Roaming the Mountains

This beautiful picture was posted by California Camping.  I have spoken to several people about why the wild flowers bloomed so early and how long they will go.  The feeling is that the weather has been warmer and this has been why the flowers are going so long.  There is a possibility of a second bloom.  I will be going up in this area soon so hopefully I'll be lucky enough to get pictures like these.

Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve

I went to my teacher, Carol  Bradshaw's home in the mountains.  Her neighbor Sue, whom I met last time when I joined them for dinner told me that Rita's daughter started reading the China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and his son who is an MD, both Americans looking at the connection between diet and disease.  She already was making changes in how she ate and was pleased. She has rheumatoid arthritis. One of my friends, Barbara had this and has been able to control her disease because of the information in this book.  This book is quoted by many authors writing about diet.  "It is the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted for diet, weight loss, and long-term health."  An absolutely fascinating book.

I saw wild cucumber vine that is smothering bushes and trees. Carol and her neighbor work to keep it under control, but it is a continuous job. I'm amazed she can do this, because it is massive!  I suppose this is great exercise.  I find looking at it overwhelming. But Carol feels it gets her out of her house.

So the plan was to take pictures and draw rocks, rivers, flowers and old buildings. We bought sandwiches at Subway and went to a local park where we got several pictures. We actually did not have time to draw, but we did get wonderful pictures. Now I've been around this area several times and I was not familiar with a lot that she pointed out. She has "the eye."  I don't.  She is so much more observant.  I also took pictures for my classmate with Carol's urging  "Get that one Rachel. Wayne would like that". When I got home, I printed them to take to class. 

We also drove around the lake which looks more like a puddle now. Evidently, this dam  was made for agriculture. So, that is where it goes. There was water in the river above the lake, but the lake does not grow with the added water. 

Lake Isabella Shrunk from the Drought and use by agriculture

We saw barns and other buildings built in the 1800's that were coming down.   They make fascinating pictures. 

Carol pointing at scenes I needed to get

There was a whole family of deer here.  Look to the left
of the tree on the right and there is one peeking at us.

Carol said "Note how these buildings
are in different directions"

Carol said "A line of mailboxes makes a good picture"

I saw a type of cactus that I said was a Yucca. Carol said it wasn't and had gone through the whole alphabet to try to come up with it. I thought I was the only one who did that!  She finally shouted out Joshua Tree!  She was right. It grows in a very small window of elevation here. When you get out of that window, it is no more. 

A  Joshua Tree

Oh, and this is a Yucca Tree.  Not
even close!

We also stopped at a country store in Onyx. It opened in 1851.  It had been closed for nine years recently, so it was very nice to see it open. No pictures allowed in the store.  It is an old fashioned store with some unique buys.  They even had old fashioned candy.

When we had class, both of us received messages that Wayne, my classmate had to finish the cupboards in his kitchen before he came back. His wife was upset with him stringing this out so long. So I hope he gets to it. He has wonderful art skills and it would be a shame if he didn't continue it.  Carol showed me further about shading rocks to give them form and texture. In addition, she showed me how to make rocks look under water, how to show the white when it is splashing around rocks.  

This is my drawing of a pile of rocks.  I attempted to
give it a feeling of water going around it.

I went to a Brush and Blush paint class held at The Fire House. I had never been there before. It had several sections with parts being family friendly. They even had a bowling alley and a room filled with billiard tables. They even offered off track betting!  I hardly ever see that!  They had full dinners and appetizers, and of course alcohol. 

This class we did a butterfly. My daughter Shelley and I joined several of our Red Hat friends.  The others there were Evelyn, Evelyn's daughter Debbie, Pamela, Judie, Marti, my daughter who is a Red Hat member Shelley and me.  Shirley who moved to the coast also joined us. It was so good to see her. I think if I did this again, I would do much better. I would extend the color out further. But, even though it could have been better, they all looked like butterflies. I also am really getting a sense of how to use acrylic paint. 

My version of the butterfly

Evelyn our leader with Shirley who moved to the coast (I miss her!)

Shelley and me

Most of us who went - Evelyn, Marti, Shirley, Me, Shelley and Pamela

Evelyn and her daughter Debbie

Marti who is showing off her work

Judie working on her painting

My teacher Carol said her students ( including me will have their art on the wall at The Bakersfield Art Center which will be up on First Friday of July which falls on July 1st. I'll remind you. If you can make it, come.  It will be a nice evening from 6 pm to 9 pm.  We will probably have 2 to 4 of each of our pictures. 

My cat Daisy gets very loving with me.  She can't seem to get close enough.  I can start to feel crowded!

So it was a good week.   We are getting together this afternoon for Easter.   I love getting together with my family. I hope you are doing well and I'll see you next Sunday.        Rachel

Poppies Would Be Ending Soon. So Beautiful!

Jerry Melnick got this beautiful shot of poppies in Big Sur California.  

Jerry Melnick- Poppies in Big Sur, California

At my art class with Carol Bradshaw, my classmate Wayne was there.  I'm glad he is back.  So we are working on rocks. I put sand on a cookie tray and placed rocks on it and this is what I came up with. 

River Rocks on Sand

The next picture will be rocks in a river. 

Barbara, Janet and me had dinner at Chef's Choice Noodle Bar, which we call "Noodles".  Then we went to see Crosswinds Trio presented by the Bakersfield Community Concert Association it was a combination of Jazz and classical.  There was a piano, trumpet and baritone. Each were excellent. We have enjoyed all shows. There are two more shows and it is well worth the money. If someone buys a ticket  at the door, it would cost $30 and worth it. But if you buy for the season, it costs $80 for the season.  Now that is a deal!  

Crosswinds Trio

On St. Patrick's Day, Janet and I joined Celeste, my neighbor at the Renegade Room of Bakersfield College which has a cooking school.   Celeste's son is taking the course and does some catering already.  This gives him more skills to use.  That evening they had corned beef and cabbage, plus many Irish dishes I have not had. Very tasty. Thursday evenings they put on a buffet with a theme.  So we are going back for this. Tuesday evenings they provide two choices. We did this once. It was bland, but I'm not ready to give up on it.   I believe they do lunch on Wednesday.  I highly recommend a reservation.  The price is reasonable and the food is good.  The students do the cooking and serving. To make reservations, call 661-395-4441.

Renegade Room at Bakersfield College

I'm reading a couple of science fiction books. If you have read or watched The Martian and Interstellar, I want to read something like these. They use science as best as they can. I find it more fascinating.  If you know of stories along those lines, please let me know. 

My granddaughter Crystal has a lovely picture of her and her daughter Nylah.  I would like to share it.

So that was it for the week.  I have been aiming at getting it slowed down and it did.  All is well here.  I hope your week went well and that next week will be good for you too!                       Rachel

Back to Art Class and Finding More Pictures for Ancestry.com

David Rivas from Bear Valley Springs took this beautiful pictures the poppies in the hills above Arvin (a small town by Bakersfield).  Our air quality is so poor here, but the poppies do well despite this.  I find it depressing even seeing it in this picture.  Those up in the mountains have much nicer air.

Picture by David Rivas of Bear Valley Springs
Poppies above the town of Arvin

I had my class with Carol Bradshaw. No one else showed up. I was surprised Wayne wasn't there and texted him. He didn't put it down and had workmen there repairing his roof. He said he would be there next week.  So Carol showed me a project I could work on. She suggested I take a contour drawing I have of an animal and do Zentangle type of designs inside. So I am looking at those I have done.  We worked on drawing rocks. She crumpled a paper and showed how I could see a Rocky Mountain ridge or a rock. She also brought smooth river rocks and coarse ragged rocks suggesting I use sand to bury them slightly using a cookie sheet to hold the sand.  The other thing was her using mats of different sizes and throwing or placing them on the the rocks to create a piece I would draw. 

Take crumpled paper and draw the angles you see
I haven't drawn this yet.

Take a cookie sheet with sides, put sand on it,
then river rocks.  Then draw what you see
I haven't drawn this yet.

This was my second attempt with ragged rocks

This was my third attempt with ragged rocks

What I have to have for next class on Tuesday is just the outline of the rocks.  I'm going to do the river rocks in the sand for that. 

   

Barbara and I went for the last chance to get the 1/8 of one cent sales tax dedicated to our libraries on the June ballot. This was a very harried experience because it was difficult to get a second on the motion to put it on the ballot. Eventually 3 out of 5 board members agreed to it. The problem is that they took a poll and the results were 60% in favor of the tax. This requires a 66 2/3 percent approval and the pollers feel it would not pass easily.  The part I didn't understand is why they only asked Republican women who are likely to vote in this poll.  So the people taking the lead in favor of the library feel they have a lot of work to get it passed, but they are determined. 

I needed to get my car in for service and finally got it done. The big item was new tires. Ugh!  Well at least everything is working.   I found out a couple of things.  Don't let your key fobs be by each other because they will drain each others batteries.  By the way, the same goes for the car.  I used to leave them in the car, since it was in the garage, but the keys and the car battery  drain each other.  I found both these out through experience.

Janet and I met at Mexicali's.  Janet and I are realizing that our relationship is very important to both of us.  So even though our politics are almost polar opposites, we don't want that to get in the way of spending time together. We have both been through a lot and have been support to each other during these times.  It meant a lot.  We have events planned in the near future that we both are anticipating with some involving Barbara. 

I received a notice that my phone can be upgraded. This is every two years. I was worried with some problems I was having. Now all is okay again. 

Here are recent pictures of  two of my great grandchildren. As they grow, their individuality comes out more.  So sweet!  They are so well loved!

Nylah really does have a beautiful smile!

Kason looks tired!

....................................

The following was taken from an article on the role of the chaplain in the Navy. The part I copied is about the factors that influence how a person copes. This is universal and worth noting.  The title was  

Chaplains Help Provide Perspective on the Grieving Process, from navy.mil in response to the attack on civilian sailors in the Washington Navy Yard, September 16, 2013. 12 were people were killed and eight wounded.  

"Grief is always painful, and sometimes it is pretty straightforward and understandable; sometimes it can be complicated and confusing. For example, if one's ninety-year-old grandmother died peacefully in her sleep, a family would naturally grieve her anticipated loss. However when death is sudden or unexpected, traumatic, senseless, and out of sync with life's natural order, grief can be complicated.

There are certain things that can affect how we grieve:

-How close we are, emotionally and geographically, to the person who died.

-Our belief system and view of death can both influence the grieving process.

-What kind of support we experience from our family, our community, our faith group, and others important to us while we are grieving.

-How we cope with other significant life events, including the death of others we are close to.

Chaplains can help support an individual as they begin the process of grieving. They offer perspective and insight to help an individual understand the difference between grief associated with an anticipated loss and grief associated with a sudden, unanticipated loss. 

They can also help validate what an individual is experiencing throughout the grieving process and the time often needed to process one's grief; this includes the fact that there is no set time frame when grieving. Every individual is different".

.......................................

I finished reading The Bible. It took me a couple of months. The amount of time I dedicated to it daily varied depending on other activities I had going. I believe it was an interesting thing to do. I have heard

many of the stories, songs and poetry, though I think the sources varied.  It was fascinating to read from front to back. 

The next one to read will be the Tanakh (The Hebrew Bible). 

My friend Mike has done a lot on my family tree. I've also gotten more pictures from my second cousin Simy.  Mike watches Ancestry on PBS and had just seen one on Dustin Hoffman. He felt his situation was very similar to mine.  The short I watched of it, seemed very familiar.  Simy found family who also died in the Holocaust. She also has family who went to live in Israel.   My cousin Steve was contacted soon after moving to California by a man with the last name of Gamarnick, the original family name on my father's side through his father. He worked his way up a company there and has since died. What is interesting, and I can only speak for me, is that I was not interested in exploring this when I was younger. So I wonder if that is a result of approaching death and wanting to understand where I came from, but only recently. I do want to hear the stories now. In the past, I found it boring. 

I found a pictures with my uncle Eli (who was a physicist) and me and another with my Aunt Shirley, my daughter Ronda and me.  This was probably around 1981. They have both since died.  They both were very special to me and I miss them.

My and Uncle Eli

Aunt Shirley, Me and my daughter Ronda

That is it for the week. I hope your week went well and this next week goes well too!                         Rachel

A Featured Artist, Wildflowers and Work on Ancestry

Jody Semper took this gorgeous picture of the wild flowers at Tejon Ranch, perhaps 30 miles away from my home.   I wonder if it was in an off road area. So beautiful!

It is a very short time when the wildflowers are in bloom.  It is so magical, and  Jody Semper
got a gorgeous shot of them!  She posted in Facebook

First Friday is a regular event in downtown Bakersfield. It is primarily to support the art galleries but there were street venders selling homemade jewelry and other crafts, plus art.   It was a balmy 73 degrees at 6:30 pm, a good place to go with girlfriends or a date. The restaurants do a booming business that evening, so if you are planning on dining out, I'd recommend a reservation for that evening. It is a little crowded, but with street musicians and all the activity, it makes a wonderful night out. 

I went to an art show of Cheri Moats Sperl at the Bakersfield Arts Association on First Friday.  We used to work at the same place, Memorial Hospital, she a dietitian and me a social worker. Then a few months back while I'm in my art class, she walks in. She looks very familiar and I couldn't place her. I asked her name and with my surprise and then telling her my name, it all came back. Well she has become an accomplished artists.  She uses oils.  She does lots of cat pictures and scenery and people.  The people are in very relaxed states. She has three indoor cats and two outdoor cats, so she gets many poses from them.  All of her pictures look relaxed and natural.  It really is a comfortable position people and animals are in. So Cheri continues as a full time dietitian and has produced a lot of art in a few short months. She tells me she has the essence of cat down. She sure does as she has the essence of people too!    Cheri sold several pieces on the first day of her showing!  This show will go through March. Cheri started painting four yeas ago.  I love what she is doing and she said all feedback she gets improves her work. Well I love it now, so I wonder where she will be in four more years!

Cheri Moats Sperl, Featured Artist at the Bakersfield Arts Center and Association

Oil Painting by Cheri Moats Sperl

The Artist, Cheri Moats Sperl

As I was leaving the art center, I went into Encore Boutique - Chic Resale. It is situated in the building the Art Center vacated on Eye street. A woman, Cath, came up to me saying she felt I hadn't been there before, which was true. She explained that this is a project of The Mission (changed the name from the Rescue Mission four years ago).  It is a fundraiser and way for people in their programs to get experience in retail to hopefully become employable.  Clothing is either gently used or new. It is set up like any other clothing store around. The most expensive items, at least on the first floor were $12, but if you bought two, the charge would be $20. There were quite a few people  browsing and shopping.   The second floor was a bridal boutique and men's clothing.   I think it is worth checking out.

. 

Encore Boutique
1817 Eye Street
Bakersfield, CA 93301

I went with Barbara to the Board of Supervisors meeting.  It was supposed to be the vote to put an 1/8 of a cent increase in the sales tax to be dedicated to the library. When funds are tight, the library loses. It is the least funded library system in California and we have the lowest literacy level  at least in the state.  Well, they were expecting the results of a poll on the desire for this tax, but it will not be ready until this next Tuesday. It is also the latest date to get this done so it can get on the June ballot.  Anxiety is ratcheted up!

Kern County Board of Supervisor's Meeting

My cousin Barrie sent me old pictures of my family which are meaningful. My grandmother's brother and his son also died in the holocaust. I had found out her sister died in the holocaust from the information I got last week. Incredible what humans will do to other humans!  It makes me angry and very sad. 

Riven Weinstein, brother of my grandmother
Fannie.  Both he and his son died in
the Holocaust.

My dad with his parents,
Julius and Fannie

My dad and his brother Milt, unknown age

Me in first grade - I see my dad
in my face

Me in second grade - I see my
dad even more in this picture.

My Grandfather Julius with his sister.
I don't know her name.

My grandmother is sitting on the left.  She was a
dressmaker.

My friend Barbara and I got together to watch two movies that we missed at the theater, Suffragette and Room.  Both so very different.  It was a little hard to hear the talk in the movie Suffragette.  Thank goodness we can show closed captioning.  That really helped.  Room was fascinating.  The thoughts of the child seemed like the thoughts a child might have.  Interesting how it was hard to understand concepts like outside and inside when you have only been inside.  Well done.

I have 10% of The Bible left. From what I'm reading, the hatefulness of some people is not what The Bible supports. I saw love, even with people who are not like each other, unless they meant to do harm.

My art classes with Carol Bradshaw starts on Tuesday.  That is good, because I need pushing.  We are doing rocks, drawing one class, then detail in the second class.  I hope to use the pictures I took in the canyon.  I got lots of rocks.  I would have liked to go closer to the water, but I don't trust myself in being able to walk steadily.  And, I went alone.  If I ran into trouble I couldn't count on someone seeing or hearing me in a timely manner if I needed it.

So that is in for me.  It was a full week in a different way, but good.  I like all that I do.  I feel very fortunate.  I hope you are doing well, and I will see you next Sunday.                   Rachel