Autumn in Three Rivers, 2

This post is the beginning of a week of Fall photos. Last Wednesday’s photos were taken before the color peaked. Some of today’s photos will be an updated version of last week’s. (Hi, Leaf-Peeper from Kentucky!)

P.S. The  Senior League Holiday Bazaar was well attended and very enjoyable. Here are 3 photos of it.( Thanks for asking.)

Notice the 4×6 paintings on easels on the little footstool. FINALLY finished them. Also, there are fewer 6×6 paintings than the previous week’s show.

The Memorial Building is ugly, weird and cold, but oh my, the landscaping and views!

This photo was taken OUT THE WINDOW from my booth!

My Wild Life

Living in a small rural community in a small rural county gets a little exciting at times. It isn’t as though I battle wildfires (please, God, spare us that), and there have been no rattlesnakes this season.

But, sometimes it rains very very hard. This was about 2 weeks ago:

My wipers were on the highest speed, the defroster fan was on the highest speed, and I finally gave up trying to see and pulled over for a bit.

Then, there is the wildlife. This was on the way down the hill to teach drawing lessons:

There are about 2 dozen in this herd. Herd? Flock? Flock! Wild turkeys are funny, unless they are sitting on one’s car inside the garage or flapping at you as you try to walk past. Gobbling sometimes gets them a little worked up. (It’s not something you want to try if there are normal people within earshot.)

And the deer are plentiful. Cute, but not when they eat my geraniums (technically pelargoniums) and I don’t really like them hanging out on my front porch eating catfood either! But, it is very neat-o to see them in the yard. (Yes, I said “neat-o”!)

Superlatives!

Tulare County is a place of superlatives. Sadly, we rank highest in the nation in being fat, uneducated, diabetic, poor; we make more teenage moms, have terrible unemployment and the dirtiest air. Ready to run away screaming yet? I don’t know all the specific statistics, only that we are either the “best” at those terrible things or close to it.

That’s the bad news. Perhaps it isn’t all that bad if it prevents our population from booming like that of Orange County, but that is a stretch of “glass half full” thinking.

The good news is that we have the largest trees (Sequoia Gigantea), the oldest trees (valley oaks), highest point (Mt. Whitney), smallest operating Post Office (don’t worry, we have normal sized ones too!), produce more dairy than Wisconsin,  we produce prodigious amounts of citrus and we feed the world. No kidding! Tulare County, my home.

Sunny Sequoias IXX, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $75

Worth It!, oil, sold

Sold (yes, I know this isn’t a Valley Oak, but I haven’t painted one of those yet!)

Kaweah Post Office, sold, another one on the easel, stay tuned!

Oranges 83 – 11×14 on canvas in black wooden frame, $250

Daily Painting 13

Hidden Gardens 2, 8×8″, $75

Historic adobe house, lavender farm, fabulous garden, and a view of the fake Comb Rocks. The real Comb Rocks is out the the frame to the left. (It’s a Three Rivers thing, with apologies to those of you who are wondering what I’m going on about.) The number of available views to paint from that one location would seriously cut into my gardening time if I lived there! I do a great deal of gawking while I walk past that particular location.

Daily Painting 12

Hidden Gardens 5, 10×8″, $90

Well, why not? We were on the subject of flowers this week and I haven’t shown you all the Hidden Gardens Tour paintings yet. This is one of the 3 remaining in my possession. I’m thinking about putting them for auction on eBay, seeing if I can raise a little cash for Three Rivers Union School. Just thinking about it.  The Hidden Gardens Tour was very successful in raising cash for our little one school school district. It is a rare community that has a K-8th grade school, and ours is very important to the entire town. Hmmm, might be talking myself into it. More will be revealed. . .

Images of Home

The show continues at the Tulare Historical Museum. The address is 444 W. Tulare Street and the phone # is 559-686-2074. When the curator and I were discussing titles, one of my suggestions was “It Ain’t All Smog and Welfare”. She-Of-Good-Sense laughed out loud and then rejected that idea. Glad she has a sense of humor along with common sense! Here are more visions of Tulare County’s better parts in case you haven’t made it to the show (this is for you, Cousin Maggie!)

Mosquito Lake Trail, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $350

This trail is in Mineral King. In case you are wondering, it is the same trail as Eagle Lake Trail, just a little different view. The trail splits to two different destinations about 2 miles from the trail head.

North Fork of the Kaweah, oil on wrapped canvas, 11×14″, $175

This is in Three Rivers at the Sequoia RV Ranch Campground.