It Is True This Time

Not too long ago,I said that I had come to the end of several big projects and might be able to breathe again. And paint. I lied. Didn't mean to, but I did.

The last two weeks have been some of my busiest ever. Sort of like moving. A few helpers and I had to pack up one hundred paintings to be shipped out. I knew packing would take time. I wasn't looking forward to it, but it had to be done and I was in charge. I accepted that. But, whew! I didn't realize I would have so many problems getting shipping labels from artists or run into so many complicated sitautions. One artist had moved, so her new address on her package didn't match the one given on her UPS account. FedEx didn't want handwritten labels. I had no labels from many of the artists, and they didn't seem to know how to get them. I could sputter on, but at this point, I am tired of hearing myself talk about it. The job took the better part of nine days. Absurd. I made calls to artists, to UPS, to FedEx in the middle of the night - and you get India then.

And I had to, and wanted to, put in some grandmothering time. And there was a reception at the Art Center. We had just held a clay class - still trying to get masks fired. And went to meetings about the exhibit we want to present in 2013.

Painting? No way. I guess my brain needs to recover. I am reading books, finally getting in the mood to declutter the house, and just catching my breath. We are cooking at home again, I walked yesterday, and finally got to have my toes done this afternoon.

But I feel the urge coming on. Soon.

Inaugural Exhibit

About a year ago, I wrote a grant for Art Center Morro Bay, hoping for funds to purchase a laptop and projector to use in promotional presentations about the center. Of course that meant, if we were awarded the grant, that I had to design the presentations and give them.

We also asked for funds to add storage and a display wall in our Activity Room - primarily to use for our children's program.

We were awarded the grant, presentations are underway, and the new storage and display area are installed. Cork was applied to the wall earlier than I expected and loomed bare and large. A large reception was coming up, and I needed a kids show. I am surprise it took me a day or so to realize I had plenty of material right in my garage. I have hundreds of Buddy's drawings and some of Roo's paintings. That sparked more ideas, and I called the man who installed the wall to ask if his daughter would be in the inaugural show, too.

Check out the results in the pix above. Problem: Buddy and Roo were in Colorado. I am sad that they didn't get to see their show, but I will share it with them here. Their work had to come down to make room for the children's summer art camp work.

The juror for our encaustic exhibit, Consequential Fusion: Messages in Wax, spent a long while examining each of Buddy's drawings and photographing them. I am proud.

Ahhh!

Ahhhh! Home! Yes, the trip was fantastic, but I will tell you that when the intersection of Old Creek Road and Hwy 1 offered a gorgeous glimpse of the Pacific this afternoon, I thought perhaps I might be just as impressed with home as with any other place on our tour.

Then Papa and I rolled down the windows to take in the cool beach air of Los Osos. More ahhhhs. The house is tidy; the dog and cat seem happy to see us. Red flowers are blooming in the front yard. I checked my messages to discover the Art Center had sold another encaustic painting (not mine, but one form the IEA exhibit), and all the other messages were good ones, too. Now we are home with glasses of wine. Life is good.

As was the last leg of the trip - Bakersfield to Los Osos with a detour (literally) to Kern National Wildlife Refuge. Tillie the car girl had no clue how to get us there. The map was vague, and iPad offered little better. So we wandered. A CA Wildlife Official intercepted us, told us we must really be lost (I think he meant stupid), and set us on the right path. But all in all, we liked the adventure. And we finally reached Kern. We saw four or five great blue herons, great white herons and another roadrunner. Fun. The scenery was inspiring. We will go back next winter when the bird population is at its best.

Now to unpack, do laundry, and hopefully settle into a slow, comfortable pace. Is it possible?

Up and Down

Right on time, at the early hour of 10:00, we left Bishop, CA to drive through the Owens Valley area along the eastern side of the Sierras. We stopped in Lone Pine to gape at soaring Mount Wnitney. Many years ago, Papa had climbed that mountain, starting in Lone Pine and concluding his hike in Tulare. Now I can see why that eight day expedition still stands out as one of his important accomplishments! For many years he saved the boots he climbed in. Finally age and mold got the best of them. I am sure I was the one who insisted we toss them, but I did draw one boot first - the drawing is hanging in our kitchen.

The visitor's center models and maps gave me a better understanding of the Mono Lake, Mammoth Lakes, Mount Whitney, and entire Inyo areas. What wonders we have seen!

Today was a day of contrasts - from the broad valley to magnificent hills that abruptly spit us out into the flat town of Bakersfield. The temperature was consistant.....HOT. Tonight our dashboard display showed 87 at 7:17. 100 when we drove into town. I have enjoyed feeling warm, but now Los Osos is looking good.

Meanwhile Papa has totally corrupted me. For lunch we ate hot dogs from a convenience store we found right in the middle of nowhere. Then tonight in Bakersfield, we ate Basque food again. Not. The big difference in tonight's Basque restaurant and one we visited several days ago is that tonight the restaurant was packed. For the life of me I can't figure why. Yes, they serve family style, but there any resemblance to Basque ends. I think Basque has become an excuse to sloppily serve an odd assortment of greasy diner-type food. Again, Papa was in heaven. Hid did later agree that our waitress' style was rather like throwing paint at a fence. She brought bowls of soup, bread, beans, a dish of hot sauce for the beans, salad, nasty spaghetti, blah green beans, soggy french fries, and tongue. Most folks also ordered an entre. Not me. My ice cream and decaf were good. And so was our wine. In any case, dinner did provide an interesting adventure.

Spoiled

So, I am spoiled. We have established a morning routine. We wake. Papa goes to get my decaf and toasted raisin bagel while I check my mail. Eventually we muster enough energy to get ready for the next leg of our trip, usually about 10:00.

So we pulled out of Reno according to schedule and headed through Carson City and across the basin and range area into the Sierras. Papa explained that subduction of the ocean crust formed a massive batholith of magma over four hundred miles long. Millions of years ago the upward force of the magma formed the now extinct volcanoes that comprise the Sierras, mostly massive residue of granite exposed by erosion. Who knew?

At some point they were covered by glaciers that, when melted, left behind lakes like the beautiful Mono Lake we saw today. I gasped as we rounded a mountain curve to see the big, salty, very blue water. Though all the scenery today was stunning, Mono Lake was my favorite. Papa said the glacial moraines were his favorite and were worth the whole trip.

The combination of heat and altitude were ruthless, so were were happy to get back down to four or five thousand feet in Bishop tonight. Mono Lake is over nine thousand, and we were, for a short while, higher than that. Whew! No energy, I could barely move. I was happy to get back to the cool car.

Tomorrow we head for Bakersfield.

Irritation

So, last summer in Europe, I had just had my iPad for a few weeks. I thought I was a total incompetant for not knowing how to insert my photos into my blog or facebook. When I left for this trip, I figured I would research and figure it all out. Had to be simple, right?

So I have researched and found easy instructions. I have followed them exactly. When I insert a pic on my blog and preview it, the pic link is there. But it isn't. If I then publish and click to view the blog, poof! Gone. Same with facebook. I have downloaded several apps that are supposed to make it easy.

So far - nada. So I can't share photos of our trip:(

Riding High

Thankfully we were awake by the time the bikers took off from our Best Western this morning. We left a little while later, heading for Lassen Peak.

What a beautiful day! We saw more lava, of course, gorgeous vistas, and finally snow-capped Lassen in the distance. We stopped at an RV camp for lunch and resisted the cherry pie. Figured we had done enough damage.

We wanted to see as much as we could, so we picked the scenic route to our days-end destination - Reno. Our road took us through time warp towns, around many a hairpin curve, and finally up into the snow we had seen from a distance. All the smart people had come prepared with sleds, skis, and snowshoes to enjoy the spotty but deep snow that probably won't melt completely before they have more snow. I saw some drifts that were more than eight feet. I really couldn't tell how deep some of it might be. What a strange sensation to stand in the snow with the temperature at about seventy.

Of course our road didn't take us all the way to the peak, but we were way up there! About half way down from the highest point of our drive, a sign said we were at 4,000 feet.

I was still hoping for a magpie, and we sighted one in flight. I loved the beautiful tall pines, and when we stopped for photos or rest stops, the pine fragrance was powerful, nostalgic.

By about 4:00 this afternoon, we left our wonderful mountain drive and began our last stretch of the day by driving through a vast valley, leading to Nevada.

Now with a tummy full of Indian fare, Papa is snoozing in Reno. Tomorrow we head south and back into California along the eastern side of the Sierras. Tomorrow's destination is Bishop, CA.