A Day Off in the Life of a Frugal Artist

Yeppers, it is April First, but as unusual as this post is, it is entirely sincere.

Your Central California artist lives a very frugal life. Last Friday I became aware (yet again) that frugality is just automatic, built into my DNA perhaps. Have a look at the stuff that fills my days off and brings me great satisfaction.

Gardening

Trail Guy made the top rack from old mule shoes and the bottom one from the head of a garden rake. Most of these tools are second-hand.

The daffodil bulbs were bought in January, when they were greatly discounted; the bearded iris were a gift from a friend who was thinning hers; the dutch iris was probably a bulb on sale and seems to be the last one standing.

Sewing

Many years ago, I bought a tablecloth to make valances for my kitchen windows. When I washed them last week, they disintegrated. The rest of the tablecloth was in a closet, waiting to be turned into replacements. This time they aren’t very ruffled, because there wasn’t quite enough fabric. (Nobody cares.)

About 15 years ago I stocked up on the jeans that fit me best, which meant they all expired at the same time. I tried iron patches (wouldn’t stick), sewn on patches (ugly, but worked until the pants wore out above and below the patches), and made cut-offs from a few pair. Then I saw a picture on my favorite blog (The Frugal Girl) of several things you can do with old jeans. Since it rained last Saturday, and since my sewing machine* was set up, I made this ridiculous apron! (not finished in this photo).

It isn’t very frugal to use time and electricity to sew something that I don’t need, but I can’t stand waste. (or fraud or abuse, but that isn’t what we are discussing here.)

More Gardening

My broccoli crop was pathetic this year: look at the yield from 5 plants:

After I “harvested” the heads in the colander, I ignored the plants for a few more weeks. When it was time to yank them, I was able to get another small handful. These are good chopped up in scrambled eggs. Yea us, eating fresh vegetables. (I’d rather have ice cream, but not in my scrambled eggs.)

Then I planted the basil that rooted in the kitchen window sill all winter, taken from cuttings off last year’s basil. It’s kind of sorry-looking but as with all my gardening, it is another triumph of hope over experience. I started with 6-7 plants, but some croaked when transplanted.

Others broke when I was putting them in the planting bed, so of course I moved them back to little bottles of water on the window sill.

Those bottles initially contained Trader Joe’s balsamic vinegar. I pried the pouring cork/plugs from them, and they are perfect for this purpose—cute, small mouth, and no lid to keep track of. Good thing I didn’t learn that Trader Joe’s adds sugar to its balsamic vinegar until I had a nice collection of these.

Among my friends, this sort of thing is normal. My closest friends choose to go for walks together, not go out to lunch. We get a kick out of figuring out how to do things, telling one another how we saved money, and sharing extra stuff, whether it is garden plants, fabric, produce, baking, items bought on sale, or ideas.

How are you frugal? Is this normal for you too?

*A Singer Featherweight, made in 1959, a gift from my grandmother. The plastic handle did not go the distance, so Trail Guy replaced it with a chain.

Some People Dislike Mondays

I’m not one of those people. The only day I don’t like is any day I have to go down the hill. But I only dislike the day while I am fixin’ to leave, because in spring, the drive is beautiful. Going down with a list of stops doesn’t make me happy, so I try to remember that it is fun to drive Fernando, that there are all sorts of good options for listening or a good chance to just have quiet, and that it is a real privilege to have a car, options, money to pay for gas and the various items to be accumulated while down the hill. (I’ve been a recovering pessimist for decades). Of course I am happiest when I am heading back up the hill, especially in the early evening with late sunlight on the hills and mountains.

In case you are one of those folks who dislike Mondays, here are some wildflower photos for you, taken in my neighborhood last Wednesday. (See why I dislike leaving home?)

We can do the Learned List tomorrow, if I can remember anything new learned in March.

More Spring in Three Rivers

The lavender started blooming early this year. That isn’t a real lawn; it is mowed weeds that dry out when the rain quits and the heat begins.

The Middle Fork of the mighty Kaweah River, looking downstream and upstream. The white-water is a little less than bright white because of the rain. (Ain’t nobody here complainin’ ‘bout that rain!)

Man oh man, I love me some green!

I was pulling weeds in the yard and heard (teehee, almost wrote “herd”) some funny sounds. These deer were eating weeds mere feet from me, chewing kind of loudly.

The first blue dicks, also known as brodaeia (can’t spell it, gave up trying), with an intense bush lupine behind. This is not in my yard.

Hi Pippin. You are the cutest cat, even if you have an entitlement attitude.

March in Three Rivers

I took these photos the first 4 days of the glorious month of March in Three Rivers.

That’s it. Next week we will return to the business of art.

Still Clinging to February

It’s just too short. Of course, by now it is March and there are even more things to photograph. Maybe I should put those pictures on hold until August or September, when it is just ugly around here.

Three Rivers Trees

Oh No! The iconic valley oak on Kaweah River Drive fell over!

Lots of firewood in that dude.

A number of years ago when we still had a newspaper made out of paper (now we don’t even have an online paper), someone wrote an angry letter to the editor after Southern California Edison pruned the tree. It was both rude and ignorant, as I recall. The tree was a leaner, and I knew it couldn’t last. I’m guessing that letter writer might need to be sedated now.

On the same day I saw this sad sight, I saw a redbud in bloom. IN FEBRUARY!!

And finally, my flowering pear tree has blossomed.

I could work in the studio and show you what I’m doing in my art business. But instead, I will show you a few more photos tomorrow. Then maybe I’ll go back to the business of art.

Looking Back at February

Early-ish March isn’t that much different from late February. On an early morning walk, I just wanted to stop time.

This house always grabs my attention, with its quiet simple beauty.

As I walked, I kept smelling something that I couldn’t identify. It was a good smell, and one that I hadn’t noticed before. It was on a route that I only take when my walking partner isn’t with me, chosen because it is shorter than our normal walks. That’s the way I trick myself into going alone.

This is the first time in 26 years that I’ve noticed ceanothus while walking. It is native to this area, and it isn’t very attractive in my book. But I wondered if that was the source of the good smell.

Indeed it was!

With flowering quince and daffodils going gung-ho (that’s a weird word—Chinese origins?**) in my yard, along with mowed weeds that pass for a lawn in spring, I almost felt happy to be alive*.

This one of about nine mailboxes scattered around our extensive yard; they are tool containers so I don’t have to hike a mile for a trowel.
This is flowering quince, not redbud, which is actually pink.

*Fret not. That’s something my dad used to say in his buffoonish way of disseminating wisdom. I was thinking about him a lot in February because that was both his birth and death month.

** Thank you Gnat for sending me that little piece on MentalFloss.com verifying my guess that “gung ho” is Chinese!

Ten New Things Learned in February

Since I learned almost nothing in January, I decided to keep better track in February. I probably learned lots in January, but just didn’t keep track.

  1. There are alternatives to Snopes for checking on “facts” or urban myths. Factcheck.org and That’sNonsense.com. They didn’t seem very easy to use; I couldn’t find anything about microwaved water killing plants. But websites are notoriously difficult to navigate the first time someone tries. This someone, anyway.

2. Duckduckgo is the search engine I use instead of Google, along with Safari, which is the Apple web browser. Now Duckduckgo has a web browser designed for Mac. I tried it. I like it. The whole idea is to not be tracked, and then targeted for ads based on Google’s estimate of your income combined with your interests. (STOP STALKING ME ALREADY!)

3. Clint Black gave a concert in Visalia at the Fox Theater AND I LEARNED ABOUT IT THE NEXT DAY! Yeppers, I would have gone to hear him. Phooey.

4. Amy Grant had open heart surgery?? She is a year younger than me! I saw her at the Visalia Fox Theater about 10 or so years ago.

5. Mike Rowe interviewed Alex Epstein on his podcast, The Way I Heard It, episode 423. I don’t know who this guy is, but he said something that piqued my interest: We didn’t have a perfect and safe planet which we then ruined with fossil fuels; we had a dangerous hostile planet which we made safer and more comfortable with fossil fuels. (I am paraphrasing, since I was pulling weeds while listening, not taking notes.) This is the opposite of the prevalent view of things. He has a couple of books which I am probably not going to wade through, since I only grasped about 1/3 of what he was talking about. Maybe I’ll look up his books on Bookpecker, which summarizes books for lazy people like me. UPDATE: THAT WEBSITE IS NOW TOAST.

6. An online friend sent me a recipe to make ranch dressing from scratch. It is very convincing and a nice treat from my usual balsamic vinegar with olive oil.

7. A guy in Canada traded his way from a red paper clip up to a house in 2006. Weird, fun, and here is the link to the article about it. From paper clip to house. (It’s a short article). He has a blog called One Red Paperclip, has written a book by the same title, gave a TED talk, and there is even a cafe called the Paperclip Cottage Cafe in the town where he got the house. Isn’t it weird is that I am hearing of it for the first time almost 20 years later? Now I will check the local library to see if the book is available.

8. I actually CAN draw faces smaller than eggs; sometimes I can capture a likeness, but it is more likely I will be drawing people cousins by accident. (And I learned that I don’t charge enough.)

9. Dawn, the excellent blue dish soap, added a terrible fragrance. We kept smelling something perfumey and unpleasant, traced it to the Dawn, and then I looked online and learned that many of their customers are unhappy but they have no plans to return to “Classic Coke”. (Remember that marketing fiasco?) They will be sending me a coupon to try another variety of Dawn. Meanwhile, we will use bargain dishsoap from the local hardware store. (The memory of that horrid smell is haunting me; maybe I’ll buy Dawn again, and maybe I won’t.)

Ugh. What will we do with the nasty-smelling dishsoap in this bottle?

10. Do you like “waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption”? I’m not sure anyone does. Unfortunately, the current campaign against such things is wiping away some local jobs. Instead of using a surgical method, there is a broad sweeping arm brushing them off the map in what feels like callous and careless decisions, without regard to whether or not the jobs are wasteful, fraudulent, or an abusive and corrupt use of our tax dollars. I sure wish it was being done with more precision and care. Meanwhile, there is a rumor that the local job loss is due to the administration of our local national park not getting the budget turned in on time. I certainly hope that more will be revealed.

The most learning took place in the shortest month. . . go figure.

P.S. I also learned about Publishers Clearing House from Mike Rowe’s podcast. Fascinating story about something I have never understood.

NEWS FLASH! CLINT BLACK IS COMING TO TULARE ON JUNE 28!