If you aren’t quarantined or under voluntary house arrest, I recommend taking a walk. You might have to be confined to your own neighborhood, but it is Spring, and much is in bloom.
Here are some photos for you to enjoy, without unnecessary chatter.
A friend sent me this:
One final thought to cheer you up: As soon as The Thing appeared in our lives, all robo-calls disappeared! Is there a correlation? Don’t know, just thankful and relieved.
Today let’s look at some of the more unusual pieces of Tulare County’s Mooney Grove Park. It will require a little bit of talk today.
Maybe Hugh used that rifle to shoot squirrels. They are certainly a plague on the place now. Active squirrel holes are rampant.
What’s this? A platform to put a thingie for Frisbie golf, which can now only be called “disk golf”. There is an entire course for this popular game on the north side, but I saw the gizmos (“holes”) in other areas too.
And here is another platform which used to hold a statue called “The Pioneer”. The plaster statue crumbled. (End of the Trail in plaster was traded with the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City for a bronze version).
There are 2 hills in the Park on the east edge. They were created with the dirt dug to form a recharging basin in the park. The formation is useful as an amphitheater, and one hill has a disk golf “hole”.
When I went to Redwood High School, I used to look through the fence at a little log cabin that appeared to be abandoned. It was. After I grew up and became The Central California Pencil Artist (a self-ascribed title), the Boy Scouts reclaimed it, disassembled it, moved it to Mooney Grove, and reassembled it. I drew it as a fund raiser to help pay for the enterprise. (I wonder if I still have a copy of that drawing. . .)
Finally, I leave you with this Peculiar Sight.
Tomorrow we will conclude our tour of Tulare County’s Mooney Grove Park.
Today we’ll look at trees in Tulare County’s Mooney Grove. Just trees, no talk.
Tomorrow we’ll visit some oddities and unusual pieces and points of interest in Tulare County’s Mooney Grove Park. Many things can fit in a 100 acre park.
Today is bridge day on our Mooney Grove Park tour.
Tomorrow we’ll look at trees.
More photos of Mooney Grove Park, where I took a walk each day after I finished working on the murals on the Tulare County Museum.
Speaking of the museum, let’s focus on that treasure today. I’ve included pictures of the Pioneer Village behind the museum (entered through the museum) and 3 photos inside the museum.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at a bridge, not my favorite bridge (Oak Grove), but a simpler bridge in a true oak grove.
“Chin up” is a weird little saying, but it reminds me of my Very Wise Dad telling his “little ewe lambs” to be “brave little soldiers”.
Please forgive me for interrupting you on Sunday. I hope to not do this again, but will if I think of something encouraging to share again.
There is lots of common sense to staying home, obsessive hand-washing, and “social distancing” for awhile. Here are eight potential benefits (besides the obvious one of slowing this Thing):
P.S. We bought ice cream.
Hi on a Saturday, Blog Readers. I’m wondering if you are stuck at home, or “sheltering at home” or “self isolating”, or “in quarantine” or “sequestered”. If so, maybe you need something fun to read today.
I’m having a few thoughts about the current state of events.
And, just because this is a beautiful time of year AND WE GOT RAIN AND SNOW, here is another photo for you. (Excuse me for shouting – precipitation is very exciting!)
My final thought is a question to ask when something unpleasant takes place in life: What does this make possible?
I’d love to hear your answers.
This is a virtual tour. Enjoy it from the comfort of your easy chair. No viruses to be spread this way.
Mooney Grove Park is 100 acres of about 50 types of trees. The Valley Oaks (quercus lobata) make up about half of the tree population. The land was sold to Tulare County in 1909, with the agreement that only dead or dying Valley Oaks could be removed. Meanwhile, many new trees have been planted, a few of which I recognized, some that I learned about, some that surprised me, and all of which contributed to the specialness of this interesting and beautiful place.
It helped that I was working there during March, my second most favorite month. The grounds were green and many trees were in bloom.
Stop talking, Central Calif. artist, because we want to see some photos.
Okay. Photos. No more talk. Just pictures of a beautiful park in spring.
Any questions? To be continued Monday.
Two workdays per week are already scheduled to the point that working on the mural at Mooney Grove cannot happen.
One of those days involved taking a walk around a park in Exeter. It was a little bit boring (I am ruined by Mooney Grove for big empty-ish grassy lots masquerading as parks). To keep my interest, I listened to a fabulous interview on Donald Miller’s Storybrand podcast.
I also photographed wildflowers in the lawn, along with other items (non-volunteer) of natural color. These are weeds within a lawn but it doesn’t really matter. They get watered and mowed, and they add green to the landscape. This appears to be a squirrel and gopher-free park, so the grass is quite well-maintained.
First, the “weeds”:
Now, the planted colors:
And one weird little imposter: I thought this might be an aberrant red leaf even though there were several. When I enlarged the photo, I saw it is a piece of woven fabric, such as a petal to a silk rose. Ha ha, fooled me. A peculiar sight indeed!
Later that day during drawing lessons, we had an event worth sharing: a student finished a drawing and signed it! Way to go, Jane!
Sometimes it is a little hard to work from home. There are many other things requesting attention, opportunities to be productive in other ways, chances to just lollygag around or find other occupations. Last week I had such a day.
It began with wandering outside while drinking coffee and seeing a bit of pruning, and then finding Tucker in my herb garden.
See why I want to be outside this time of year?
Notice that these flowers are in the primary colors.
Next, I made plans with a friend for a walk at the lake early in the afternoon, and that made me willing to dive back into work, knowing my time was limited to paint. Sometimes deadlines help me to focus.
This was dry enough to begin detailing until it was time to gather up my friend and head to Kaweah Lake. (Oh-oh, I can’t remember if it is Kaweah Lake or Lake Kaweah again; what’s with the mental block on this subject? This may be why we’ve always called it “The Lake”.) We just walked in the lake bottom, not close to the lake except where it covered the pretty bridge.
The lake level is rising slowly. We walked to beneath the Horse Creek Bridge, and the mustard was striking.
After our walk, I was able to paint a bit longer on the Mineral King cabin oil painting commission. I think I can get even more detailed on this, but it needs to dry a bit more.
And thus we conclude a day of work combined with distractions.