A Weekend in Pasadena

I love this saying on the front of the Los Angeles Public Library directory:

"Think of the library as a convenience store for knowledge"

I would love to see more people excited about books and libraries. I can't express quite how much books have meant in my life. I love a variety of books, but if people would look at what they are interested in, I think they could fall in love with them. I worked in a prison for several years. There were people who went to prison never having been readers. But, prison is quite boring. Because of this I did meet inmates who became readers. I would say they could transport themselves somewhere quite different than the prison. Some men tried this out and did find that to be the case. 

So, in Kern County where I live, we have a proposition, Measure F on the ballot to add a 1/8 of one penny to the sales tax dedicated to the libraries in Kern County. There is only so much you can do without an adequate budget and I hope this will pass. As I shared in last weeks blog going to the Los Angeles Central Library made me so excited. We don't have the money to do what they do, but we can do so much more. 

We are the least funded library system for its size in California. Fresno County took the the same step in 1998.  They have extended the funding because of the wonderful difference it has made for their county. Bakersfield is the worse ranked city in California in literacy and we are third from the worst in the United States.  Why would we want to be a part of these statistics?  The solution asks so little of us and will have such an impact on our population. With more knowledge, people will be more employable.  Their health will improve as they understand what they need to do to be healthier. I think there will be positive affects in areas we aren't even thinking about. There was a nice article in our local paper, The Californian.

http://bakersfield.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5d56f0d3ba4b901846a167399&id=c926839462&e=a426936ed6

So I redid the waterfall, but I'm still not pleased.  I also made more definition with the river running over the rocks.  And, I attempted to make the picture of a pile of rocks I did stand out better.

The Kern River flowing over Rocks

Three Level Waterfall, with Branches at Top,
with Caves behind the Waterfall. 

Pile of Rocks

My friend Marykay, who is an artist has put the three pictures I gave her on her walls. It is an honor to me!  Here they are. 

I did a modern design of clouds, with the sun
setting over the beach in Pastels
The first picture I gave to Marykay.  I
really do love it!

My Deer and Lion

My Artist friend Marykay made a corner for them

Yesterday was the ninth anniversary of my husband Paul's death. I have spent this weekend with my step-mom Kate which was very good and lessened the pain I feel when it is around this date.  Kate's birthday was April 25. 

My daughter Jennifer posted a picture of her, her sister Shelley with their father which I took of them. I know they are appreciative of the pictures I took. I know I annoyed them having the camera in their faces. But now they really mean a lot to them.   I love looking at pictures of my husband Paul!

Jennifer, their dad, Paul and Shelley several years ago.

I was with my step-mom Kate, this weekend. We  saw Eye in the Sky at the ArcLight Cinema on Friday night. Interesting and suspenseful, but not a family or feel good movie.  Saturday was the ninth anniversary of Paul's death. I think because we had a lot going on, I did okay.  On Saturday night, we saw the play, You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw at the theatre A Noise Within which is in Pasadena.  It was too loud for Kate and me, especially two people who played immature twins, but I saw it as an experience.  I really do like experiences as they open me to see things in a different light. We also went to a lovely French restaurant  called Cafe Bizou in Pasadena where we each ordered a prix fixe lunch for an incredibly reasonable price, with the base price of $17 with some variation depending on the choices. I had the house Cabernet and it was delicious.  And to top it off, our waiter had a French accent!   The ambiance was so nice!  It was all very special and I want to go back there.  

Kate and I at Green Street for breakfast this morning
before I headed home.

This is a review by Brain Pickings on a woman's experience with using music to help her grieve: 

ainpickings.org/2016/04/14/wendy-lesser-room-for-doubt-music-grief/?mc_cid=9b04fc8c3f&mc_eid=6c84d8101c

That is it for my week.  It was good.  I really have nothing to complain about.  I hope your week went well and I will see you next Sunday.                                      Rachel

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Wild Weather This Week! We Were Definitely Affected by it!

So we had some very dramatic weather two days this week. The thunder was so loud the first night, it vibrated through my floor that I could feel it.  I think I was in the middle of it then and I was glad to be home.  My cats became very still and anxious, but since I was there, they just stayed close to me.   We had flash floods and mudslides in our county the second day.  Many people were trapped but no one was hurt badly.  When they did get these people, they were put up in churches and schools until it was safe to leave.    Some people were stuck in their cars for twenty hours.  I would say  this was very scary for these people.   In Bakersfield, we had very heavy rains for a very short time, with flooding and some traffic accidents.  My friend Janet and I met at Mexicali the second night. It was raining heavily and I could hear the rumble of thunder outside. Right outside the window we saw an accident where a truck (a pickup) hit an elderly man in a car. The ambulance and fire truck were there helping this man. I think he was more shook up than hurt, though his car was really damaged.  

Highways 58 and 5 were closed which are the connections to Southern California, Los Angeles.  When this happens, trips south of us are canceled.  This ground cannot handle so much water at one time.  It must be spread out and come down less fiercely for us to get the benefit of water.  We are in a drought, but the extreme the other way does more damage than help us.   On Saturday, yesterday, they were still warning about flash floods and telling people up in the mountains to head for high ground immediately but I heard no further update, so compared to what they had, it must have been less.

Here  is a video of some of the mudslide on 5 filmed by ABC 23 News and pictures taken by news stations and people who were in it. 

https://www.facebook.com/CassieCarlisle23ABC/posts/868707033177820

This is Highway 99 Coming into the Central Valley

I was in a situation like this soon after I moved to Bakersfield 37 years ago.  I had stopped to get a large iced tea at a fast food restaurant less than an hour before I was in this spot on Interstate 5 just before the Grapevine.  Ugh!  It was one huge parking lot at night time with people wandering around.  I had to pee so bad! I didn't think I could make it.  I emptied the tea and used that container covering myself with a coat that I had. I was up there for about three hours.  Your don't usually think of preparing for situations like this.  After that, I found a urinal for women pilots that I kept in the car.  I have it somewhere.  I think I'd better find it and put it back in the car!

This is Highway 58.  Hundreds of cars were buried along with a lot of trucks!  Amazing that no one was hurt!

https://www.facebook.com/bakersfieldnow/posts/10153669457364935  This video is very scary.  Women in a car are screaming and swearing fearful for their lives. It was possible also to be pushed off the highway which could have meant a very long fall.

Mud Rose So High that Cars Topped Trucks!

Many Cars and Trucks Were Buried in the Mud

My daughter Shelley took a picture of the sunset that evening. You wouldn't have known we had had such dramatic weather that afternoon. It took until the following afternoon to clear the  99 freeway so traffic could get through!  Highway 58 is still closed!

Sunset from My Daughter Shelley's Home
Picture by Shelley

My daughter Ronda in Illinois is involved in a project making Teddy Bears for children at a local hospital. I am impressed. Here is the first one she finished. She is disabled, so I am impressed she is actively doing this. 

Ronda's First Teddy Bear She Made
for Children at a Local Hospital Near Her

I got some pictures of my two great grandsons, Conner and Kason. Conner is a good big brother and they are very close. 

My Grandson Billy, his Wife Megan
and Their Two Sons, Conner and Kason

Conner is at the Top and Kason Just Below Him

My granddaughter Crystal invited me to watch a 3D ultrasound of her daughter Nylah, my first great granddaughter to be,  who is due in December. It was interesting. Nylah really didn't want to move, but there were a few pictures taken. About two or three weeks before she is due, Crystal will do this again. 

3D Ultrasound of Nylah Marie Garcia at 29 Weeks Gestation

This is my Granddaughter Crystal and Lorence

So at my art class with Carol Bradshaw, she showed me what to do to make my friend Barbara's dog Patti have a sense of roundness with shadows and highlights. I showed her what I had done with my friend Janet's dog Poopy and she felt I was coming along. She showed me how to do the hair on the edge of the body without outlining the body. I also showed her the picture I took of my cat Pepper that I want to do. The assignment is just the contour drawing of her.

I added shading to Patti to give her form.
Patti was a mix of Pug with Miniature Bull Dog

I included a picture of Pepper so you could
see her bow above her lip.

My first attempt to draw Pepper whole.
I have drawn her face in the past.
This is just a contour.  Much more needs to be done.

This is Poopy using curved lines to show hair.
She was a Bichon Frise

I shaded in the body and then used an
eraser to make the hair on Poopy in
this version.

Last Sunday my friends Barbara and Janet an I saw The Martian. That was a great movie. The science was as accurate as it could be with our current knowledge. It was also a feel good movie with China helping the United States to save this man and the whole world anxious for all to turn out well. Great movie!  And, we finished it off by going to Casa Loma a good Mexican restaurant close to my home. 

It was a very exciting week with the weather we had. It is supposed to be an El Niño year, which means lots of rain. It is good, but we do much better stretching it out rather than having it come so fast and hard in such a short period of time. Actually, what we need is snow in the higher areas.  When it melts, it will come to us.  Our ground can't seem to handle much direct rain.  Then we have flash floods and mudslides.  Highway 99 opened the following afternoon and 58 remains closed, but should open soon.

That is it for an unplanned exciting week. I hope yours was less exciting than this. I will see you next Sunday.   Rachel

Getting Back Into My Art

I really have been resting. So this was a forced break. I needed it.

Monday was my birthday and it was a pleasant one. I turned 65 so officially I'm eligible for all the senior discounts out there. My Kaiser Senior Advantage went into effect this month. There are some savings, but from what I had, it isn't that dramatic Had lunch and margaritas with my friend Janet Seinturier. I am still not driving, so if I go out someone has to do the driving. Shelley and my grandson Kevin came by in the evening with cheese cake we enjoyed together and a lovely gift of a coffee carafe. I look forward to doing a brunch and have coffee in this carafe.

I continued my celebrations. After my art class with Carol Bradshaw, Valerie and I ate at the Padre Hotel. We ate in the bar and the food was excellent. I had a salmon salad and Valerie had chile verde tacos. Then on Wednesday, Barbara Long and I ate vegetarian at Mama Roomba.  It is not noted as a vegetarian restaurant, but the non-meat choices are very good. They have a wonderful vegetable soup. We also had sautéed mushrooms and a mixed bean salad with oil infused with cilantro. It also tasted like it had finely minced garlic. Their mojitos are great, and, of course I had one of those.

This week I did work on my art. I have had little energy up to now so it was a nice change. I did draw the barn with silos and a waterfall with little detail. Next week we are working on parrots. As my teacher says "something is better than nothing", because it gives her a sense where I'm getting it and where I'm not.  Then she can give me feedback to improve my drawing.

I didn't need to return to the doctors office for the cast this week. The cast fits better and the break  is improving some, though I continue to take pain medications because it calms the pain down. Another interesting thing is that my back has just about become a non-issue. I have had a couple of twinges, but very minor. One of my friends thinks that it is because I've been doing a whole lot less than I had been doing.  I thought it was because my wrist hurts the worst at this time. I'll see when my wrist heals more.
My friend Lynn asked me how I was doing asking others for help. I will admit, it really is difficult to do. I would really rather be on the other side and helping others. I try to remind myself that I have no problem helping others when they need the help and I can help. I worry about being a burden on others. Now that I think about it, many seniors worry about being a burden on others. That is why I push to do what I can for myself. Valerie feels we have to be on the receiving end "to balance the universe". "Everyone needs to give and take" according to Valerie.  The other issue is when I need help for toileting issues  I've always been so private that this is particularly hard.  When I was in the hospital, I found them putting in a foley catheter to urinate an incredible invasion of privacy.  The nurses just looked at it as a procedure to do which helped some in not getting embarrassed.  I do know many people who don't find this embarrassing. So, this is not an easy subject. I would like to hear what others think. What would you do if you were in this spot?

Today my friend Valerie Slocum and I went to watch a movie called "Strangers in Good Company" at the Art and Spirituality Center.  Excellent as usual and great discussion afterwards.

I've had no contact with my grandson and his family except through the internet.  They have offered to come over to help, but I have resisted visits from everybody. I'm at the tail end of this cold. It is no longer waking me up in the middle of the night. But, they have been posting such cute pictures and I can't resist sharing them.

So next weekend I am meeting with people I used to work with which will be about 1 1/2 hours north..I'm taking the train. My friend Janet will get me to the station here and another friend Annemarie will pick me up. We have done this several times.  We make it a mini-vacation. The hotel is very pleasant with a nice pool. Since I have a cast, all I'll be doing is dangling my legs in the water. The restaurant Tommy's is also a pleasant setting and my memory of eating here is very good. We expect our group to be a little smaller than usual, but I can't remember a time when it wasn't a great gathering.

Valerie Schultz wrote a good article in the Bakersfield Californian on grief that I would like to share.  I felt this with my losses.  I believe many of you will relate to it.  :

Valerie Schultz on grief

Thursday, Jul 03 2014 01:19 PM
VALERIE SCHULTZ: Grief is dark shadow over these early summer weeks
By The Bakersfield Californian

My sister calls it the trifecta, although without the happy connotation of that word: the window of time every year from Father's Day in June to our dad's birthday in July. In between is Independence Day, the date of our dad's death. The trifecta covers about a month. It is our yearly time of intensified grief, when we are reminded that we are fatherless, and we relive the days leading up to his death, and we regret that there are no more of his birthdays to celebrate. I'm always glad when the trifecta is over. It's not that I miss my dad any less during the rest of the year; it's just that the loss doesn't seem as in-your-face once the trifecta passes.

This year is the fifth trifecta, and I have learned that time does not really soften the ache. But then I think of my dad's simple, sunny outlook on life, and I know that he would want us to focus less on the bitter and more on the sweet. Our extended family has had some bad blood among its members since my dad died, but we've also had weddings and anniversaries and graduations. We've had new babies born.

My dad was a fantastic grandpa, and he would have doted on these miraculous additions as much as he adored my daughters. He taught me to appreciate the whole "circle of life" concept, just by the way he'd sit back at family gatherings and marvel at the little ones running around the pool, at the noise and laughter of people enjoying time together, at the palpable life in our midst. "This is what it's all about," he'd say, smiling fondly and taking in the progress of his progeny.

My dad was right: Life blazes on and holds us in thrall with its bounty and blessings. Our family has journeyed on without his physical presence, and we even feel completely happy at times.

And who would have imagined that my mother, in her 80s and in frail health, would find a boyfriend? But she has, and she seems content in this new chapter of her life. Sometimes I want to resent her boyfriend, as though it's his fault that my dad is gone, as though he could ever replace my dad, but I know my dad would tell me to let it go.

One of my sisters has speculated that maybe our dad somehow arranged from the afterlife for this new guy to take care of his wife, since he was no longer around to do it. Maybe so: It would be like him to have picked a fellow Navy man.

I feel pensive during the trifecta. I suppose we learn at an early age that whenever love is involved, there will be loss. We lose our pets. We lose our oldest relatives. We lose our innocence. We lose our illusions. Sometimes we lose the very youngest among us, which is an even deeper sort of pain.

But we continue to love, and risk the consequences, because life is hollow without love. Our loved ones expand our hearts, elicit our loyalty, engage our selflessness, enlarge our life experience. We can't ignore death, especially a death that pains us so, but we can accept it as a stage of the life that stubbornly burgeons and blooms.

My siblings and I visit our dear departed dad's grave under the reliably shady oak tree every 4th of July. We bring flowers, breathe a prayer, maybe read a poem or play a song. We aren't much in the mood for corn-on-the-cob and parades and fireworks, but our dad really loved all that jazz, all that patriotic zeal, so we try.

When night comes and the fireworks are finished, the trifecta is two-thirds over for another year. Life will continue to delight us and inspire us and challenge us and occasionally break our hearts, and we will try to handle it all with the grace we were taught, and that we must now pass on to our children.

"Let grief be your sister, she will whether or no," writes the poet Mary Oliver, in "Flare," the poem that I brought this year graveside. "Rise up from the stump of sorrow, and be green also / like the diligent leaves."

Life really is a circle, a vine twirling and twining onto itself, and we all flower along the way, from life to death to life. We may never quite stop grieving when we lose someone we love, but with each day, we feel ourselves turning toward the light.

Living fully, being "green also," is how we honor those who have gone before us, how we keep the arc of the circle climbing.

This husband takes pictures of his wife who eventually died with breast cancer.  I felt it was nicely done and touching.

Captures Love and Loss Beautifully


That's it.  I'll see you next Sunday.             Rachel