Personal | Cabin Art

White Chief

Are you ready to see some Mineral King footage that isn’t a road report or a show/sale report? We had the pleasure of hiking to White Chief with Hiking Buddy and The Farmer on Sunday, July 1.

Someone moved White Chief farther away than last year. They also tilted the trail to a steeper angle. I hate that.

The Languid Ladies/Sierra Bluebells were still thick, normally only seen in late May and early June.

Spring Creek was roaring, and we were thankful the bridge had been installed.

This was one of the unknown blues in the Blue/Purple chapter of Mineral King Wildflowers.

One of the well-loved White Chief junipers.

Discreet Creek (who named it that?) was flowing steadily for a change.

Trail Guy and the Farmer were well ahead of Hiking Buddy and me.

Lots of water in the first level area of White Chief. My feet lasted about 15 seconds in it.

The pointed peak is Mineral Peak, AKA Sawtooth’s Shadow.

Mineral King Mineral King photography

We are down to three kittens, having settled KitCarson and Bigger Orange/Gilligan/Lentz/Tigger into their new homes. This leaves us with Jackson (boy gray), Georgia (girl gray), and Pippin (smaller orange boy). Of these, Jackson now is showing himself to be the most eager for human interaction.

Clearly, my concentration and productivity has suffered. But who cares? Not I. (Never mind that we just spent $196 getting Scout “fixed” so that her parts will no longer work.)

Pink Peek

Say what? “Pink Peek” is a weird title, but it gives you a glimpse into the sorts of things I notice. Recently I realized that although summer is here and the spring flower lollapalooza has ended, there are quite a few pink flowers in my yard. They are highly visible, just a dab of pink here and there.

A deer stepped on this hollyhock, but I propped it up for a picture. (Next, the deer will probably eat it.)

Haha, deer, you haven’t stepped on this one yet or eaten it either.

Enjoy it while it is blooming and uneaten.

Last summer I pilfered a few clippings from someone’s yard in another town, and they are growing and blooming. I wonder if a deer will eat this.

This dianthus is probably more red than pink, but it is thrilling to have one return from last year when the other 23 died. (or got eaten)

I don’t remember when I planted this or what it is, but the deer haven’t eaten it. (yet?)

In real life it might be a bit more lavender than pink, but colors aren’t always true with my PHD camera.

This is in the true geranium family, this one called “lemon geranium”; it smells wonderful and is supposed to repel mosquitoes. Maybe I am supposed to roll around in it for it to be effective. It isn’t repelling the deer, but they haven’t eaten it yet.

When we moved here 20 years ago, the previous owners had cages around all their roses. We dug up many and gave them to the previous owners’ children; the deer ate the remaining ones, except this one, which blooms about 10 feet above the ground. Haha, deer.

This climbing pink rose is fabulous and sometimes blooms in the winter which is lovely, especially for the deer who like pink snacks.

Enjoy it while it is blooming, before the deer discover it.

Road Trip, Day Four

On Day Four, we were READY TO BE HOME. We looked over the maps, picked a route, finished emptying the UHaul, returned it, and hit the road with the intention of driving until just before we got sick of it. It is easier with two drivers, so you can switch off.

This time I was a passenger and could take photos of saguaro, but there were no purple prickly pear.

We went through a severe thunderstorm, with hail that we thought might crack the windshield.

This was one of the oddest cloud situations I’ve ever seen.

We wanted to be home pretty badly to brave that storm and 545 miles in one day. I have kittens to play with and a painting to finish. Sister-in-law is settling into her new surroundings, and We Are Home!

Road Trip, Day Three

Day Three wasn’t as pretty. I’m not fond of desert scenery. We drove very far. We were tired of driving. We were not looking forward to unloading the UHaul. There aren’t many photos. (Our destination was a town outside of Phoenix, in case you were wondering.)

Yep. Arizona. Did you know the speed limit there is the same for passenger cars as for big rigs? It certainly makes for easier driving.

I missed many interesting shots, including saguaro, so I took advantage of the one across the street from the sister’s new home. I also passed up the most interesting cactus I’ve ever seen: it was prickly pear (the kind with paddle-like things) but it was PURPLE!

Road Trip, Day Two

Day Two began with finishing the UHaul load, and then leaving Tahoe, headed toward Barstow. (I know, “WHY??”) The drive was gorgeous. We went over two mountain passes, heading toward 395. We don’t often get to see the Sierra from the east side.

Stopped somewhere near Monitor Pass for road work.

Good thing the traffic was light with all this distraction and multi-tasking. NO, it isn’t because I have a cell phone now – I used to do this with a camera, so there. It takes many attempts to get a decent photo without looking at the screen.

So many missed shots because I was driving. I think we need to return to this part of the world, preferably with these clouds and all this snow.

We gave up in Ridgecrest and had to eat the motel reservations in Barstow. That made for a very long Day three, but sometimes a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. Women too. We had to stop. Had. To. Stop.

Road Trip, Day One

California is a HUGE state. We began our trip by driving to Tahoe. Trail Guy’s sister needed help moving and we were chosen.

There is a rest stop in Central Calif. on Highway 99 that has incorporated blue glass shards in its sidewalk, something I find puzzling and delightful.

See the trees ahead in the median? On the south side is a palm and on the north is a (barely visible) pine. These trees mark the center of California from north to south. They are on 99, not too far north of Fresno.

These next photos are my version of a drive-by shooting. I think I could do some paintings of oaks on golden hills (minus the phone lines and road signs).

I took a brief walk and discovered a new-to-me wildflower.

Trail Guy is a brilliant packer and loader of trucks, cars and vans. He is excellent at putting all the odd pieces together to maximize the space.

What a day to leave Tahoe! Trail Guy drove the UHaul, I drove our pick-em-up truck, and Sister drove her car.

Since we only have one cell phone among the three of us, it made sense to have the highly visible UHaul in front. Trail Guy and I had walkie-talkies, which was helpful, since I was the navigator but not driving in the lead.

I believe that UHaul is a highly necessary, convenient business model. Whoever thought that up was a genius, right there with the dudes who invented Post-It Notes, W-D40, and Hidden Valley Ranch dressing.

Goofing Off

When I paint these days, there are many distractions.

Learned in May

Penstemon, planted on purpose in my yard rather than a wildflower, but in spite of being a native, it isn’t really thriving.

Is it possible I didn’t learn anything in May? Or is it that I just didn’t keep track? (Who said, “You learn something new every day?”) What can I pull out of my memory from just the past 30 days? How about these 7 items:

I sold something on eBay for $20 and charged $5 for shipping. Someone in Florida bought it and it cost me $16.17 to mail (there is currently no UPS outlet in Three Rivers). EBay took their bite, and my net profit was $7.80. Ouch.
I went to the bank to do a routine transaction, or at least I thought it was routine. In the olden days, it would have meant interacting with a human behind a desk. This time it meant sitting at a desk, watching a human interact with a computer. Ouch.
While at the bank with high ceilings and echoey acoustics, I wondered why they feel the need to play annoying (too loud and echoey and irrelevant) pop music. I didn’t learn why, only that my tolerance for noise seems to be diminishing in direct proportion to the increase of noise in the world. Ouch.
A small number of vendors and low visitation at a local arts and crafts fair does not mean low sales. Un-ouch. 😎
After saying, “no more shows” (meaning entering juried and judged shows), I made 2 exceptions: entered the show “Seascapes” at the Exeter Courthouse Gallery, and plan to enter a show (untitled) at the Tulare County Government Plaza Building. Haven’t learned anything yet, except that maybe I am the living embodiment of the triumph of hope over experience.
Kittens are so much fun! I’ve always known this, but now we have healthy and well-socialized kittens instead of feral, rescued, or weaned-too-early babies. There is a difference, and this is a good litter.
Memorial Day used to be May 31. Now it is the last Monday of May, a way to mark the beginning of summer. Really??

In Bloom

Sometimes I have the overwhelming need to share some beauty with you that is not of my making. (I hope you know me well enough to not take that sentence as if I believe all my art is beautiful. Gotta stay real and humble here.)

Category: Personal