Summer Puttering

Borrowing a friend’s river view. The river is still high and loud, particularly unusual for early August.

In the months of July and August, I don’t give weekly drawing lessons. This gives me an out-of-proportion sense of being on vacation. My schedule is freer, so I putter at multiple things, some work, some personal.

  • A former drawing student (from about 2000-2004) will be having a baby in September, so I am knitting like a crazed machine.
  • It is time to begin designing the 2020 calendar.
  • An odd job appeared: someone has a torn painting and asked me to repair it. Maybe I can, maybe I can’t, but a mediocre patch job might be better than a ragged hole. The customer doesn’t want the original artist to know that it got torn, so you only get to see a corner. I’ll show you Wednesday.
  • My neighbors are relandscaping their yard and asked me to help. It is very absorbing work, and we keep coming up with ideas. I really enjoy figuring out what might grow, and digging extras from my yard, along with starting new ones from cuttings. (We think of ourselves as “The Frugal Gardeners”.)
  • I’ve been reading a lot, and my Want-To-Read list on GoodReads is down to about 160 now. (If you want to follow me on GoodReads, try it – I don’t know how to instruct you other than to say I am under my real name, nothing cute or clever). 1. “The Blue Shoe” is a meandering novel of very little plot about people you could imagine knowing by Anne Lamott whose writing captures my attention whether fiction or non-fiction. 2. “An Innocent, a Broad” by Ann Leary is a memoir by a writer I’ve discovered recently. 3. I loved “The Good House”, also by Leary, a first person novel about an alcoholic in total denial. 4. “House Rules” is my 2nd Jodi Picoult novel and it was a page turner written in multiple voices; the main one was an autistic teenager.

Since I’m not ready to show you the calendar, and the torn painting is a slow process, have a look at the baby blanket in progress, our old friend Reading Rabbit, and some of the yardening.

100% cotton, machine washable, recommended for baby blankets, ordered from Webs online, stitch pattern from a book called The Stitchionary.
Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″, not for sale
There will be flagstone on the path, and we are trying to find something to plant around the stones. Moss? Grass that doesn’t require mowing? Low-growing thyme that can live in relentless summer heat?
I’m particularly enamored with the blue wheelbarrow.
Having a picnic on the friends’ deck by the river adds to the sense of being on vacation.

Little Shavers

Does this title please you as much as it does me? Heheheh. (That’s me snickering).

After having a wonderful reunion with wonderful friends in a wonderful place (is Lawrence Welk around here somewhere??), I wanted to commemorate our time together. As a Central California artist, art seemed like the right choice.

(We went to Shaver Lake. I wrote about it on Tuesday.)

I painted 5 Little Shavers. See?

An easel adds cuteness and versatility.
2×2″ paintings won’t take up much space in people’s lives.

Our hostess got the big oil painting of Shaver Lake (can’t call that a “little shaver”.)


This is actually Tunnel Creek, which comes into Shaver Lake via a tunnel from Huntington Lake, I think. Hence, “Tunnel” Creek. We are clever like that here in California’s flyover country.

Learned in June & July

Did anyone notice that I didn’t learn anything in June? Actually, I did, but had so many other things to post about that I didn’t make my usual list, which means this month’s list is twice as long as usual.

Pippin learns he doesn’t like black coffee.
  1. For the very first time in my life, I gave away a cat. Two, actually. I learned that it is a beautiful thing to share kitties with people who might love them even more than I do.
  2. Arizona’s speed limit for trucks is the same as that for cars, and it makes for much smoother traffic on freeways. Only Delaware and California require trucks to go 55 mph.
  3. I was wrong last year when I said that Manx is not a breed of cat but the accident of birth through malnourishment in the womb. (Did I get that info on the internet?? or in a book??) The veterinarian who made sure Scout doesn’t have another litter set me straight. Scout has a weird stump of a tail and received superior nutrition while growing her 5 babies, resulting in 2 with tails and 3 without.
  4. No matter how often I try to understand, the meaning of “meta” eludes me. Do the people using this word just pretend that they know what they are saying, and do the people listening just pretend too?
  5. You can buy hard-boiled eggs at Costco. I don’t belong to Costco, but thought it a curious fact when I overheard it this summer.
  6. Getting cats “fixed”: we had Scout fixed and she disappeared 3 weeks later. I was wondering if we shouldn’t get Georgia “fixed” so she could make us more kittens, but now she is also gone. This is why I want to have lots of cats. We have a controversial approach to pets, but it is right for us.
  7. Not all my friends are readers. (Why does this surprise me?) I was quite amazed to learn that 3 of the 7 friends who reunited at Shaver Lake don’t read much!
  8. Shaver Lake is wonderful. I had never been there before although it is only 2-1/2 hours away from Three Rivers.
  9. I was the only one of the Shaver Seven who doesn’t color her hair. (Why is this interesting to me? Who knows.) Maybe it is because I’d rather be reading.
  10. You can accidentally grow pumpkins. I thought I was accidentally growing zucchini, because the blossoms look the same. Only one is becoming a pumpkin, but wow, the plants are going nuts. (Because they are accidental, they aren’t planted in gopher-proof cages, so I fear for them.)
  11. Airdrop is a thing that can send pictures from an iPhone to another nearby Apple device. It makes a funny noise when the photos are sent. (I am learning how to use the dreaded cell phone bit by bit, in spite of zero reception at home.)
  12. Branches on a tree make knots on firewood and look strange if you ever have the opportunity to view the inside of a hollow tree.
  13. Many flowers have the unfortunate-sounding syllable “wort” in their names. Why? It comes from Old English “wyrt”, meaning root, herb, and plant.
Pumpkin vines look like zucchini plants. The disk keeps the critters from digging where I buried kitchen waste, and the kitchen waste is why I am accidentally growing pumpkins.

Does Tucker look capable of supervising three young feline hooligans?
He is very patient.
Georgia had such a pretty face, unlike Jackson’s, which is sort of pointy like a fox.
Jackson’s markings are very similar to Samson’s. They would have been cousins.
How branches look from inside a tree
Spiderwort in Georgia
Stout-beaked Toothwort
Lousewort

Reunion at Shaver Lake

Seven women friends met for a long weekend at a Shaver Lake cabin. 6 of us went to Redwood High School; 1 went to Whitney (but we have forgiven her). 6 of us graduated in 1977; 1 graduated in 1976 (but we love having her with us). 5 are turning 60 this year; 2 turned 60 last year (but we were celebrating all our birthdays).

It was FANTASTIC! No more chatting, just some photos (but all the friends shall remain unseen and anonymous.

The cabin.
First view of the lake.
Wildflowers, new to me, not found in Mineral King.
Wild Rose, quite abundant around Shaver Lake (occasionally found in Mineral King.)


We had a day on the lake in a pontoon boat.
This is Tunnel Creek, one of the main ways that Shaver Lake is supplied with water (through pipes from Huntington Lake, I think).
Sometimes other boats made waves.
There were many penstemon in my favorite wildflower color.
We bushwhacked to get to this waterfall, which was spectacular.
We smelled this wild azalea before seeing it. It seemed different and definitely more fragrant than the ones I saw at Hume Lake. Maybe the ones at Hume had all their scent sniffed right out of them because it has 1000s more visitors than our weird little non-trail.
Another mystery flower, growing in the water at the falls.
What 61 year olds do for fun.

P.S. Not my toes (and I’m still in the Fs.)

Trail Guy’s Mineral King Photos

This has been a summer of reunions at mountain lakes in the Sierra for me. When I am somewhere else, I am not in Mineral King. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.) I know that many of my blog readers only care about Mineral King, so today’s post will be photos by Trail Guy, taken while I was at another lake (not Hume. . . might show you where next week, unless my readership drops to zero because I posted about a mountain place that isn’t Mineral King.)

This is not Soda Springs, but it is an iron spring just like it.
This is an artifact, a “leverite”, as in “leave ‘er right where you found ‘er”.

Trail Guy misses the cats while he is up the hill.

Tucker likes to lean over the branch and play with his tail.
Pippin, Georgia, and Jackson enjoying the morning sun on the front porch.

Great job on the photos, Trail Guy! Thank you for keeping my blog readers interested.

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.

It was a perfect day for a hike.
The Languid Ladies/Sierra Bluebells were still thick, normally only seen in late May and early June.
The bitter cherry were thick.
Bitter cherry blossoms.
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.

We love this place.
The pointed peak is Mineral Peak, AKA Sawtooth’s Shadow.

Computer Cat

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.
Whoa. What is ahead?
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.
Clearing in the west.
TULARE COUNTY!!

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.)

There’s that UHaul.
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!