The crowd shuffled back down the hall when the party was over. The conversations were so much fun. I heard people going on about the bathrooms (“Fine facilities!” in a very Southern accent), talking about how many paper napkins with the White House emblem that they stuffed in their purses, and the cameras never stopped […]
Christmas Ornament Story, Chapter Three
About getting “gussied up”. . . I faxed the White House a second time to ask about the dress code. Here in Tulare County, “dressed up” means that I iron a polo shirt for Michael to wear with decent jeans. “Formal” means his best Wranglers, boots, and a “sport” jacket. (“Sport?” What, is he going […]
Christmas Ornament Story, Chapter Two
Once we knew the date of the White House reception, I began making plans. We have very good friends in Pennsylvania who invited us to stay with them AND, get this, loaned us a car! So we flew into Harrisburg, which has rocking chairs in its airport. (Now that is a bit more common than […]
Going to a Weird Place
Ever been to Death Valley? It is a weird weird place. I’ll just show you the photos from our recent excursion. Long post, so get comfortable. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE. . . Death Valley is the largest National Park in the lower 48 states and includes 7 (SEVEN!) mountain ranges. It is the hottest […]
Chasing the Big Trees and Dogwoods
We (Trail Guy, Hiking Buddy, and Mr. Hiking Buddy) joined in with the madding crowd (I don’t know what “madding” actually means, but I liked the book and the movies “Far From the Madding Crowd”) and visited the main part of Sequoia National Park. I wanted to see the dogwoods in their autumn colors and […]
Life Policy
A wise man in my youth taught that one should have principles (which I call “policies”) in life that help you make decisions. One of my personal life policies is Never Turn Down A Chance To Go To The Beach. You may recall that I have a friend who is waiting for new lungs. With […]
Random Information
Sometimes I have a head full of random facts to tell you that don’t want to wait for the end of the month round-up of things learned in the month. The Oak Grove Bridge, my favorite subject for drawing and painting, will be “retrofitted”, a fancy term that means reinforced to make it safe while […]
Field Trip
Last Sunday afternoon, we drove down to Lake Kaweah to go walking among the cockleburs. I think the dam was built in 1962 or ’63, so I don’t remember a time when it wasn’t there. It is sort of ugly, but interesting at the same time. There are nicer places to walk in Three Rivers, but […]
Funny Walk at Hume Lake
When I got to Hume Lake, I asked my friend if she had heard of the Little Brown Church. This was something I learned about and visited one time in 1978, and since so much had changed, I thought it might be gone. Nope. It is still there. It is a steep steep steep climb; […]
A New-To-Me Cabin Community
Ever heard of or been to Hume Lake, California? I lived and worked there the summer of 1978, and again for a few weeks in maybe 1981 or 1982. Back then I was unaware of the extensive cabin community, not yet having met Trail Guy or married into a cabin or begun an art business […]