When Mineral King Trails Aren’t Accessible

Happy Birthday, Rachelle! May this be the year of new lungs. . .

What do you do when the trails in Mineral King aren’t accessible?

You walk the trails as far as you can. This was heading to Spring Creek, where the water is still too high for maintenance guys to put the bridge in yet. These folks were exclaiming over the snow and the water; I was mucking about in the water, mud and rocks, diverting water off the trail. (I’m 57, going on 12).

This is Spring Creek, taken from as close as I dared get. This is the same creek in my drawing titled “Hard Water”, but that was from the bridge. I’m sure you must be able to tell it is the same creek. . .

Hard Water, pencil drawing of Spring Creek

We also went looking for things, like Five Spot wildflowers. Trail Guy had noticed large swaths of them from the road by the Tar Gap parking lot, so away we went, off trail, in search of these special little guys.

First, we found Blue Lips.

Blue Lips wildflowers must have been named by Captain Obvious.
See? Blue lips.

Looks like a nothing burger of white dandruff on the ground from here. Or, if you are a Heidi fan, it looks like the Alps.

Captain Obvious, on his wild naming spree, must have been delighted to discover these Five Spots.

Once again, this is getting to be too long. To be continued tomorrow. . .

Remember, there is a one day drawing workshop at Arts Visalia on Saturday. You may contact them at (559)739-0905 to register.

Wildflowers on Mineral King Road

A few days ago I was in Mineral King and took photos along the road of the abundant wildflowers.

But first, let’s start with my favorite subject to draw and paint, the Oak Grove Bridge.

Look at that water!!!

Wildflowers along the road continue to be prolific. The first photo isn’t technically of wildflowers: these are sweet peas planted by Mary Trauger in the late 1800s.

Blazing Star
I don’t know
I don’t know, even closer
HUGE dandelions
Yellow-throated gilia (pronounced “Jill-ee-uh”)
Ceanothus, wild mountain lilac, or if you were on a road crew with Trail Guy, “ant bush”.
Flannel bush, AKA “Fremontia”
bush poppy
More I don’t knows
Farewell to Spring; some years, you can see them almost all summer as you gain altitude through the season along the road.
Bush monkey flower
Penstemmon, hugely more vibrant in person than in photos

This post is too long. Hope you made it to the end. Tomorrow, Mineral King will be the subject matter again.

Meanwhile, remember there is a one day drawing workshop coming this Saturday in Visalia.

May Flowers!

Last month my 9th blogiversary slipped past unnoted. However, I am giving us some flowers to mark this milestone. Milestone? That makes it sound as if it has been a slog, a triathalon, an endless amount of work. Nope – I have loved everything about it (except finding someone to fix the blog when things go haywire.)

Belated Happy Blogiversary to us, Beloved Blogreaders!

(These are all in bloom in my yard now, last week, the week before. . . just part of the commute between the house and studio and a big fat distraction from painting.)

Speaking of distractions. . .

This last one is a little oil painting I began as a gift for a friend. We recently reconnected, and I learned that sunflowers have a special meaning for her. She is tough, brave, and is using some horrible circumstances in her life to help others through similar difficulties. Carla, I salute you! (I gave you my card but neglected to get one from you – get in touch with me soon, okay?)

Wildflowers in Three Rivers

The hill behind my house has a wide variety of wildflowers each spring.

The steepness makes it hard to photograph. Or, perhaps it is the lack of skill on the part of the photographer. I miss my manual cameras. Digital cameras have many advantages, but all this automatic baloney is a real hassle. Guess that is life – the more advantages, the more disadvantages too. But I digress. Let’s just enjoy the wildflowers, shall we?

The Rain Stopped and The Sun Came Out

The rain stopped briefly and the sun came out, so I went for a walk here in Three Rivers. This was on February 12, but there were other things to blog about last week.

Look! The buckeye trees, always precocious, are leafing out already. 

Here is an unobstructed view of Alta Peak and Moro Rock.

The Red Maids are in bloom!

This ant hill is definitely a peculiar sight.

The narcissus are in bloom in my yard.

 And what does a Central California artist do for fun when the sun is out?

She mixes a paint color for her neighbor’s kitchen, of course.

Neighbor recently was in Italy and fell in love with a particular color. (Could there possibly be 2 color junkies in the same neighborhood??) The hardware store mixed a too-bright red, so together we figured out the color she wanted. This required adding tan from the gallon container, lightening it with white, and correcting the resulting pinkishness with yellow ochre. Then, we tried it on a kitchen cupboard door and declared it a winner. (It took 3 attempts with minor corrections each time.) Next, I had to match that exact color to convert the rest of the too-bright-red to our newly named “Red Pepper Cream Sauce”. (Last time we invented the color of “Orange Blossom Special” for her kitchen, which looks spectacular with the Red Pepper Cream Sauce.)*

*My own kitchen is blue and white, has been blue and white for 18 years, and probably will probably be blue and white for as long as I live here. Thanks for asking.

Nice Day on the Farm

I didn't want to leave home in the morning, but we grownups have to face things.
I didn’t want to leave home in the morning, but we grownups have to face things.
Look how beautiful it is around the barn!
Pretty nice place to work. Don’t these folks have gophers and deer??
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This is the same view that I painted from real life and from photos in April 2015.
spring
April 2015

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This is all I saw of the baby animals. There were lambs but it took several people running around to catch them and I had to work instead of cavort with lambs.
This is all I saw of the baby animals. There were lambs but it took several people running around to catch them; I was not cavorting with lambs that day.
These folks are heading off to catch a lamb.
These folks are heading off to catch a lamb.
Wow, eh?
Wow, eh?
Oh yeah. I was working. Look at that merchandise with the afternoon sunlight!
Look at that merchandise with the afternoon sunlight!
And look at the light show in the afternoon light!
And look at the light show in the afternoon light!

Thus we conclude the boutiques, bazaars and shows for 2016. 

Isn’t “thus” a stuffy word? I don’t think it gets used much in conversation.

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Signs of Late Summer in Mineral KIng

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Mineral King cabins have the most visitors in August, as evidenced by more cars (No need to keep your hood up – it doesn’t deter the marmots, and they aren’t busy in cars in August.)
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The colors are getting more yellow because. . .
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. . . the grasses are drying out and there is goldenrod in bloom.
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See? Goldenrod, and the flowers and grasses are tall.
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This is not a sign of fall, although it could be a place to fall. It is a style of trail building called “rip-rap”. This is looking down at a section of such trail. It is hard to walk up and even harder to walk down. You’ll be pleased to know I didn’t fall – thank you for your concern.
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Squint and look across the stream. Fireweed is in bloom, and it usually appears in August. The stream is low, although not sluggish.
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The aspens are still green, and the grasses beneath them are still green. Not fall, just August, late summer.
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Goldenrod!
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This is how August looks along the Nature Trail, from Cold Springs Campground up to the actual Mineral King valley.

Mineral King has a quick summer. Gotta go, gotta experience, gotta enjoy, don’t blink, because boom, it is over. (The temperature in the early morning of the day I took these photos was 38 degrees.)

My Commute

I commute a few yards to work. It’s an easy route, so sometimes I take the long route. This is what I saw on the way to work one morning in early August.IMG_1726 IMG_1727 IMG_1730