Yesterday we looked at several juniper paintings. I like to paint this subject, because it is fairly forgiving. Who is going to say with confident knowledge, “Hey, you added a branch!”? No one, I hope. It is the overall shape of the tree that people remember, unless they were actually climbing the tree, but most people who climb the trail to White Chief need all their lung power simply for the elevation gain.
I like painting junipers.
There is a juniper tree on the trail to White Chief (Mineral King, of course) that is striking and memorable. Several people have called it their favorite tree, among them Trail Guy.
I painted it twice last summer.
Now I am painting it two more times.
It might be springlike in Three Rivers in January, but it is winter in Mineral King. Trail Guy made a day trip up there to check out the snow and the cabins. The photos look almost like black and white; I’m into green more than into white so I went walking up Salt Creek that day.
On Friday’s post I said that the only way to get a copy of The Cabins of Mineral King, by Jane Coughran and me, published by Cabinart Books in 1998, is to get lucky on eBay or on Amazon.
Then I decided to look for myself. Nothing on eBay, and this is what was on Amazon. Whoa. Here is a screen shot of the first listings:
Then I went down to the more expensive books. Check this out:
Now that is what I would call a Peculiar Sight.
I contacted the last 2 sellers on the listing to ask them if they really and truly meant to list the book for that price. I’ll let you know if I hear back. . . (and yes, I signed my name and told them I thought I did a nice job on the illustrations but their prices seemed a bit high.)
P.S.The seller called FastShip replied:
Jana, Thank-you for bringing this to my attention. We have about 70K books.
They went on with a lengthy explanation of how books are priced and how some fall through the cracks, but they didn’t say if they were planning to reprice the book.
One day last week, Trail Guy and I drove up to the Conifer Gate (the upper gate) on the Mineral King Road so he could replace the combination lock that allows cabin folks to access their cabins in the winter. That is the elevation where the black oaks are, and they can be so glowingly gorgeous with sunlight coming through.
But first, we passed the Eden Creek fire, a lightning strike across the canyon. Because the relative humidity (what?) and the moisture content of the plants are up and the some-big-word-I-only-guessed-at-and-then-forgot is down, this isn’t considered to be the big threat that the summer’s Horse Creek lightning strike fire was.
Now for some bright leaves: 
And a little tree lesson (both are little – the tree and the lesson).
Trail Guy and our friend went to Mineral King one last time. They closed the Honeymoon Cabin, which serves as a museum for the Mineral King Preservation Society, did a few final chores at our cabin, and took a walk. I stayed home and finished a pencil commission, which I cannot show you because the recipient might follow my blog. (Don’t feel sorry for me – I love to draw.)
Our friend loves going to Mineral King. (His wife is waiting for new lungs. . . sigh. . . altitude does not work for her.)
We usually choose a weekend in the middle of October to close our cabin for the season. The date is not weather based, but instead it is based on what fits our schedule, that of our neighbors, and how badly we just want to put away our duffle bags for the year and STAY HOME.
The weekend of Oct. 12-14 was our last weekend up the hill for the year. The road isn’t closed yet, and there may even still be water in the campgrounds. Silver City’s last day is October 27. The autumn colors were still present during our final stay, and the air was clear and nippy in the shade.
These photos are a little over a week old, so the colors are probably better now, unless the rain knocked all the colored leaves off the trees.
My commissioning customer/old family friend told me in our correspondence that she was interested in a pencil drawing of the gas pump at the Silver City Store. If you have seen it, you might understand. If you haven’t, you might consider this peculiar.
What I consider peculiar is that earlier this summer, while delivering some more oil paintings to this popular place near Mineral King, I was struck by a particular view and angle of the gas pump; I took some photos without having any idea that Ms. Customer would make such a request.
We discussed these photos. I referred to the peak in the distance as Hengst Peak; she told me she grew up calling it Mosquito Peak because it is above Mosquito Lakes. I thought it was over Mineral Lakes, but there is already a Mineral Peak in Mineral King (well, duh). It is the one that looks like Sawtooth’s shadow, but I digress. And I defer to her greater history in Silver City, so for purposes of this discussion, it will be Mosquito Peak. Not that we are talking about the peak–we are talking about the gas pump.
Sorry.
But then she requested a photo showing the road too, so on my next trip up the hill, I took these photos.
More discussion ensued. More clarification. This is normal. . . these things take time to figure out on my end and to decide on the customer’s end.
Finally, it was time to do some little sketches to be sure that I am understanding her wishes.
Good thing she knows that I know how to draw. We’ll see if I caught her vision for the gas pump in pencil. Stay tuned, for as you know, more will be revealed in the fullness of time.
Just heard from Ms. Customer: “Yay! Keep going!”
Friday’s post left you with a teaser. . . new book coming!
Wildflowers of Mineral King: Common Names is in progress. This has been a 2 year process of gathering photos and names. I’ve struggled through many boring white flowers and a zillion yellow ones that all look alike. I’ve gone a little nutso over blue flowers and recognized that red ones aren’t very common.
While hiking, I’ve realized that wildflowers are one of the big magnets for me. Sure, scenery is great, exercise can be fun if with friends or on a trail (I’m looking at you, Off Trail Guy) and who wouldn’t want to be outside in Mineral King? But all my choices for hiking destinations seem to be based on where the flowers are.
With a stack of about 6 wildflower books, I’ve been able to find common names for most of the wildflowers in Mineral King. Why does it take that many? Why isn’t there a wildflower book for Mineral King?
“If it is to be, it’s up to me” – I don’t know who said that, but it seems to apply here.
The book will have photos taken mostly by Off Trail Guy and me; the cover will be a fabulous photo from a fabulous photographer, one of my treasured hiking friends whose phone takes better pictures than my little Elph camera. It also might have something to do with her superior photography skills. . .
There is still a pile of work ahead on the book – more writing, editing, proofing, trying harder to find names for those unknown whites and yellows, and finally, figuring how and where to get it printed. Add into that mix the difficulties of working with Adobe InDesign on an old laptop, and there are probably 2 months between now and actual publication.
Here is a peek at an early draft of a two-page spread:
Obviously there is some editing necessary. Obviously it is not a scientific botanical manual. Obviously.
I hope this is a helpful and fun book for people who hike in Mineral King and love wildflowers, with inquiring minds that just need to know.