In my ongoing attempts to understand why my feet are numb, I went to see a Big Deal neurologist. She was informative, thorough, and honest about the fact that 50% of people with peripheral neuropathy never learn the cause or make it go away. Lots of blood was drawn for many tests; more will be revealed in the fullness of time.

The weather was perfect. Everything was beautiful. Everything was expensive.

I mitigated the medical nature of the trip with a little sightseeing to something that I have enjoyed since fourth grade. It took the edge off of the assault of freeways, a city, and all the accompanying stressors.

In fourth grade I built a version of the Santa Barbara mission using milk cartons covered in inside-out paper grocery bags, complete with little bells borrowed from my mom’s Christmas decorations. It was totally boss.

Some of these photos might be fun for my drawing students to work from. They are often on my mind, particularly during our 2 month summer break. And some of these might make nice paintings, but I tend to focus on local subjects, since my customers are primarily local.

I don’t mind. Freeways and cities are for other people. They can stay there, and I will occasionally visit, and probably stop at Trader Joe’s, because we will never get one in Tulare County.