Random and Personal

A popular radio show talker once advised his callers: “Before you pick up the phone and dial this show, ask yourself the important question: Does anyone care?”

Eh, well, it’s my blog, and I know most of my readers as friends in real life, and know you all would be polite if I rambled about these things in person.

  1. I won a book for the first time in the GoodReads give-away. This is after about 4 years of trying. The book is Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly by Evy Poumpouras, a former Secret Service agent to 3 presidents. If you are on Goodreads and want to follow me or (or be followed by me), I am simply under my name, both first and last. 
  2. If I had to eat only the food I was able to grow, I’d starve to death. But I will never stop trying!
  3. I wouldn’t be very successful if growing to supply florists, but I won’t stop trying to grow flowers either.
  4. Pippin is so appealing. The cats found a way to sneak out at night, but I think I have stopped that rebelliousness.

9 Things Learned in June

Tucker, before the grass got really tall. (You should see it now!)
  1. Dang, a card game – when a certain friend comes to our cabin, she forces us to play games. She taught it well, but without practice, I’ve already forgotten how. It might have been fun. Being with her is the fun part.
  2. Yahtzee research – while she was there, I got curious. How many times does one need to roll to get a Yahtzee? We did it with 3 rolls per attempt, like in the game. Several times it happened in just the first three attempts; one time it took 63 turns. The average was about 17-20 tries, and the game of Yahtzee only provides 13 turns (maybe it is 15). We also tried it with rolling as many times as necessary. This was entirely random, and I have forgotten the results, although the number 94 seems relevant.
  3. Borgi – a neighbor had a weird little dog. I said, “What is that? A cross between a Border Collie and Corgi?” She said, “Yes, it is a Borgi.” WHAT? In spite of my cat preference, I guessed this. (Gold Star for me.)
  4. Transplanting grass – Our one remaining lawn is sparse and spotty. I have been transplanting clumps of grass from the back side of the house where the lawn was wrecked 21 years ago in the remodel of this place. I have requested that Trail Guy not mow in case these clumps will produce seeds, or perhaps spread by root growth. The cats are loving the tall grass. Will Miracle-Gro help? More will be revealed.
  5. I need a reason to paint – When work ceased to come in, I lost interest in producing. This is mostly due to an aversion to excess stuff, whether paintings, drawings, or one-function kitchen items. I like painting, but not when it just builds up my inventory without hope of showing or selling.
  6. “My choices are not a commentary on yours.” I read this somewhere, and it seemed appropriate after I talked about all the things I like to make from scratch. It might have made some of my readers feel inadequate. No reason for this, because my choices are NOT a commentary on your choices. Really. Just be you, and I’ll be me. It will work out just fine.
  7. “Prone” means face down; “supine” means flat on one’s back. I didn’t know this until a lengthy conversation with a doctor friend who went into way more detail than I could comprehend – hence, I came away with 2 new vocabulary words instead of whatever else he was saying.
  8. 1996 Honda Accords are no longer the most stolen year and model of car – Fernando is safe! (Safer. Besides, can the bad guys drive a stick shift??)
  9. Stand up paddle boarding is FUN! There is nothing athletic about me, and I have zero interest in sports of any kind. Stand up paddle boarding is a way to motate on a lake in a quiet manner. I probably won’t pursue this in any large way (as in buy the equipment), but it was quite thrilling to realize that this is a sport that I can do.
    Upper-middle-aged non-athletic chubby chick, zig-zagging her way across Hume Lake and NOT FALLING IN THE WATER!

Not Mineral King Mountains

Last week I had the privilege of spending several days at Hume Lake with my friend and a new friend at my friend’s cabin. (Friend friend friend – just wrecked that word for myself.)

This is the 4th summer that she has invited me to join her, and through the times spent together, I have come to know and love her cousins, gotten reacquainted with Hume (worked there the summer of ’78), and become quite close with my old friend from childhood. 

Rather than go into a bunch of personal blah blah blah, let’s do our usual thing with photos.

Look on the lamp table. There is my oil painting, cleverly titled “Hume Lake I”.
“Hume Lake II” was very well received, as was “Hume Lake III”. (Most of the birthday party attendees began shouting their birth dates at me.)
So calm in the evening.
Wild Azaleas were in bloom.
Because there were no campers around, we got to go places that are usually not open to cabin folks.
One of the places that we explored was the children’s camp called “Wagon Train”.
Instead of cabins, the kids sleep in these covered Conestoga wagon replicas.
The lake was so serene without the hundreds of camping kids present. This is sad, unless you view it as a temporary condition.
This wildflower is new to me. I don’t have to know the name because it isn’t in Mineral King.
We ate way too much, so I force-marched my companions around the lake one evening after dinner. One of them had a Fit-Bit that recorded 26,400 steps that day. (Those steps didn’t counteract all the ice cream,)
I went to Inspiration Point in search of a red Mariposa Lily. Guess I was too early this year, because all I found were Farewell-to-Spring and profusely blooming Bear Clover.
I drove home a different route and saw Hume from an overlook. 

There are so many options for coming and going, unlike Mineral King with one road in and out. Hume Lake also has electricity, wifi in some cabins, many many cabins, and provided the best summer of my life (1978) until I worked in the Mineral King area (Silver City Store) in 1985. (And I thought that BEFORE I met Trail Guy at the end of that summer, so there.)

We had the pleasure of witnessing the baptism in the lake of 3 terrific kids.

Another distinct pleasure was renting stand-up paddle boards. We almost opted out, but I remembered our decision last year that we would do this, combined with the fact that the day was hot, there wasn’t much traffic on the lake, and that “everyone” knows that people regret what they don’t do more than what they do. (My sister and I often remind one another to “Do It Anyway”, in spite of our reservations, fears and doubts.) It was great fun, and I didn’t fall, but I would like to learn how to paddle without the zig-zag effect, which greatly impedes forward progress.

Oh – ice cream. Did I mention ice cream?

Someone needs to cut off my end of the table.

P.S. I have FOURTEEN books on hold at the library. WHEN WILL THEY OPEN AGAIN??

 

 

More Cold in Mineral King

Last Friday, I had too many photos from our cold weekend in Mineral King to put them all in one blog post.

Yep, dandelions.
Paintbrush, formerly known as Indian Paintbrush.
Phlox
Bluelips
Languid Ladies, also known as Sierra Bluebells
A different view of the Honeymoon Cabin. Tiny in the distance – can you spot it?
This is a flowering shrub that I don’t recognize.
This is looking out the kitchen window. Brrr.
We took a short walk. Very brrr. Where is Farewell Gap??
Current bushes in bloom
Someone went barefoot on the deck last night.
The sun finally emerged, and it was still cold, but oh so very beautiful.


Most of the flowers in today’s post are identified in Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names.

 

100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax.
Available here
Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.

Cold in Mineral King

Sequoia National Park and Mineral King opened last week. It was a very pleasant weekend down the hill, which meant it was very cold in Mineral King. 28 degrees on Sunday morning, and only 42 degrees in the afternoon!

We didn’t hike, only went on a couple of short walks because it was overcast one day, rained the next, and we had numerous projects around the place in addition to spending time with friends and neighbors.

I don’t know this flower. It is very tiny.
This is a different view of the Honeymoon Cabin, which is a museum of the Mineral King Preservation Society.
This sign used to be about 8 feet up in the air. Someone with some common sense moved it to a more visible location.
That same sign as it appeared in 2017.
Languid Ladies are also known as Sierra Bluebells.
I don’t know this tiny flower. Its foliage is different from the other tiny white one above.
Forget-me-nots.
Crystal Creek is very shallow and very very wide.

 Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names contains the Forget-Me-Nots but neither of the tiny white flowers. 

100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax.
Available here
Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.

If Life’s Too Short, Then Why Do I. . .

Life is too short for things like drying dishes that will dry themselves. Why do I want to save all that time? So I can do things that don’t make sense to other people but bring me pleasure and satisfaction, things like:

  1. Bake my own bread (What’s wrong with store-bought?)
  2. Make yogurt from scratch (What’s wrong with store-bought?)
  3. Bake cookies every time Trail Guy wants them (What’s wrong with store-bought?)
  4. Bake cookies any time someone asks me to (What’s wrong with store-bought?)
  5. Make hummus from scratch (What’s wrong with store-bought?)
  6. Try to grow food despite the bugs, heat, bad soil, gophers, birds, deer, etc. (the continual triumph of hope over experience keeps me gardening) (What’s wrong with store-bought?)
  7. Garden with friends in their yards (What?? hard physical labor for free? Yeppers.)
  8. Knit my own sweaters and lots of socks
  9. Write real notes and letters
  10. Email instead of text (I do text to people who will otherwise ignore me)
  11. Blog 5 days a week
  12. Refuse to get a microwave or dishwasher or trash compactor

What’s on your list?

Perhaps this post should be titled “What’s wrong with store-bought”? And maybe the real question is “What’s wrong with me?”

Pippin – the color and temperament of honey.

Life’s Too Short To. . .

As an adult, I made some decisions about things that I no longer had to do because I was now the boss of my life, not traditions or shoulds. It evolved into an ever changing list, one that I thought you might enjoy.

Life is too short to:

  1. dry dishes
  2. iron jeans
  3. wait in line at a restaurant when my food at home is just as good and it is quieter there
  4. wait in a doctor’s office for hours. Instead, ask how far behind he is and go for a walk, do an errand, sit in the car and knit or listen to the radio
  5. read boring books
  6. watch movies about war, violence, adultery, or other difficult topics
  7. wash my car before driving to Mineral King all summer
  8. thoroughly clean the house every week – Instead, I just keep it picked up, stay current with the kitchen and bathroom, hang up clothes and make the bed, vacuum the main places often, and get on with living.

What’s on your list?

Proud

Pride goes before a fall. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So why am I proud? and why is it okay??

I am proud of one of my drawing students!! (I don’t think this is a sin.)

Mae began taking lessons from me over 15 years ago because she was a watercolorist who wanted her work to be more realistic. She quickly graduated from pencil to colored pencil and tried 3 different brands before settling on Faber Castell Polychromos. She meticulously plans out each piece, experimenting with color combinations and working very methodically and slowly.

Meanwhile, Mae continued painting at home and with some friends at the Arts Visalia gallery. (This is the place where I have held drawing workshops, a very well-run non-profit gallery.)

During the ShutDown, Mae and another artist friend answered a Call for Artists from Arts Visalia. They have one big fund raiser each year, an orchid sale. This year, due to The Thing, the orchid sale isn’t happening. Instead, they asked their regular artists to do some orchid paintings.  Mae and Donna quickly responded.

The very day that Mae told me about her paintings, I came home to this flyer in my email inbox.

Mae’s painting on the left is “Three Scoops”. The one on the right is “Out of the Box”. Donna’s paintings are the center ones, equally beautiful, but I don’t know the titles.

OF COURSE I bought a package of these cards.

Will you? Click or tap the link below to Arts Visalia’s orchid sale.

www.artsvisalia.org/support-us/orchid-sale

9 Things Learned in May

“Alta Peak and Moro Rock”, oil painting on wrapped canvas, 10×30″, $500 plus tax
  1. We are having a garlic shortage. Why? Was there a “blight” in Gilroy? Does our garlic come from China? Do people cooking at home use more garlic than restaurants? I’m glad that 4 bulbs I planted survived and are ready to harvest. This is tricky stuff to grow, because the gophers like it and nearby weeds keep it from getting very large.
  2. When someone commissions me to make custom art, even if I show every single step of the process and the customer approves, sometimes there is disappointment. So, I learned to be more involved in the process, offer design opinions and not assume that the customer knows his mind. (Why has it taken me 33 years to learn this? Is it a lesson that I knew, but put on hold for some customers? What’s wrong with me? Can this artist be saved??)
  3. I can live without the library. I don’t like it, but I can do it anyway.
  4. Frederick Russell Burnham was a big deal explorer, adventurer, soldier, miner, and friends with Teddy Roosevelt. Born in 1861, died in 1947, and buried in Three Rivers! I am reading his biography, A Splendid Savage by Steve Kemper. SINCE THE LIBRARY IS CLOSED, I guess you’ll have to buy a copy if you want to read it. (Mine is borrowed from the friend who told me about the guy). Here. Use this link and I might earn a quarter from Amazon. (It opens in a new tab so you won’t lose your place here.)
  5.  I don’t exercise enough. Thought I was in decent shape until we hiked to Timber Gap, when I was sure that someone had both stretched and tilted the trail. Will I exercise more and harder now? I DON’T FEEEEL LIKE IT. (Oh yeah? Do you FEEEEL like hiking without pain?) I think the ongoing battle with the inner lazy fat girl will never cease.
  6. It is vital to print out on paper any book that I am designing. I almost took a shortcut and skipped that step on my current project (a private book that will only be available to the person who hired me.) The better version of myself printed it anyway, and I was appalled by the formatting errors, and 5 typos. FIVE – appalled, I tell you! Big lesson learned – ALWAYS print it to proofread on paper; I will find things that I missed on the screen.
  7. Cars get dirty just parked in garages. Weird.
  8. My nephew can write music and sing! Want to hear him? The link here is to his latest song “Slow”.  Austin Harms (tap or click on his name)
  9. The painting above was included in the last email newsletter I sent out, and several people referred to it as a mural BECAUSE I DIDN’T IDENTIFY IT AS AN OIL PAINTING FOR SALE! This reluctance to appear “sellsy” is NOT helpful to my newsletter subscribers (and you can also become a newsletter subscriber by using the SUBSCRIBE TO ENEWSLETTER thing on the blog, but it doesn’t show up on a “smart” phone so you’ll need to be on a desktop or a laptop). A friend whose business it is to help people with their social media helped me learn this. #Hashtag Hostess Angele Black is BRILLIANT at her business!

What did you learn in May?