Photography | Cabin Art

Can’t Let Go of Spring

Spring happened early in Three Rivers this year. It also seems to be ending early. It is hard to comprehend that Farewell To Spring began blooming around the lake at the end of March, when normally they don’t appear until the end of April or beginning of May.

You may have noticed that I am a little obsessed with the flowers growing in the wild and the ones blooming in my yard. By the time this post is appearing, all of these will be toast.

On the front porch; I think these are called Queen’s Tears.

Early early early for the climbing roses—normally they appear at the end of April.

A last hurrah for these iris. . . I think I’ll plant even more next fall. (Greedy? yeah, maybe)

In the orange grove of a friend, where we like to glean oranges, particularly when they are in bloom. Citrus is unusual in the plant world in that the blossoms and the fruit can be present at the same time (depending on when the fruit is picked.)

Around the time that the rest of the wildflowers and the green fade, I can always count on finding these penstemon on a regular walk in the neighborhood.

Fading fast. . . sigh.

This one would make a nice painting, and if I substituted poppies for the common madia, it might even sell.

The fiesta flower takes some of the pain out of spring’s end.

Okay, I’m tryna be brave here. ‘Posed to be working. Imma get something done besides obsess about flowers.

Maybe. Maybe I’ll stop speaking slang and straighten up and fly right now that spring’s distraction is ending.

Three Rivers

Morning Walk in Three Rivers

This was on March 26, so things already don’t look like this. Spring goes too fast, particularly when we get early days of heat.

And look at my yard when almost everything bloomed at the same time because of the early heat.

Spring will end soon, and I will remember that this blog is supposed to be supporting my art business, not just a place to gloat about being able to live in Three Rivers in the springtime.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Even More Spring in Three Rivers

Okay, it’s just pictures of spring in my yard. And I took these photos 2 weeks ago. Just hanging on to every last drop.

Herb Garden first. Why do I have an herb garden? Because when we first moved to Three Rivers, I was desperately looking for anything the deer wouldn’t eat. Eventually I cobbled a series of fences together to protect this little area, but the soil is poor, and it gets zero sun in the winter while baking in the summer. So, herbs mostly work.

Now let’s return to the most beautiful part of the yard. Yeppers, you’ve seen this before, but more are open now and the light changes too.

I’ll pull myself together soon, think of something to write about, focus on the work ahead. Thanks for hanging with me.

Three Rivers

More Spring in Three Rivers

Yes, some repetition here. This little segment of the yard is stunning, and I try to look at it different times of the day, every single day.

Enjoying our seasonal “lawn”, which is mowed weeds, irrigated by rain.

Lilac!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, K.C.!

Three Rivers

Loving Spring in Three Rivers

Let’s just enjoy some photos. Or how about you enjoy them while I recover from the book project, Springville’s Hospital.

And then, I headed to church to work on Phase II of the landscaping project begun a couple of years ago.

Forty new plants, all native to this area, with little buckets to indicate where to put the drip irrigation! I had help choosing, help raking the wood chips, help planting, and help putting in the irrigation. Prolly won’t have much help weeding.

Mid-day Walk in Three Rivers

Was it mid-day? or mid-morning? Dunno. Nobody cares. Let’s have some photos.

Oops, these are from the early morning walk.

Look how much the tulip opened in the 1/2 hour we were on the walk!

This is Ray Hartman ceanothus, maybe the best one I’ve seen. There are several in the neighborhood.

I like this mural, but the Ivanhoe library mural remains my favorite.

Comb Rocks in the distance.

I shook this blooming tree branch to see if my inferior phone camera could catch the pollen blowing around. This is a Chinese pistache tree, the kind that self-sows and looks brilliant in the fall.

The rest of these photos were at home. It was so beautiful out that I lollygagged around, taking photos, procrastinating about diving into that indoor editing job.

My life is mellow, everything near home, just the way I like it. Except for that nagging book deadline. Self-imposed, but still urgent. Back to work!

UPDATE: The book is now finished. . . I wrote today’s post a week ago.

Field Trip

A dear friend had a birthday and expressed a desire to see my Ivanhoe library mural. I thought we’d just have a little tour, ending with lunch at Super Taco in Woodlake. We barely made the trip before all the green went away. This happens when it gets hot in March. Tryna not be greedy, because we have had several long cool springs in the last handful of years. But we do NOT like it when it is hot, there is no rain, and the grasses and flowers shrivel too soon.

Sorry. Didn’t mean to complain.

First we drove around the country roads, and I showed her the two places where I grew up, along with Twin Buttes, and a different angle of Venice Hills than she is accustomed to. The orange blossoms were divine.

Then we headed to Ivanhoe proper. Not much to see there except for the library. I felt doggone proud of this mural; it is currently my favorite. Am I allowed to say that? Oh yeah, that’s right, it’s my blog.

This is a map showing the way to the Lone Oak Cemetery. I visited it in first grade, because my best friend Kelly lived next to it. I tried to find it again when I was working on the mural, but felt weird driving down someone’s driveway. With my friend in her 2007 white Mustang convertible, I didn’t feel as weird about the sense of trespassing.

Kelly’s house is gone and there is a big one in its place, and we just headed down the driveway as if we had an invitation. Boom! It was exactly right there!

The sign is a lie. The cemetery isn’t maintained. It is in sorry shape.

Here is the lone oak. Must be a good source of underground water, because the oak is a Valley Oak, a quercus lobata, and there is also an enormous cottonwood tree (those leaves at the top of the photo.)

What is this bizarro stuff? Chiseled headstones without any words, and tangerine trees in the background with the nets to prevent cross-pollination.

The wall was weird. I wonder if it was made from the stuff from when Kelly’s house got torn down. See the wind machine in the distance?

The highlight for me was seeing the poppies in bloom. When Kelly and I were poking around in the first grade, I picked a few poppies and she told me I was going to jail because it is against the law to pick poppies (the state flower) in California.

I didn’t go to jail or even get in trouble by any grownups, and the poppies have survived for 60 years despite my accidental vandalism.

We also circled around the backside of Venice Hills, and had some fantastic tacos for lunch before heading back home. I had a lot of book work to do. Gonna get it done, yeppers, I am!

Ivanhoe

Morning Walk in Three Rivers

Before the sun hit the ridge across the canyon.

Same flowers, after the sun hit the hills across the canyon.

Comb Rocks.

Now, back to book editing, photo editing, photo captioning and placing, and book formatting.

Three Rivers

How Fast?

Walking Partner and I noticed something different a week or two ago here in Three Rivers: new speed limit signs on a private road.

This is one post. 15 mph heading upstream, 5 mph heading downstream. (This is along the river—could you guess that?)

Here’s another one: This time it was 15 mph going downstream and 5 mph going upstream.

And here is another on the same road: 5 mph both upstream and downstream, but this time there is an explanation for those heading up. “Slow blind curve ahead” could apply to the bulk of the road.

And at this intersection, it is 15 mph regardless of the direction you head.

Never mind. Let’s look at some wildflowers along the walk.

This is the kind of sign I’m used to. Custom. Interesting enough to perhaps cause someone to notice.

Walking Partner and I walk about 3.5 mph, in case you were wondering. We used to walk 4 mph, but we’ve never been this old before.

(Neither has my friend GE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GE!!)

Three Rivers wildflowers

Tempted Away From Painting

On a fabulously springlike day in February, Trail Guy tempted me away from painting: easy to do when there are wildflowers and it isn’t hot and I don’t have a tight deadline.

First, I noticed all the chemtrails. Yeah, yeah, I know, “contrails”, but I still think there are way more than we have passenger jets above. The general direction is usually south to north, or west to east. I believe something secretive and possibly nefarious is taking place. Yes, I am susceptible to conspiracy theories; often the distance between one of those theories and reality is about 6 months.

We drove down toward Kaweah Lake, parked at the upper end of the Slick Rock area and then meandered upstream along the river, with a wee bit of accidental trespassing behind the Lazy J Motel.

A great redbud in the parking lot!