This is a Valentine’s Day card drawn in pencil. (Have I mentioned that I love to draw?) It was done several years ago, and there are a few remaining at The Art Co-0p. May Valentine’s Day be all that you hoped this year!
Great Winter
Because I am the daughter, granddaughter, niece and cousin of farmers, weather has always been an important part of my life. I was trained from an early age to stop talking (mid-sentence if necessary) whenever the weather came on the radio. Dad did call most of the weather guys “weather-guessers”, and I have noticed in the past few months that a prominent weather guy on a prominent localish radio station refers to himself as a “metorolist”. Perhaps he isn’t a real meteorologist, or perhaps he is just in a giant hurry or even has trouble pronouncing his profession. . . hard to say, but I digress. What I meant to say is have a look at a Mineral King cabin as of Sunday, February 7, 2010. (Thank you, Evan and Karl!)
Technicalities
Have I mentioned that I am a technophobe? That isn’t exactly right, because I have been more of a techno-avoider. Turns out that isn’t exactly right either. Look at this list of items I have to mess with and recharge:
- cell phone (albeit quite outdated)
- computer (definitely outdated – it has USB ports #1 instead of #2, for Pete’s sake!)
- not one, but TWO digital cameras!
- a Garmin Forerunner (how else will I know all the miles I am walking??)
- an iPod (not mine)
- Telephones in the house that show who is calling
My explanation for #5 is this: Michael requested the simplest one for his birthday in 2009 (13 months ago) and has NEVER ONCE used it! Monday I had to walk 9 miles without my training partner, and the iPod was a real treat! It is difficult to find music that is the right tempo for my pace, but it was very fun anyway. What else did I do while walking? I thought about the secret giant project that has a tight deadline! Want a hint? Sorry, not yet! 😎 More will be revealed. . . meanwhile, look at this wall full of incomplete paintings and puzzle over why I am walking 9 miles instead of painting 24/7. The first person to tell me the correct reason will receive a small prize.
A Random List
While away over the weekend, I learned many new things. Here they are as they pop into my head:
- Google Maps can be used to see photos of the road and Carol showed me how!
- Single plied yarn knits up visibly different from multiple plied yarn (I always thought I was doing something wrong but it was the yarn – thank you Mendocino Yarn Shop!)
- Acrylic painting has many additives available to layer and mold and make relief type paintings. (How could I have never known this before? Because I am an OIL painter!)
- Seaglass is much more abundant after a storm. I read this; now I know it experientially.
- Finished seaglass is rounder and translucent; the differences are subtle but they matter to the collector.
- Most hot tubs are set at 104 degrees but 100 is still comfortable.
- My cell phone is capable of texting but it isn’t necessary nor convenient in my life.
- There is a new kind of dimmer on light switches that is so tiny one can (and did) miss it!
- A song I love, Gabriel’s Oboe, is from a movie called The Mission.
- The center of California is delineated on Hwy. 99 (already knew this but now know how to find it!)
- ALWAYS have a map with you when you are on a road trip because there might be a traffic problem that will negate your Google directions. I knew this but was ever so grateful to have followed this wisdom.
- ALWAYS have simple knitting in the car with you, even when you are driving alone, because you never know when the freeway will transform itself into a parking lot.
- NEVER drink too much coffee. (see #12) (I sure felt badly for the woman in the white sedan.)
- There is a specific (and odd) way of walking to increase one’s speed; Carol and I got a great laugh out of experimenting with this (easier to do when in a place where no one knows you.)
- Abstract art causes me to think of yarn. (Many things do this for me.)
More on Mendocino
There is a popular book among artists called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It recommends that artists take field trips to gather new inspiration. So, I took a field trip to Mendocino. I believe that we absorb much more visually that we realize, and although I might not have immediate plans to paint scenes of the North Coast (no outlet for selling them – gotta be practical here!), the beauty, the colors, something I saw in one of the galleries (or the yarn shop), something I saw or thought of while on my 9-1/2 hour drive could be the seed of a new idea. My friend is as obsessed with seaglass as I am with yarn, and since she lives in the Seattle area, we don’t get to spend much time together. I learned of Glass Beach in Ft. Bragg, and we decided to meet there. Although it was a stormy weekend, it was ideal. The best time to find seaglass is after a storm, and we were blessed with a sunny Saturday for our foraging.
The waves were awe inspiring.
This just cracks me up – Seattle girl soaking up Vitamin D on a California beach in January, BAREFOOT in a place called “Glass Beach” and with Starbuck’s coffee in her hand!
We had shoes on for this part.
It was definitely what John Eldredge refers to as a “rainbow day”. http://blog.ransomedheart.com/john/
California Center
I took a road trip over the weekend. On Monday, I drove NINE AND ONE HALF hours to get home. (It was worth it.) I might tell you about the trip in another blog entry, but this entry is to tell you about a curious thing. On Highway 99, north of Fresno but south of Madera, in the median is something that marks the center of California. It is a palm tree on the south side and a pine tree on the north! Someone showed me this a few years ago and then I couldn’t find it again. (My husband thought I just dreamed it.) Yesterday I stopped at a Starbuck’s in Chowchilla (I was dying of boredom by that time) and the server was chatty and helpful and told me about this! She brought it up, not me! Isn’t that cool?? here is the very blurry photo I took while driving (I think the big rig on my six was a little irritated at me – I’m sorry, Mr. Peterbilt)
The pine isn’t very large and is behind the palm because we are heading north.
Wild cats in my workshop
You may have discerned that I have a real weakness for cats. Back in 1987, there were some wild cats living underneath Thrifty Drug Store in downtown Visalia. I shared a parking lot with these cats and fell in love with one of the little ones. A man named George fed them regularly and helped me catch the long-haired one with Siamese coloring. Turns out this is a breed of cat called “American Ragdoll”. Of course I understand that my little cat was just a lucky accident of random breeding, but she most definitely had the characteristics of the Ragdoll breed. We had Fritzi for 13 years, and she was definitely the cat love of my life. After we lost her, I began looking for a baby Fritz. We had Wilson (aka Buster), Scout and Prudence, and then Zeke and Amos. The only survivor in this attempt so far is Zeke. He is definitely NOT of the American Ragdoll breed, although he does have the coloring and the size. Last fall, my friend from the Sequoia RV Ranch http://www.sequoiarvranch.com/ told me of a litter of cats underneath one of their storage mobile homes. When she described them, I knew I was a goner. Michael told me to just go get all three, and now for about 2 months we have had a mom (Cashmere) and her 2 little boy cats living in the workshop where I paint.
One of those little guys still won’t let us touch him. Look at him:
He has no tail and he hoppity-runs like a Manx. So far we have called him Hoppy, Cassidy, Butch, Manx, Dummy, and currently, Steely Dan. (He steals around? His eyes are steely blue?) How can one name a cat who won’t respond to any overtures in a positive manner? I could call him Scairdy or Chicken Little, but I like names with a little dignity for the cats in my life. By the way, Cashmere is reminding me an awful lot of my sweet Fritzi! Her son O’Reilly is just bold and fresh, and reminds me a bit of Buster. This guy? I dunno, I just dunno. Sigh.
The mind of one artist, final chapter
After I got to see the Palace of Fine Arts, I pulled out the map to pick a route back to the Dr.’s office. It felt far away, and it was around noon. Knowing I can walk a mile in 15 minutes, I figured I could get there by 1 p.m., and if not, I could call in to report my location. I chose a route that seemed direct but also took me back through the Presidio. As I walked, I kept revising the route to stay off the city streets for as long as possible. It was killing me to not be able to take photos of every beautiful site I passed, but the entire reason I was in San Francisco was to help D, not to build my photo library! (Besides, who in Three Rivers will want paintings of San Francisco??) Now this next part may seem like a bizarre digression, but stay with me. You may or may not know that I spent all of July 2007 in China. While there, I took photos of amusing signs, such as this one:
So there I was, striding for all I was worth, and suddenly there was a sign that made me laugh out loud and stop for one last photo:
‘Scuse me? Where I come from, we call them “speed bumps”. I got back to the Dr.’s office in plenty of time (it must have been my stride), saw that I walked 10 miles that morning, sat and knitted for another 1-1/2 hour, and finally D was ready to go. It was a long drive home, but D is recovering nicely and we had a great 2 days together. I can’t imagine just sitting in the Dr.’s office watching movies in San Francisco, and I don’t think it is being an artist that got me out. However, I do know way too many people would have been afraid to go exploring on their own and am deeply grateful that I am not one of that unhappy little club!
The mind of one artist, part 5
As I walked through Crissy Field, I blew past many many interesting buildings, and I stifled all the questions that were burning a hole in my head. I’ve been told that I ask too many questions; this is stupid, of course, because how else am I supposed to learn stuff? I know, the internet, but that wasn’t and still isn’t always available. Besides, inquiring minds like to know. If people don’t ask questions, they just bumble through life in ignorance. (Take that, you who think I ask too many questions!) Anyway, I was blowing past all these buildings because I could see a dome off in the distance. It reminded me of the one building I remember from some college class – something by the architect Bernard Maybeck that I thought was the most beautiful structure I had ever seen in my life. Despite the distance, I decided to go there and see it or I would always have regrets. I knew I might have to run the final 1 or 2 miles back to the Dr.’s office to fetch D after her surgery, but I HAD to see that building. See why?
It is called the Palace of Fine Arts, but I don’t get where the fine arts go because it doesn’t appear to have any walls! There wasn’t enough time to wander through it, so I had to be content with seeing it across the reflecting pool. It is even more fabulous that I remembered from that class lo those many years ago. And, when I got home I looked it up on the internet and was thrilled to see it was designed by Bernard Maybeck – why did I remember that?? Okay, so you don’t leave my site in overwhelmed awe, I will finish this story tomorrow!
The mind of one artist, part 4
When I reached the Marin end of the bridge, my Garmin showed 4 miles. The bridge is a mile long – did you know that?? I sure didn’t! I was so jazzed up that I called my walking friend K to tell her where I was. She is more familiar with SF than I am, so she sent me to Crissy Field. Not sure what this was, but now it is a HUGE grassy area by the bay with lots of interesting old buildings and great views. On my way there I had to photograph Fort Point, a wonderful landmark to visit if you are interested in sites from The War Between The States (it wasn’t a “civil” war because no wars are civil AND because the south wasn’t trying to overthrow the United States, but I digress.)
The arch over Ft. Point would be an impressive bridge all by itself, don’t you think? Here is Crissy Field. I was beginning to worry a bit about time, so I didn’t stop for many photos there. I did stop for a latte and a map, which helped immensely in my wonderings and wanderings. It would have been even more help if I had my reading glasses, but my pockets were full enough with the camera and cell phone (aren’t I a tech-geek?)
Oh my! Tomorrow is Christmas, so I will have to continue this later.