Perkins, 1999-2016

This post is entirely personal. If you are only here for art or Mineral King, please return tomorrow.

Perkins was part of our lives for 17 years. In his time with us, he saw 14 other cats come and go. He survived tomcat attacks, rattlesnake bites and countless coyote and bobcat visits to the yard. He was a master gopher-getter, very accepting of all new cats into his territory, a chirper who didn’t meow much or make a fuss, content with his place on the front porch in summer or by the woodstove in winter, and a couch-destroyer.

We are now catless for the first time since March of 1987. We aren’t interested in getting more cats – we need time to adjust to the emptiness and to figure out the right situation for our 2 household lifestyle. And we need time to replace or recover the couch.

Perk

yellow eyes, pink nose
very tall
Perkins with Jones
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pink toes
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checked tail

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Mineral King Friendships

It is an interesting phenomenon of a seasonal community like Mineral King that friendships can be formed on the basis of a few days a year over the course of many years.

A prime example is our relationship with the Sawtooth Six, our neighbors for 4 days a year over the last 30-something years.

It took me quite a few years to learn their names. We used to find out when they were visiting and plan to be gone that weekend. Now everyone has grown up, and we anticipate the Sawtooth Six’s visit with pleasure.

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Kurt and Scott are fascinated by the repartee of their host, AKA Cabin Owner
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Jon gathers hiking wisdom from Trail Guy.
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Scott defends the “or derves” (nope, not spelling that word) from the voracious meat bees, always a threat in August.
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Ted wonders how he got mixed up with such a motley crew.
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The gracious and kind Cabin Owner is a wonderful neighbor and friend.
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Hey Jon, I know you are reading this! Thanks for cooperating for this very cute photo.
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A professor wears his clean socks in the dirt and no one knows why. Eccentric, perhaps? Provocative? Hard to say with this one.

Happy Birthday, Oh Captain, My Captain!

This will be an entirely personal post. Skip it if you came here for Mineral King or art. Return tomorrow for Mineral King.

“The Captain” is how I refer to this fabulous birthday girl. She is my closest friend (one of several that I consider my BFFs, although how can there be more than one “best”?), who knows almost everything about me and loves me anyway, and is a blessing to everyone she encounters.

2007 summer photots 009
Together at a prayer retreat in Cayucos, 2007 (before I cut bangs to hide the eleven between my eyebrows)
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At the cabin with Dancer, a Jack Russell terrier
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Modeling a shawl in Mineral King that she helped me finish because she is fantastic at weaving in ends.
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She may have an even bigger Cat Disorder than I (me? I’m supposed to know these things).
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Retiring Captain
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May you ride again, Captain.
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The Captain and her Cowboy
At a Mannheim Steamroller concert in 2007
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In Chicago in 2013 (we both had dear relatives in the same area, now both gone)

Darrell

WARNING: This post is very long, entirely personal and has nothing to do with my art or Mineral King.

Darrell Heinrichs, 1956-2016
Darrell Heinrichs, 1956-2016

When I was in third grade, a new family started attending my church. I became friends with Deanne, a first grader. We are still friends, with layers and decades of history and experiences binding us together.

Deanne had two older brothers. The oldest, Darrell, was 3 years older than me, so I mostly ignored him. When we were in our twenties, we were both living in Visalia, and we starting hanging out together. He was cool, charismatic, fun, friendly, and good-looking, an important feature among people in their twenties.

Last week we lost Darrell. I wrote up some thoughts to share with his family, and decided to share an abbreviated version with you, Faithful Blog Readers. These are life lessons that I learned from him.

Lesson #1: Help people when you are able.

When I needed to pack up my apartment and put everything in storage. Darrell helped me do that, and a sub-lesson I learned from him was how to efficiently pack a storage unit. He was a hard worker and showed me how to take advantage of every available inch. I was a little shocked to see him turn my brand new couch on its side, but he knew what he was doing.

Lesson #2: Find fun, make fun, and enjoy life every place possible.

Darrell had a distinct laugh, one that another friend described as “stuttery”. If it could be spelled, it would truly be “heh-heh- heh”. While shuttling my possessions to the storage unit, he made a shortcut across a vacant lot. I said, “Where are you going??” and he said, “I’m not driving the long way around, heh-heh-heh!” So we bounced across the vacant lot and across the sidewalk and down a curb in a borrowed pick-up.

At a high school youth retreat, the youth sponsor’s door came off the hinges, and the bell tower mysteriously played “Smoke on the Water” instead of a hymn.  I remember a TPing incident that involved a lot of shouting and laughter and fast driving away. If there was something that was on the edge, scary, or risky, Darrell was usually involved.

Lesson #3: Be a gentleman, regardless of the circumstances.

I lent him a car at a time when I had two, and it was a mistake. There was a lot of chaos and upset, but the car was returned, and nothing bad happened. Later, Darrell apologized to me for causing trouble. I was touched by his concern.

When we were hanging around together, it was often with another girl friend of mine. Darrell was concerned about our reputations, because we were “good girls” and he was a “bad boy”. We both reassured him that we weren’t worried, because if he needed good girls in his life to help him get on track, then we were there for him.

Lesson #4: Always work hard. 

No matter what adverse circumstances Darrell created for himself, he managed to find work. He liked to be outdoors, and to do physical labor. He was never afraid of work, and usually chose farming. There was that tomato project at his parents’ place early on. . . I don’t think it turned out well, but he didn’t seem to get discouraged.

Lesson #5: Often our choices cause difficult consequences for more than just ourselves.

Life is all about choices and consequences. We all make good and bad choices, and the final lesson I learned from Darrell is that our choices definitely affect other people. He didn’t use discernment when he generously offered a room to someone he barely knew, someone who killed him without mercy. The consequences of that decision are affecting all of us who cared about him.

I believe that Darrell is now with Jesus. We were baptized at the same time, when I was 8 and he was 11, along with his brother, my sister and another friend. We all were young, but every one of us sincerely believed at that time. A number of years later, I learned something important from a wise Bible teacher, who happened to be Darrell’s own mom. She said in reference to John 3:16 that “Eternal means eternal. How can something be eternal if it can be taken back?”

So, in spite of him not being a current part of my life, he was part of my past and will be again in the future.

 

Random Topic Round-up

Here’s a catch-all, catch-up post for you on random topics. My blog post ideas are triggered by pictures, and these were just languishing in the file without purpose.

This painting was very difficult. I worked on it from real life, and from several different photos taken at different times of year. This is the final iteration (unless someone has a suggestion for further improvement).

1509 Barn
Three Rivers Barn, 8×10″, oil, $100

 

We are in year #4 of a drought. In spite of 15″ of precipitation in July, there was no snow on Bear Skin, the almost-year-around patch on the side of Vandever, which forms one side of Farewell Gap in Mineral King.

Bear Skin on Vandever

My favorite bridge was built in the 1920s and is supposed to be replaced. This fills me with dread. The current plan is to keep this one as a footbridge/landmark and push the road further up the canyon with some sort of newfangled, modern, probably-not-very-attractive contraption that will destroy the simple beauty of this scene. But I am neutral to the subject, keeping an open mind. . .

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Sometimes when I drive down the Mineral King Road, I am struck by new scenes. You’d think that after 31 summers of driving it almost weekly that I wouldn’t notice a thing. You’d be wrong.

Mineral King Road

At the end of the Mineral King Road is a bridge. (It was rebuilt in Sept. and Oct. 2011 and the process was documented fully on this blog.) The abutment gets a lot of water abuse on one side, and was piled with rocks to protect it. However, kids love to use rocks to build dams in the stream, and most of those rocks got scooted away! So, the men in uniform and heavy equipment had to come redo the rocky protection underneath the bridge.

Minearl King bridge

Some new friends joined us in Mineral King early in the summer. Mister New Friend was an outstanding photographer, and he took this photo of Trail Guy and me. (Thank you, MAK!)

J+M

Perkins and I thank you for joining us in the random topic round-up.

Perkins
Perkins is now sweet sixteen.

 

 

Goodbye, Steve

fire chaplain

1961 – 2015

STEVE was charismatic, confident, intense, competitive in many sports, and my brother-in-law for almost 30 years. It’s hard to imagine our family without him.

Random Thoughts

Random is a good word for unrelated items piling up in my head.

  1. Thank you for visiting my other blog this week. I hope you poked around and discovered things that interested and entertained you a bit while over there.
  2. Most of my sunflowers escaped the ravages of the voracious deer in the neighborhood.sunflower photo
  3. The same flower looks different at different times of day. I think there may be 2 paintings in this flower.IMG_1483
  4. I looked out the living room window and saw this: IMG_1476
  5. i looked more closely and saw this: IMG_1477
  6. My herb garden is a source of inspiration and a place of solace:IMG_1403
  7. I am in need of inspiration and solace these days while we navigate rough waters as a family. Here is a link to a video of my brother-in-law talking about his future: Neighborhood Church Facebook.

Steve made the video around August 1, but I have been taking refuge in drawing and gardening rather than talking about reality. (If you know him, you probably already saw the video.) Thank you to all who have been praying and expressing your kind concern.

A Little Bit Too Hard

Sometimes I paint things that are a little bit too hard for me. They are not commissions, nor are they subjects that I think will sell.

Instead, they are things that I just want to paint, in spite of my lack of skill or experience. After I have completed paintings that need to be done for sale, working on these types of paintings is my “reward”.

Wow, is this ever difficult!! This is my great-niece, and I think of the painting as The Flower Girl.

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The girl is from this photo.

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The flowers are from this one.

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The girl feels too difficult, so I am now focusing on the flowers. It is fun to find and mix all the colors, and if I get the petals a bit wrong, it isn’t critical like the face is.

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Success on the flowers (still not finished) gave me confidence to paint a bit more on the girl.

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Her hairbow is better and her arm is a little chubbier. This might need to rest for a month or two while I build my confidence and skill on paintings that don’t matter to my heart quite so much.

 

This will need about 10 more painting sessions, a decision on the background color, and a whole bunch of do-overs.

But I’m learning. That is what happens when one pushes through something that is a little bit too hard.

Okay, it might be a LOT too hard.

 

A Very Happy Day

This will be a very personal post, not about my art or Tulare County or Mineral King or Three Rivers.

In the past week or two, I have alluded to a family crisis. In short, my brother-in-law has been diagnosed with a glioblastoma, the very sort of brain tumor that took out my dad 15 years ago.

His oldest daughter had her wedding planned for August 1. She made a very mature and exciting decision on May 3 to have the wedding on May 9. Yes, a wedding was planned in SIX DAYS, and we even received an invitation in the mail so we could ask Mr. Google how to find the location!

There was a team of AWESOME people who made this all happen. Words cannot express our gratitude and awe and admiration for those who pulled off this incredible event.

So, I’ll show you a few photos. Just a few, because this is the World Wide Web, not a private session of friends sitting around my dining table.

setting

The setting was the most stunningly beautiful and perfect private backyard I have ever had the privilege to experience.

audrey and steve

This is the moment that undid the entire group of those of us in attendance.

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My niece, grand-niece and new nephew. No words. . .

creative people

And, lest you think my nieces and nephews are normal, nope. They are uninhibited and creative and full of fun. Used to be 5 of them, now there are 7, plus 2 more in the next generation. (Some wise adult protected them from this moment of foolishness and frivolity.)

Thank you for listening, reading, looking and caring.

Love,

Aunt Jana

Special Interruptive Post

Please excuse me for bombarding you with 2 posts in one day. There are two pieces of news that cannot wait:

  1. The book printer notified me that the book binder will be shipping the books (The Cabins of Wilsonia) to me on Friday. That means they get loaded onto pallets and into a truck on Friday for a long road trip from Tennessee to Three Rivers. Maybe. Anyway, it is the first definitive news I’ve had since I sent the book to the printer in JULY!!
  2. Today my dear online blogging friend Cheryl Barker is featuring my art on her blog in a give-away. She and I have so much in common and would probably be attached at the hip if she wasn’t in Kansas while I’m in Central California. Here is the link to her blog post: Cheryl Barker.

Now, as an apology for bothering you twice in one day, here is a nice painting on which to rest your eyes:

Red Leaf, oil on wrapped canvas (ready to hang), 6×6″, $50