewer ribbons, slightly enlarged shield.
Revision #2 – Some of the yellow ribbons converted to blue.
Revision #3 – Replaced the line drawing of Mineral King with a painting.
Revision #4 – removed the painting of Mineral King and removed the outlines around the ribbons.
We will continue to revise and discuss this. I have asked my customer if she has an idea to replace one of the fleur de lis (those silver symbols in the red sections) so there is more variety. She is probably still mulling that over. She is considering #2 and #4; I think when we get together, we will find a satisfactory solution in a #5 or #6.
This is one of the most unusual and difficult commissions I have ever tackled. Any ideas? input? advice? I will take it all “under advisement”, which means I reserve the rights to adapt, adopt, or ignore.
Last Friday, I had too many photos from our cold weekend in Mineral King to put them all in one blog post.
Yep, dandelions.Paintbrush, formerly known as Indian Paintbrush.PhloxBluelipsLanguid Ladies, also known as Sierra BluebellsA different view of the Honeymoon Cabin. Tiny in the distance – can you spot it?This is a flowering shrub that I don’t recognize.This is looking out the kitchen window. Brrr.We took a short walk. Very brrr. Where is Farewell Gap??Current bushes in bloomSomeone went barefoot on the deck last night.The sun finally emerged, and it was still cold, but oh so very beautiful.
Most of the flowers in today’s post are identified in Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names.
100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax. Available here Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.
