Day Seventeen On The Mural

Each day on this mural my energy fades around 12:30 or 1. Sometimes it even weakens just before noon, but I think that is fear of the noon siren/whistle, which can just flatten a person standing in my alley. I’m always grateful when I happen to be standing on the ground with both hands free to slam over my ears when it goes. (Hard to predict, because today my phone said 12:04 when it went.) Today, I was getting acquainted with a man who has had a remarkable life so far, and he talked me through that low-energy time of day (with a momentary pause while we both stood with our hands over our ears.) If you are reading this, CK, thank you! In order to stay productive for the fullest amount of time, I moved to the east end of the wall and sat on the ground to work on that bottom strip under the mural. It wasn’t cool down there, but it was certainly cooler than the higher places or the west end. Good technique – if I were my boss, I’d give me a bonus for such ingenuity! Oh. I am my boss. I’ll have to look into that!

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Look! Lois and Markita are at Franklin Lake, and they aren’t even tired! Wait, they haven’t ever been to Mineral King. . . hmmm, how could this be??

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Would you believe that the last quarter of the dam inset took the bulk of the day?? I was disgusted with myself for an inability to paint little men correctly. Never mind that they look like miniature blobs in the photo – I am a professional! However, my business is called cabinart, not “Little Man Painter”. You should have seen my astonishing speed and accuracy in rendering the little Mt. Whitney Power Company cabin – perhaps another bonus is in order.

Sharing Mineral King

If you have been a follower of this blog for 2 years, you may have read of my good friend S. (Did some painting in her dining room, and called her when I had a huge rattler that I was too weenie to deal with). We made arrangements for S and her 2 daughters to spend a few days with us in Mineral King. (Don’t worry about Mr. S – he was fishing in Alaska!) Wow, I sometimes forget how fun it is to see a newcomer’s excitement! S has been up before, but her daughters were in a state of high enthusiasm for the place. We first visited a waterfall that has a mining tunnel at the base:

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The maps call it “Black Wolf” – we call it “Monarch”. Unless you have followed the somewhat sketchy trail to its base, you probably won’t recognize it from this angle.

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It was creepy, slimy, dark, wet and cold in the tunnel. Doesn’t that sound inviting? 😎

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Saw a wild rose, which isn’t all that common in Mineral King!

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We barbecued pizza for dinner and enjoyed it around a warming fire. It is so shocking to want a fire when it is 100+ degrees down the hill!

Day Thirteen on the Mural

This is the before and after of today’s painting session:

 

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Doesn’t look as if there is a great deal of real estate to be covered here. Looks can fool you! Because each photo was taken from a different vantage point, I keep getting confused as to which level of rocks, individual rocks, trees and shrubs are coming from which photo!

 

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My back sort of hurts from shoving that boulder over. It is a weird shape now, but my photo has it cut off. I’ll work on a more believable redesign tomorrow, along with finishing all that white space and getting the trail to turn to the left.

Warming Up for The Mural

The paint and supplies had to be gathered to begin painting the new mural. As I was going through them, an overwhelming desire to begin came over me. Since it was afternoon and too hot at the mural site and besides, it was Sunday, and Exeter is 25 miles away, what was I supposed to do?? Paint another mural at home, that’s what!

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This is the Eagle/Mosquito trailhead in Mineral King as it looks in August.