Hiking Mineral King – Timber Gap

Samson wants to know when his people will be home more often. We miss you, Little Buddy.
Sometimes it rains, and I look out the door and am thankful for the rain and for a cabin that is dry inside.
This is the most photographed cabin – looks different from up here.
The lower 1/2 mile to Timber Gap is very very steep.
When we stop to breathe, the views are spectacular.
A huge snow avalanche went down this drainage.
Everything is up from here.
This is the view I sort of tried to capture in the first mural in the Mineral King Room in the Three Rivers Historical Museum.
Mountain chickadee?

I wussed out. Trail Guy asked if I was okay, and I responded, “a little light-headed”. I hate that. We went as far as the wildflowers. You saw them last Friday, but here they are again, because they were spectacular. (I know I already used that word – it fits.)

Thoughts After a 40th Class Reunion

My 40th class reunion from Redwood High School in Visalia just happened. I have a list of thoughts pertaining to the event.

  1. Spouses from other schools don’t belong – they are bored, and people generally don’t come to reunions to see who other people married.
  2. I only saw one person scrolling through his phone (a bored spouse).
  3. No one gave me a business card, but I handed out many.
  4. It is good to stay sober at reunions.
  5. You can wear anything you want – shorts, jeans, fancy pants, dresses, high school logo tee shirts – it is merely an expression of one’s personality. (There were no leggings, thank goodness, because leggings are NOT pants!)
  6. Women seem to be aging better than men, but this is probably because hair accounts for 90% of one’s appearance, and most women color theirs (I am one of the exceptions, and no one cared or noticed.)
  7. Loud music and low lights make the experience less enjoyable.
  8. Less rah-rah (silly prizes for non-essentials like the most tattoos or youngest spouse) would give us more time to study faces, remember names and reconnect.
  9. It would be very interesting to know where people live, what their interests are, and what they do for a living.
  10. Everyone is thin and beautiful in high school – the video confirmed this.
  11. A class of 410 is too large to know or remember.
  12. The most interesting people to reconnect with are those from elementary or junior high. . . those with the longest history together.
  13. The most precious friends are those we are in touch with currently – our friends in real life.
  14. Skipping the class reunion when you live in the same town seems rude, especially to those who travelled great distances to come.
  15. Those who went away and then returned to the area usually did so to be near aging parents.
  16. Instead of silly or generic prizes, it would be good to get things from classmates who own businesses.
  17. There was a prize for the classmate who has changed the least – it wasn’t given to a woman who looked the same but instead it was given to the woman who looked the hottest and youngest!
  18. It would be very fun to have a list of everyone’s interests, jobs, locations, websites, emails, blogs, etc. . .

Since you have made it to the end of my list, I will reward you with a picture of my very smart spouse who had the wisdom to stay home instead of attending a party where he would have been bored half to death. I will return the favor when his class reunites for their 50th (in 4 years, in case you were wondering).

Week of Wildflowers – Everything!

Today concludes the Week of Wildflowers in Mineral King. Sure, there are many I haven’t photographed, different ones along the road, ones that appeared earlier in the summer, ones that will appear later. This week has been about flowers that I saw and photographed in the last two weeks. And for the final post of Mineral King wildflowers, today’s photos are about everything, all together, everywhere, Yea God! (boo devil)

Amen.

Week of Wildflowers – Blue

Blue includes purplish blue, and perhaps bluish purple. Some of these you may have seen previously on the blog, because blue flowers are my favorite. 

My favorite penstemon – this only appears as “Foothill Penstemon” in my four books, but that can’t be true at 7000-9000′.
Blue Lips
Fivespot, still in bloom if you climb toward Timber Gap (last week, anyway!)
Nightshade – don’t know the particular variety
More penstemon, because I have it.

Okay, all the Ls line up here:

Languid Ladies, AKA Sierra Bluebells
Larkspur
Lupine
May I remind you again how much I adore this penstemon?
A variety of Bro-dee-uh (spelled brodiaea or some such reckless combo of vowels)
These are butterflies, not flowers. Why aren’t they called “flutterbys”?
These aren’t in Mineral King but are along the road at about 5000 feet (near the Wolverton gate/helipad). I include them here in case someone knows what these are. They do not exist in any of my books (or my neighbors’ books either.)

Week of Wildflowers – Red

Reddish is a more accurate term for today’s Mineral King wildflowers. I am including orange and pinkish flowers too. Someone pointed out to me once that red is very uncommon in nature. It is used for accents rather than in large amounts.

Here are some oranges:

Much brighter orange in person than this anemic photo – I never noticed it before this year and have no idea what its name is.
Western Wallflower is a tricky one – sometimes it is orange, sometimes it is yellow.
This is a lichen, not a flower. The color was irresistible! (It might be a little smaller than a quarter, in case you were thinking of pouring some Cap’n Crunch into it.)

Now, reds.

Indian Paintbrush
Indian Paintbrush again
Penstemon, Goldenbeard penstemon, or California fuchsia? Beats me, it is striking. (You know you want to laugh at that. . .)
Crimson Columbine
More of the striking penstemon.

Pinks are sort of red, red plus white. They certainly don’t belong with white, blue, or yellow.

Elephant Head
Another penstemon, called “Pride of the Mountains”
Heather or Laurel? I’m going with Red Heather (ignore the phlox in the background – they already had their turn.)
I don’t know this delicate little pinkish thing that resembles manzanita but is very low to the ground.
Have I ever seen this before? It seems to be everywhere this year. I think it will turn into a berry.
Thistle
Shooting Star – often more purplish than pinkish, sometimes named “Jeffrey”
Pussy-paws. They have never been so tall!

 

Week of Wildflowers – Yellow

As I was thinking about a week of wildflowers (Mineral King wildflowers, specifically), it occurred to me that all the flowers can be categorized with the same colors I use for painting – white, yellow, blues and reds. (orange, pink, and purple pose a bit of a challenge – just work with me here. . .)

Here are eight yellow wildflowers I found recently in Mineral King:

Groundsel
Cinquefoil? Not shiny, so I don’t think it is cinquefoil. Yellow flowers and I don’t really understand one another very well.
Sulphur flower – this is new to me this year. Probably just blew past it in all the previous years.
Meadow Hosakia is also new to me this year. It’s been right there in my favorite book all along, but I disregarded it.
Monkey flower, actually “seepspring monkey flower”.
Western Wallflower (who comes up with these names??)
Dandelions qualify as wildflowers in Mineral King; what you do with them in your own yard is your own business.
I don’t know – another ubiquitous tiny yellow flower
Why is a yellow flower named “Violet”? (I just work here, but inquiring minds need to know.)

Week of Wildflowers – White

I’m able to spend lots of time in Mineral King this month. While hiking, I think. Sometimes I think about the blog, and the idea of a week of wildflowers came to me. Today, white! I’m doing my best to look at white flowers and learn some new names. Several blog readers have told me that they love white flowers, so out of respect for you, I will try to stop ignoring them. Here are 17 for you to enjoy: (there are more than 17 out there along the trails but I probably ignored them.)

Dandelion puff
Elderberry
Not sure – sort of looks like Pennyroyal, but I forgot to scratch and sniff
Cow parsnip
Wild Geranium
I don’t know and can’t find in any of my 4 books!
Morning glory (not the kind that plagues the farmers down the hill)
Rein Orchis (weird, I know)
Pennyroyal, for sure
Knotweed? Sort of looks like it, but not exactly and wasn’t growing in a wet area.
Phlox – sometimes these are lavender.
Mariposa Lily (pay no attention to the tiny yellows here)
Thimbleberry
Yarrow

Naked Buckwheat
Don’t know and can’t find – it is exactly the sort of white flower that I usually just pass by as if it is just another grass or leaf.

These might be Baby’s Breath. Who knew they existed outside of florists’ shops?

Mineral King Water and Wildflowers

I know, Mineral King is supposed to be the topic on Fridays, but I have so many photos to show you that I’m breaking my policy. Can’t get fired . . . 

Crystal Creek where the trail crosses
Crystal Creek below the trail crossing
Indian paintbrush
Mariposa Lily, a non-boring white flower
The Pussy Paws are tall this year. Because they aren’t lying on the dirt, I was able to smell them, and they are STRONG. Who knew??
The lupine is a little faded this year.
My favorite penstemmon – I don’t ever remember seeing it in Mineral King before!
Fiesta Flower, I think. . .
Trail Guy along the Nature Trail that ought to be called the “Wildflower Walk” (thanks, Melissa!)
The larkspur are thick, but their color is weak

Rein Orchis is the weirdest name. It is an odd shaped white flower.
The ground is polka-dotted with Sierra Star Tulip.
Inside one of the most charming cabins (not mine, which is also charming).
Red-breasted Sap-sucker – never heard of it, never seen one before.
What is this unknown white flower? If I didn’t ignore them in all my flower books, I might know.

Drawing Lessons, Tracing

Is it cheating to trace?

Nope. Tracing is a tool, and if you can’t draw, tracing won’t solve the problem.

Yesterday, I said that we often trace the main shapes first, and then draw by looking at the tracing. If you look at the photo, there are many distracting details. If you get the skeleton of the picture on the page first, then you know the details will fit inside.

Rosemary took photos of this giraffe, and then we cropped it down to the essentials. She is now ready to copy the shapes on the tracing.

A tracing is no guarantee of accuracy. I can see that the head-knob (what are those things??) on our right isn’t just like the photo.

The tracing is a starting point. Many corrections happen throughout the entire process. Rosemary will look at this tracing in every direction, evaluating the shapes around the giraffe rather than just the giraffe itself. (In Artspeak, that is called “negative space”, in case you were wondering if I know the real term.)

You can be fast or you can be good. Rosemary is good. This giraffe will be wonderful, because that is how she draws!

More Drawing Lessons Fun

In drawing lessons, each student works at her own pace on the drawing of her choice. (Men are allowed too, but this class happens to be completely feminine.)Below:

Jane, on the left,  sat outside a house and did a very nice sketch of it. She decided she’d like to do it in the highly accurate and detailed manner that I teach. So, she is working out all the dimensions, learning about perspective, and getting the “bones” of the drawing in place before she gets to the shading stage.

Elainea, on the right, has a very endearing photo of her grandson reaching for a Christmas ornament. We cropped it, and then she did a tracing of the main shapes. Next, she drew the shapes on her good paper, looking only at the tracing instead of the photo with its overwhelming details. After all the shapes were in place accurately, she began shading the child’s face. 

In very difficult or demanding subjects, I usually instruct my students to begin with the main part. My theory is that if the main part doesn’t look good, then you don’t have to spend time on the rest of the picture. Also, if you do all the other stuff, then sometimes the fear of wrecking the drawing will cause paralysis.

In other words, “Life’s short – eat dessert first”.