Walking in Three Rivers in Autumn

Another set of days without the internet sent us on a walk in the middle of the day. When virtual life isn’t accessible, try real life.

The star of autumn in Three Rivers is the Chinese pistache tree.

Excuse me? This is indeed a peculiar sight.

The Remoria*l Building has tremendous Chinese pistache trees.

This is the largest flowering pear tree I know of. It is the first to bloom (usually mid February) and the last to turn in the fall. There are a couple of tiny hints of red near where the big cable emerges on the right.

Rumor has it that this former playground for children will become a playground for grown-ups. (You can’t see in this photo, but the sparkly thing I hung on the gate last week is still present.)

I commented to Trail Guy that the abundance of acorns is rather remarkable this year. He said, “Oh yeah? You ought to look behind our work shop!”

So, I did.

We hear them hitting the metal roof and rolling down at night.

Finally, here is the largest buckeye tree I know of. It turned bronze in late June, or maybe early July. These native trees run on a different schedule.

Simply Home

Red Barn, Big Oak, 16×20″, $650

*Remorial is how our neighbor taught us to say “Memorial” when she was 9.

Walking in Three Rivers

Walking isn’t as easy as it used to be. I walk shorter distances more slowly than I used to, wearing Crocs instead of these shoes, which I now have listed on eBay.

Until the time change, my friend and I walked in the dark. Sometimes it felt adventuresome, as if we were getting away with something. On the days when her schedule isn’t tight, we still go 4-5 miles, although that’s nothing compared to when we trained together for a 1/2-marathon. Still, we are happy that we can walk and can do so in places without traffic, traffic lights, or sidewalks.

In the predawn light
During daylight hours
In the predawn light
During daylight hours

One day recently, Trail Guy and I poked along our street where he pointed out a peculiar sight on our neighbor’s lot.

Not real, mighty peculiar, and completely without an explanation.

I found a small sparkly on the ground, which I ended up securing to the fence of the former day care at the Presbyterian Church.

While admiring the view from the Catholic church, I wondered what the bright red was in the distance. It most likely is a truly spectacularly bright tree. We weren’t so fortunate when we chose our own Chinese Pistache trees, nor when they created volunteers on our lot.

I’ve always admired this barn across the highway, and being November, I also admired some red trees in the distance.

Walking more slowly and going shorter distances does increase one’s awareness of the surroundings. That is a good trait for an artist to cultivate.

P.S. Yeppers, two churches in our neighborhood, neither one “ours”.

SIMPLY HOME

Walnut Orchard, 10×10″, $200

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

Tuesday, November 12, 6:30-7:30, I will give a demo/talk called How To Draw at CACHE. It is full.

Learned in October

  1. While at the plein air retreat, one morning I sat at Eric Rhoads’ table. He told us of a science experiment where 2 identical plants were watered with different water: one with tap water and the other with microwaved water (cooled down first). Within a week or two, the microwave-watered plant died. DIED!! For the umpteenth time, I am so glad I don’t own a microwave.
  2. OBVIOUSLY, I learned a ton about plein air painting. But since most of my readers are non-artists, I won’t bore you with those things. . .
  3. . . .except for one thing about painting: I learned that I do much better when painting plein air alone. No one was critical, no one was rushing me, but when it was just me, alone with my own transportation and own schedule, I enjoyed the process more.
  4. I learned that French easels are the cheap-o version of a mobile easel for brand new painters who don’t know diddly-squat about what they need. Occasionally an experienced painter will use one; fortunately I discovered one of those guys to give my easel to instead of seeking a trash can big enough to accommodate the thing.
  5. Apple sells a thing called an AirTag that you attach to stuff that you tend to lose, and then when you have lost the thing, it beeps or something. Maybe it gives you an address where it was last seen. Pretty clever, but I would look funny with it hanging off my reading glasses.
  6. My favorite blog, The Frugal Girl, recently featured me in a Meet a Reader post. The Frugal Girl is the only place besides my own blog where I am active online. Took me a few years to consent to participate in the meet-a-reader, so I had a lot of time to decide what to include and what to omit. It was fun to interact with everyone who commented.
  7. A friend and former neighbor sent me a link to an article about Three Rivers: msn (whatever that is). It seems to have been written by someone who hasn’t been to our town in about 30 years.

Simply Home

Behind Wutchumna, oil on wrapped canvas, 18×36″, $1500

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

ONE MORE THING: Tuesday, November 12, 6:30-7:30, I will give a demo/talk called How To Draw at CACHE. Contact me if you are interested, because seating is limited.

Learned in September

Because I ran off to Fall Color Week on September 29 – October 6, there was no Learned in September list. After spending an intensive week learning about plein air painting, I couldn’t remember a thing about September. Fortunately, I had already started a list.

September

  1. If you schedule a meeting with someone, perhaps someone at a company to help one choose the best Medicare plan, it is assumed you will be using a cell phone. If you give a landline number because perhaps your cell service is spotty, they will be perplexed as how to help you. It certainly would be helpful if such businesses would say that a cell phone is necessary before one goes to all the trouble to schedule an appointment. (The meeting got cancelled before I learned how the landline would be handled.)
  2. There is a method of healthy* eating called Zoe, a way to learn how to eat for your optimal “gut health, blood sugar, and blood fat”. The website has all sorts of information except it doesn’t tell the price. Nope, you have to “start the quiz” first in order to “choose your plan”. Does that make anyone else nervous? *Who even knows what “healthy” means anymore??
  3. There is too much in the world right now: too many websites, too many opinions, too many podcasts, too many books to read, too much art to see, too many friends to stay current with, too many patterns to knit, too many yarns to try. I cannot keep up, and don’t want to. FOMO is real, but I will NOT cave in to it. (This is not new information, but I feel it strongly right now.)
  4. I read this quote on a site called The Boring Newsletter—Frequently Taxed Questions: “Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to a job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.” -Ellen Goodman. I don’t know who Ellen Goodman is, but she is right and I am very thankful to be abnormal.
  5. Boring Warning — if you ever need to remove hidden tags on a Word document, there is no way to do them all at once if you have a Mac. Why would anyone need to remove hidden tags? Because Word’s indexing is in combat with Adobe InDesign’s book formatting. They hate each other. They might both hate Mac too. It’s a rough world out there in Puterville.
  6. Mineral King Country, a book by Henry Brown published in 1988, finally landed in my life. I was aware of it but didn’t have a copy. I recently acquired one (thank you, DJ) and read the foreword, preface, and introduction. This book covers Mineral King history between the mining era and the Disney days.
  7. Cerakote cleans foggy car headlights in 3 steps. It is wonderful stuff! Costs about $17 if you are interested. My friend found it at WalMart and I found more on the big A, of course.

A few repeat photos of Mineral King in September

Simply Home

The Best View, oil on wrapped canvas, 10×20″, $450

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

ONE MORE THING: Tuesday, November 12, 6:30-7:30, I will give a demo/talk called How To Draw at CACHE. Contact me if you are interested, because seating is limited.

Final Weekend of the 2024 Mineral King Season

Business first

First, an ad. I hope to see you all (my tens of readers) on Saturday!

Mineral King

Many people enjoy Mineral King in summer; fewer make it there in the fall, and a very few make it up in the winter (for many good reasons, beginning with the locked gates). I think of it as a summer place, and with this year’s extended heat, the season seemed lengthy. The added time was a gift, because we thought it was toast with that stupid Coffeepot fire.

Lots of photos for you to enjoy today. . .

Pink stuff from the fire, severe pruning, and a few smokes.
Crews are still working, and there are many many dropped trees.
We got mail! (Thank you T & L P)
The water is low; the colors are fading.

I went out with my dying camera battery to capture a few photos in the sunshine.

It was good to see that work has gotten done on several cabins in spite of the rude interruption of the stupid Coffeepot fire.

3 new roofs are in this photo… prolly too small to pick out here.

The next day began overcast. We went for a walk past Crystal Creek to see if we could discover any fall color. Nothing to see. Hiking Buddy and I went out a bit later, thinking it might be our only chance. However, the sun came out later, so we went back out. Look at the difference the sun makes! (And please excuses the dark spots from Trail Guy’s camera, which I borrowed due to forgetfulness on my part to bring the backup battery.)

While hanging out with my little friend, I showed her something peculiar.

That was there all weekend and no one knows why. So, we added a pair of found sunglasses. We are easily amused at our cabins, always finding something fun to do.

There is such a nostalgic feeling to the season’s final stay at our cabins. Although we see our neighbors throughout the year because we are real life friends, closing is a bit melancholy.

While we made one final stop at the community dumpster (managed by Trail Guy, the all-purpose mayor), I took the borrowed camera for one final look at some fall color. Turned out to be more fall light than actual autumn-type colors.

And finally, it is a huge relief that the temporary bridge allowed us to come and go all season.

I never did figure out the necessity of this sign. The word “temporary” made me want to drive much faster than 5 mph.

Plein Air Painting in Monterey: Friends

As we spent time painting or at meals or meetings, we gradually got to know one another and learn names, although there was a lot of name-tag reading all week long. I met John Lynch of Toronto on the first day, so his name got cemented into my overloaded memory.

John spent several mornings working on the same painting. The last morning, I almost shouted, “YOU NAILED IT!”, but I managed to keep my voice down, and he graciously talked to me about the importance of plein air painting. I wish I had recorded his wisdom.

John Lynch’s morning painting. I think this is his website, but I am not sure because he isn’t wearing the Fall Color Week hat in the photo here. He was very skilled, kind, and knowledgeable.

Liesel, my Roomie, cranked this out in one manic session. It sold immediately, and she will be making prints. Here is her website: Liesel Lund Fine Art She is a terrific painter who approaches art entirely differently from me, absolutely committed to making “joyful impressionist” work, which fits with her joyful personality. This is my favorite of her paintings, and although I hinted outright, she didn’t turn it into a roommate gift. (We are exchanging calendars of our work for 2025.)

Eric Rhoads, our fearless leader, is possibly the highest energy, most positive can-do (and does it all) man I’ve ever met. He is the publisher of Plein Air and Fine Art Connoisseur magazines, a producer of how-to painting videos, author of an art business book (out of print), organizer of plein air expos and retreats, and those are only the things that I remember off the top of my head.

Eric was Our Mighty Enthusiastic Fearless Leader and Charlotte became my hero by saving my week with the loan of her extra pochade box.

I met another Jana, whose last name I never learned. She noticed my name tag and introduced herself on Day 5. We were just tickled to run into someone else with the same not-so-usual name, but I never saw her again. Her husband was there to film an instructional video for Streamline Publishing, and I only got his first name of “Frank”.

This is me with Roomie on the last day when we were so happy to have been together for a week.

Simply Home

And one more reminder of Saturday’s show opening:

Back to Mineral King: Two Gentle Walks

Along the Nature Trail

The recreation restrictions were lifted, so Hiking Buddy and I took a stroll down the Nature Trail, where some fall colors were beginning to show (this was last weekend).

Up to Crystal Creek

We also took a walk across the bridge (oh my, how my walks have shrunk this year), past the pack station, and up to the much diminished Crystal Creek.

Heading Home

Driving home, we were stopped around the Conifer Gate because there were lots of tree-fallers at work. The 3-man crew on road closure duty was from Tennessee, and it was delightful to talk to them.

The next crew on the lower end of the tree-falling segment was from Montana, also delightful.

We made sure to tell all of these guys to be sure to drive to the end of the road, and also to have lunch at the Silver City Store.

So, after a three week interruption, we return to the normally peaceful and beautiful fall season in Mineral King.

But not me. I’m heading to Monterey for a week-long plein air painting retreat. I will be reporting on this radical new adventuresome opportunity next week. These are photos I took in 2009 when a friend and I went snooping around Asilomar, a fabulous conference grounds with buildings designed by Julia Morgan.

Back to Mineral King: This and That

The parking lot was empty on Saturday morning, because the restrictions on the road and on recreation weren’t officially lifted until 10 a.m. Most people didn’t learn of the restriction removal until the end of the day on Friday. This doesn’t really make it easy for people to plan for the weekend, but the Park is in charge, and we are not.

It was so nice to see Timber Gap again.

This cabin might actually be repaired before winter.

The wood was a regular sight; many trees were dropped and bucked up along the road, due to a contracted tree removal crew.

It felt good to swing an ax; we burned quite a bit of wood because it was chilly in the evenings and the mornings.

Here’s another sign of neglect. Literally.

Ranger Mary was lonely at the Ranger station. Backcountry permits are set up on the porch for self-registration now.

Tomorrow: two gentle walks.

Back to Mineral King: The Road

On Friday, September 20, we headed up the hill. The Park restrictions were still in place, so we made sure we were on the road during the permitted hours, which were quite illogical. Whatever. They are in charge; we are not. We only met 3 vehicles, all part of a construction crew on a cabin.

That pink stuff was all along the road, mostly on the uphill side. It is fire retardant called “borate”. The idea was to widen the road as a barrier to fire, should it climb up to the road.

Follow the pink road.

This is the view upcanyon, just above Lookout Point. The fire made it to Lookout and then crossed the road a bit, but we didn’t stop to figure out the particulars. We only stopped to chat with the Park employee, on loan from some Southern California park, to be sure that she made an opportunity to drive to the end of the road.

You can see borate across the canyon, along with swaths of burned areas.

The road is in terrible shape. No surprise, that. The air was clear and clean and it was a great relief to arrive at our cabin.

More tomorrow. . .

Friday: Three Rivers, Not Mineral King

Normally you get to read about Mineral King on Fridays, but I have nothing to show or tell you. Maybe you only look at the pictures anyway. Maybe I am just talking to myself. . .

We went for a bikeride, curious about the firecamp at the Lions’ Roping Arena and the former Three Rivers Airport (more of a strip than a port, and closed for decades now.)

Even the most beautiful yard in Three Rivers looks a bit tired in September. August used to be my worst favorite month, but it has now become September (fires, can’t get to the cabin to get away from the heat, the deer really start chomping down my yard, everything is dusty and smoky, sick of heat, wanting to be home but so tired of heat—waa waa, someone call the wambulance.)

The number of vehicles and equipment and personnel has diminished. They are certainly keeping the gravel road watered and packed, but it is still washboardy on a bicycle.

We stood in the shade of this tree and visited with our friend, who is working security at the second gate.

I was happy to see these little guys are still in residence.

Those trucks are lined up, waiting their turn to get washed. Maybe it is a crew that is leaving.

I wonder what those sleeping trailers are like inside: probably very dark and cool. I think many of the workers choose to stay in local motels.

I don’t know what all the trucks and equipment are busy with or why, but I bet that whoever owns the former airstrip is making bank.

Enough of this fire stuff; off to the airport bridge to check out the river before the uphill ride home. (As a bonus, you now know why it is call the “airport bridge”. When we were kids and drove over it, we were instructed to, “roll up your windows—there are hippies!” I wonder if any of them was my future husband. . .)