February is Over

I don’t have a Learned List for you this month. I learned some things, but they don’t belong here. Instead, here is a list of things for which I am grateful in February.

  1. February remains my favorite month, because it truly is the beginning of spring around here. 
  2. We have access to some fantastic oranges, which are very fun to glean and to share.
  3. Sales of my paintings continue.
  4. Our three cats are still alive and well, 4 years for Tucker, 3 years for his nephews Jackson and Pippin.
  5. My catalytic converter hasn’t croaked.
  6. The wildflowers are terrific.
  7. We had some snow and rain.
  8. We have fantastic friends who step up during times of difficulty to help.
  9. The daffodils are steadily blooming and will continue for awhile including in places that I forgot I planted.
  10. Knitting is a great pacifier, a healthy and productive alternative to smoking. I started and finished one sweater, finished another sweater and a baby blanket, and began a new baby blanket. 

Now, let’s just enjoy some spring time in the foothills of Central California.

The poppies are barely visible below Comb Rocks but I know those are poppies and not fiddlenecks. (In case you care about such details).

Learn, Schmearn

I accidentally took black and white photos on a day full of beautiful bright natural colors. This became an opportunity to learn how to use the colorize tool on Photoshop Junior (actually Photoshop Elements).

I am not impressed. 

Let’s try it with another photo.

Better, but still nothing to get excited about.

Now I will use the tool to adjust color.

This isn’t very good either.

What did I learn? That if I mess up and accidentally take black and white photos, it is a waste of time to try to make them look natural.

How about if I just stop messing up when the pictures are important?

Good idea.

Schizophrenic Weather

Recently I have been enjoying the green, wildflowers, and daffodils, sharing them with you all.

Wednesday morning, February 23, this was how our yard looked.

I heard a radio announcer say, “The Sierra is celebrating much needed snow”. I’m unsure how a mountain range “celebrates”, but I know we are very very thankful for any and all precipitation here in Three Rivers. Probably in all of California other than the upper north end of our bizarrely diverse state.

It is too dark to photograph snow around here. It only looks great when the sun comes out, but the snow disappears almost immediately.

Trail Guy has such a soft spot for Pippin.

My flowering pear is in bloom at the same time we get snow? THIS is why I love February!

The yard doesn’t look quite as sittable as usual. I’ll just stand—thanks for asking.

Enjoying Spring

Please forgive me if you do not live in Central California, for having the gall to refer to February as “spring”.

The deer are fine as long as they are mowing the “lawn”. (This used to be a real lawn, but we stopped watering it quite a few years ago so now it is only “lawn” if we have rain.) Here’s Tucker, the narcissus smasher.

I am thankful for the rain that we have received while still enjoying the sunshine.

My Favorite Month

Life hasn’t been all bad. February is my favorite month and it is beautiful in Three Rivers. There is always something good happening on my needles. Well, maybe not always good, but every project is another example of the triumph of hope over experience. Tucker remains my favorite cat. (Sorry, Jackson and Pippin, but not very.)

We have spring flowers in our very sittable yard. Would you look at all those mailboxes, just waiting for someone to fill them with thank you notes!!

Plus, we had a little bit of rain and some snow, both highly appreciated.

 

Not Working Much

You have probably discerned that I am not working much these days. Yesterday I speculated that I might be lazy. Perhaps I am just tired. Lately life has brought some speedbumps, difficulties, interruptions, and responsibilities. Let’s just look at a few pictures and maybe a little commentary without getting too personal or bleeding in public. (No pen puke here).

Jackson feels just fine lying in the road when I am weeding on the bank above him.
These days have brought lots of trips down the hill, and the poppies are a bright spot, both literally and figuratively.
Sometimes we stop to glean oranges on the way down the hill. It is a nice break, and then we have oranges to share with people who have been helping us through a rocky segment in life.
This was the goal of all those trips down the hill. Bottom line: moving is very unpleasant, no matter if you are a mover or a movee.
Yarn helps take the edge off. A friend’s daughter requested “Tiffany Blue” for a baby blanket. I was quite relieved that she didn’t choose gray.

 

Mailbox Tour of a Sittable Yard

These are the mailboxes around my very sittable yard. When sitting, I notice things that need to be clipped, pruned, dug, or pulled. So I jump up and get tools from the nearest mailbox.

Peculiar Sights

Remember Peculiar Sights? I used to post peculiar sights as a regular feature on the blog, but somewhere along the way, I either stopped noticing or everything became normal. 

The photos from Mineral King were taken in late August and early September, obviously pre-fire; I have been waiting for awhile to gather enough peculiarities to put together a blog post.

  1. This little concrete building is the object of much speculation in Mineral King. One day someone is going to tell us what it was for and then we will know. It is up to the older generations to pass on their knowledge and up to the younger generations to keep track.

2. Yes, that is a cat. I was stunned. After I confessed to a possible Cat Disorder, the cat man graciously allowed me to take this photo. (A trailhead ranger turned them around – pets are not allowed in the National Parks on trails or in the backcountry).

3. This dog was just covering trail as if it had the right to be there. It wasn’t until I looked at my photo that I saw he was wearing socks. (Also turned back by the trailhead ranger).

4. Can you see the cat tail below the sparkly skirt? Is this peculiar, or is it the fact that this little bitty trooper walked 9.5 miles (and then wrestled with her brother and rode her bike when she got home)?

5. I don’t know what this is, which is what makes it peculiar. It is in Orange Cove, photographed in February of last year.

6. This is no longer a peculiar sight; turkeys run amuck daily in our yard (counted 36 on a march last week), but at the time, the scene struck me as something worth photographing.

7. This deer has an additional spike (look closely).

8. Excuse me??

And thus we conclude a look into some of the more strange scenes of my little world as a Central California artist.

More Peculiar Sights, here, here (9 years ago!),and  here (almost 10 years ago!!).

Lazy Listicle Two

This Central California artist has recovered her writing voice, although we (the royal “we”–ain’t no one here ‘cept me) are still waiting for an order of canvases to show up so that I can start painting poppies. Two are commissions, and the rest are just for general inventory.

  1. Poppies are in bloom and have been for a couple of weeks. It isn’t a “superbloom” or anything that will knock your socks off; the thrill is that they began blooming in January. This is helpful so that the new poppy paintings won’t look exactly like ones previously painted and sold.
  2. These chairs are made of something called “Polywood”, a long-lasting material fabricated out of recycled milk cartons. Polywood is American ingenuity combined with capitalistic sensibility, along with a bit of earth-huggery, and a good dose of practicality. (Maybe they can hire me to write ads for them.) The chairs cost a small fortune, but since we have spent several small fortunes on wooden ones that collapse, this almost feels like an investment rather than just a purchase. We have a very sittable yard.
  3. I have finally grown some food. Check out the broccoli! Too bad it is ready all at the same time.
  4. Mailboxes are situated all over our giant yard, an excellent method of storing tools. This is the latest one. Maybe someday I will give you a tour.In hindsight, I can see by these last 2 posts that I have spent a good deal of time outside in the past few weeks. We always need and want more rain, but if it isn’t here, I will just soak up some greenery and rays, and be thankful for the precipitation received in December.

Lazy Listicle One

Since I am not making art that translates well into blog posts, here is a list of random topics, unrelated to anything in particular. Lists are the lazy way to write.

  1. Three new stepping stones: they look so much better with grout than without. You can see that I acquired some yellow tiles. Want any? I have a box that is almost too heavy to lift, full of these 4×4″ pieces of ceramic sunshine.
  2. The narcissus (mini daffodils?) and/or paperwhites bloom in January around here. (I don’t know what they are officially called.)
  3. We have the sittingest yard!
  4. This will be a sweater. The yarn matches a skirt I found, which was a big thrill to this color junkie, especially since I took a chance by ordering them off the internet. They are the color of sequoia trees, which is a thrill to this simple-minded Central California artist.Tomorrow: Listicle Two.