8 Benefits to “Sheltering in Place” or Chin up, Readers

“Chin up” is a weird little saying, but it reminds me of my Very Wise Dad telling his “little ewe lambs” to be “brave little soldiers”. 

Please forgive me for interrupting you on Sunday. I hope to not do this again, but will if I think of something encouraging to share again.

There is lots of common sense to staying home, obsessive hand-washing, and “social distancing” for awhile. Here are eight potential benefits (besides the obvious one of slowing this Thing):

  1. Fewer colds and flu will be passed around.
  2. Time at home is always good.
  3. You will use less gas and not put many miles on your car.
  4. We will learn what everyone’s true hair color is.
  5. We are all thinking a bit more about people we care about and checking in with them more often. (Maybe not “all”, but more than normal.)
  6. We are getting the chance to be more resourceful and creative with our time and supplies. 
  7. We get to learn new technology in order to “attend” our regular meetings. 
  8. Take a walk, people, this is MARCH!! (I know, not everyone gets to live in Three Rivers, but Spring is beautiful everywhere.)

P.S. We bought ice cream.

Bonus and Random

Hi on a Saturday, Blog Readers. I’m wondering if you are stuck at home, or “sheltering at home” or “self isolating”, or “in quarantine” or “sequestered”. If so, maybe you need something fun to read today.

I’m having a few thoughts about the current state of events.

  1. Dave Ramsey said, “The fear is more contagious than the virus”.
  2. If you are bored staying home, watch the stock market – it’s pretty exciting.
  3. No bread in stores? I guess the virus is causing people to forget to worry about gluten.
  4. Such weird hoarding. In response to that, here are funny pictures that two separate friends sent to me. I don’t know the origins so cannot credit anyone.

And, just because this is a beautiful time of year AND WE GOT RAIN AND SNOW, here is another photo for you. (Excuse me for shouting – precipitation is very exciting!)

My final thought is a question to ask when something unpleasant takes place in life: What does this make possible?

I’d love to hear your answers.

Mooney Grove Tour I

This is a virtual tour. Enjoy it from the comfort of your easy chair. No viruses to be spread this way.

Mooney Grove Park is 100 acres of about 50 types of trees. The Valley Oaks (quercus lobata) make up about half of the tree population. The land was sold to Tulare County in 1909, with the agreement that only dead or dying Valley Oaks could be removed. Meanwhile, many new trees have been planted, a few of which I recognized, some that I learned about, some that surprised me, and all of which contributed to the specialness of this interesting and beautiful place.

It helped that I was working there during March, my second most favorite month. The grounds were green and many trees were in bloom.

Stop talking, Central Calif. artist, because we want to see some photos.

Okay. Photos. No more talk. Just pictures of a beautiful park in spring.

Any questions? To be continued Monday.

Short Mural Break

Two workdays per week are already scheduled to the point that working on the mural at Mooney Grove cannot happen.

One of those days involved taking a walk around a park in Exeter. It was a little bit boring (I am ruined by Mooney Grove for big empty-ish grassy lots masquerading as parks). To keep my interest, I listened to a fabulous interview on Donald Miller’s Storybrand podcast.

I also photographed wildflowers in the lawn, along with other items (non-volunteer) of natural color. These are weeds within a lawn but it doesn’t really matter. They get watered and mowed, and they add green to the landscape. This appears to be a squirrel and gopher-free park, so the grass is quite well-maintained.

First, the “weeds”:

Now, the planted colors:

And one weird little imposter: I thought this might be an aberrant red leaf even though there were several. When I enlarged the photo, I saw it is a piece of woven fabric, such as a petal to a silk rose. Ha ha, fooled me. A peculiar sight indeed!

Later that day during drawing lessons, we had an event worth sharing: a student finished a drawing and signed it! Way to go, Jane!

A Day of Variety

Sometimes it is a little hard to work from home. There are many other things requesting attention, opportunities to be productive in other ways, chances to just lollygag around or find other occupations. Last week I had such a day.

It began with wandering outside while drinking coffee and seeing a bit of pruning, and then finding Tucker in my herb garden.

See why I want to be outside this time of year?

Notice that these flowers are in the primary colors.

Next, I made plans with a friend for a walk at the lake early in the afternoon, and that made me willing to dive back into work, knowing my time was limited to paint. Sometimes deadlines help me to focus.

This was dry enough to begin detailing until it was time to gather up my friend and head to Kaweah Lake. (Oh-oh, I can’t remember if it is Kaweah Lake or Lake Kaweah again; what’s with the mental block on this subject? This may be why we’ve always called it “The Lake”.) We just walked in the lake bottom, not close to the lake except where it covered the pretty bridge.

The lake level is rising slowly. We walked to beneath the Horse Creek Bridge, and the mustard was striking.

After our walk,  I was able to paint a bit longer on the Mineral King cabin oil painting commission. I think I can get even more detailed on this, but it needs to dry a bit more.

And thus we conclude a day of work combined with distractions.

7 Things I Learned in February

  1. A Life Less Throwaway by Tara Button is a good book which encourages the reader to own less with lots of how-to tips. The main idea is that if we own high quality lasting goods, we go through less items, waste less, and have simpler lives. (The author probably cares more about the planet than our individual improvement, but it is good anyway.) I’ve thought this way for years, which is why I am still carrying the Coach purse that I bought in the mid 1990s. Tara Button wasn’t born yet. 
  2. Oval pre-stretched canvas is available, but I cannot show you the project until April because of the top secret nature of the job. Just another odd job, full of its own special challenges.
  3. It takes 6 weeks of exercising to actually build muscle; if an exercise gets easier before the 6 weeks, it is simply muscle memory. I learned this from Vance Physical Therapy, a place in Exeter with a terrific physical therapist named Josh Vance. 
  4. Did you know that old fire hoses make durable and beautiful purses and tote bags? I learned this in the book I read and was so curious that I looked them up. Elvis and Kresse Reclaimed fire hose (I’m not in the market – my purse from the last century is still just fine, thanks.)
  5.  Second date update podcast – Listening to this podcast is similar to wanting to gawk at wrecks along the road. It is horrifying and fascinating and will make you both shudder and laugh. Most of the troubles could be avoided by simply not drinking. . . are these people stupid? The rest of the troubles could be avoided by telling the truth. 
  6. Coffee beans cost less at Trader Joe’s than at Winco. TJ’s is .37/ounce; Winco is .43/oz. Too bad there are no TJ’s in Tulare County. No amount of petitioning can convince them that we are a good location.
  7. Acorn woodpeckers are what we have around here. I didn’t know their specific name until I painted one in the mural completed in February at St. Anthony’s Retreat in Three Rivers.

Central Calif. Artist in Sandy Eggo

After the family wedding on the Queen Mary, I headed down to Sandy Eggo. San Diego. (When I lived there during college, I saw an occasional bumper sticker that read, “I go to Sandy Eggo State University”.)

First, a stop at my mural. I didn’t paint it, but it seems that someone must have painted it for me.

My sister and I love to walk through neighborhoods. Look at the name of this one:

I saw a business there called “Abnormal” something-or-other. 

We walked several miles looking at houses and yards. Because it costs so much to live there, even the most modest homes are very well maintained, landscaped, and just doggone cute. I really love the attention to detail, especially in tile work.

This corner with all sorts of blue treasures in the dirt grabbed me. I am used to looking for treasures, an occasional blue sparkly something to take home. But these clearly belonged at this address. (Why would someone sprinkle blue sparkly things in his yard this way??)
We found a monastery. A real monastery! It is so very beautiful, a large piece of property with gardens galore, high walls and hedges to keep the mystery in and the gawkers out. (Tulare County could use some nice architecture like this.) 

There were several Little Free Libraries, but this was the first one I’ve seen with succulents growing on the roof.

This citrus tree had 5 varieties budded onto it. I think this type of tree is called “tutti-fruiti”.

So much variety in the plant life. This upside-down morning glory is on a shrub.

Then, we went to the beach. Of course we went to the beach – we were in Sandy Eggo!! We Central California natives are always happy to walk along the Pacific Ocean.

Monday will be the post about things I learned in February, and then I hope to return to our regularly scheduled broadcast on Tuesday. 

This means I will stop diverting your attention away from my art and get back to the business of being your Central California artist.

The Queen Mary

Yesterday I promised photos of the Queen Mary, a beautiful ship docked in the Long Beach, California harbor. One of my dearest cousins got married on this fantastic boat last weekend. I’ll keep the family photos private, but am happy to share with you some of the photos of the ship.

My first view – wow.

I went early so I could wander around and take in the sights.

The day had rain, clouds, sunshine, and rainbows.

Tomorrow I’ll show you where I went next.

Pippin

I’ve heard a few blog readers express their appreciation for glimpses of our cats. We currently have three, down from seven last spring when Scout, now deceased, gave birth to five babies, 2 of which found safe homes, and one which disappeared.

Trail Guy and I are doing our best to protect our herd. There is a strict curfew each night, and we herd them into the outbuildings where they are imprisoned during the darkness for their own safety and our peace of mind.

However, we have lost plenty of cats during daylight hours, so we are wary, leery, cautiously optimistic, and possibly slightly weird about those who remain.

Of these three, Pippin is the friendliest and the most photogenic, possibly the most loveable. (With apologies to Tucker and Jackson, but you two could try to show up more often and be friendlier, you know!)

Trail Guy took all of today’s photos. Is it possible that he is more Cat Disordered than I am??

Road Trip, Part Five

After Sidewinder Canyon in Death Valley, we took the long drive to Dante’s View. Dante was an Italian poet in the 1200s who wrote something called “The Inferno”, an appropriate sort of name for anything associated with Death Valley. Many places there refer to death and other unpleasant sorts of things, which is fitting when one considers that most things in the desert are designed to stab, kill, or poison the visitor. And almost everything in Death Valley National Park is a long drive.

I found a very pretty rock, but experience tells me that rocks turn meh when they get home, so it was a Leverite – “Leave ‘er right where you found ‘er”.

After Dante’s View, our hostess/tour guide/dear friend showed us a magical place, appropriately called The Inn at Death Valley. It was opened in 1927, and it was truly beautiful.

There was a burned out building that got turned into a beautiful garden, ponds surrounded by palms, stone steps and paths, classic architecture, and a mysterious palm orchard, for which I can find no explanation. These aren’t date palms. 

I have questions. Always.

And maybe you have a question for me. Ask away!

Okay, just two more photos.

And thus we conclude another road trip with the Central California artist, with the hopes that some seed of new creativity lodged in her inquiring mind.