Thomas Wolfe Had a Point

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Sometimes you can’t go home again. Same applies to Caliente Creek Road. While my little story here has nothing to do with Wolfe’s isolation from home, it does connect with his famous title. And, let’s face it, I can go back to Caliente Creek Road and, indeed, have already done just that.

Sadly, it wasn’t the same. Those magical late March flowers that blanketed the area and the extraordinary spring light that touched the trees just as they were leafing out—gone. There still is a great deal there to interest me; but, as is often the case with love at first sight, closer examination has shown the subject of desire to be a bit more ordinary than it initially appeared to be.

[Note: The photo above is from the March 29 visit.]

The Husband was in a mood for a drive a couple of days ago, and I never say “no” to the possibility of a scenic drive. He wanted to check out the possibilities of expanding promotion of his farrier business into that close-by area, and I happily grabbed camera gear, eager to tag along for the ride.

The fact-finding mission was a success, and The Husband will be asking for help sending off ad copy to the small local paper. However, the drive convinced me that my original idea about making Caliente Creek Road the subject of my SoFoBoMo project was ill-conceived. The flowers are almost all gone; the oaks no longer appear lavender in the evening light; and, the greens are downright earthly. As I’ve said already, there are still many more photos to take along that road, but it won’t be the location for my photo book. The light is terribly tricky on that twisty windy road through the canyon. I will need to study the area for quite some time to do it justice.

But, all was not lost. An unexpected bonus of the trip was our stop in the midst of the ranching country outside the canyon. We checked out the Twin Oaks General Store and Restaurant. The Husband had wanted to stop to ask about the local paper and to grab a cup of coffee—which, of course, meant a treat for him. He had the gall to choose one of my favorite treats, one of those packages of powdered donuts. (I know, not exactly a culinary triumph, but I still remember how much I loved them back in graduate school.)

What now serves as a general store and cafe is an old schoolhouse—complete with a chalk board that covers an entire wall. The building itself will be fun to examine more than once, but the most fun for me was meeting a gentleman at a table near ours. Partly because there were a few interesting photos on the wall and partly because the sight of those donuts was driving me crazy (I have mentioned that I have to maintain a strict gluten-free diet. Sigh.), I soon got out of my chair and wandered. Before long, I approached an elderly couple by the wall and asked permission to look over their shoulders at some fading black and white photographs behind them. I asked a question about the photos and we got involved in a conversation. It turns out that the fellow in one of the photos was the gentleman I was talking to and he had lived in the Twin Oaks area all his life. Indeed, with his well-worn black cowboy hat, dusty boots, and weathered face, he looked to be part of the land.

As usual I chickened out on asking his permission to take a photo. They were eating after all, and once he apologized for being difficult to understand saying that he had just had his teeth pulled. The meeting had seemed charmed. These strangers were friendly and only appropriately guarded, faced with a stranger asking questions. The man’s eyes twinkled, and he was quick to smile in spite of his recent dental surgery. I couldn’t bear the thought of having it all end on a negative note. Not to mention that I haven't explored portrait photography and know I couldn't begin to capture the fascination of this marvelous old character.

The couple left before we did and I watched them walk out, he stiff and seriously favoring one leg. As they disappeared, I resolved to revisit The General Store and some day I will take a new photograph of that friendly face—along with some of the other residents of Twin Oaks, I hope.

Oops, I suppose I have made the point that on one hand, the Caliente Creek road just got more interesting as her blinding beauty faded. Beneath the surface is a grand old gal with marvelous stories to tell—stories that deserve more than a month’s worth of exploration by an outsider.

Framing and Matting Blues

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I have barely begun the process of transferring prints into frames that will allow me to lower prices so I am more in line with the local market, and I’m already burned out on the job. As much fun as shooting is and as much as I enjoy and get lost in the job of processing, that is how much I dislike matting and framing. I need to discover some way to find real joy in that job. Yes, I do enjoy seeing the final product, but the work? Yecch. For the last few days, I have had a lot of other work to do; but today I couldn’t justify not spending some time in the salt mine. Finally, I ran out of wire. Thank goodness. Another excuse to do something else. After all, I will have to go into town to the hardware store, won’t I? I can’t get around that. Yippee!

Horses and Contradictions

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Yesterday at 5 PM, we had sleet along with an 18 to 20 MPH wind. One thing I have noticed is that precipitation here frequently comes at us on a diagonal—rarely straight down. Temperatures in the 30s, wind, sleet. So much for the imminent arrival of spring. Well, I can’t say that I hadn’t been amply warned.

At any rate, this weather proves that Lancer is a pretty smart horse. Lancer grew a heavy furry coat this winter and he hasn’t yet begun to shed. I guess he is getting the last laugh. Night, on the other hand, never grew as heavy a coat.

I think that I know some of the reasons for the discrepancy. (Mind you, this is not a scientific article.) First, Night was born in Idaho and lived there for the first couple of years of his life. Lancer had never lived anyplace other than balmy southern California. I am guessing that Lancer realized he was in for something early on with the first cold spell up here and his body went a bit nuts with the fur coat idea. The second thing is that Lancer is always a tad underweight. There is nothing wrong with him—well, nothing physical, at least—he is just hyper, even for an Arabian. He stays pretty much on the move. If he is penned up in his corral (currently a 24’ x 24’ space), he spends an inordinate amount of time weaving (shifting his weight rapidly from one front leg to the other). All he accomplishes is burning tons of calories, but he doesn’t see it that way. Still, it means that he doesn’t have much of a layer of fat to help keep him warm.

I have already mentioned that Lancer is from racing stock. While he has never seen a race track, his sire had quite a racing career. The result of the breeding is that while The Husband enjoys participating in endurance races, Lancer only gets the race part of that concept. His idea is to take off as soon a possible and cover ground as quickly as possibly. The endurance part means nothing to him. Because endurance rides are interchangeably known as endurance races, I suppose we can see where he gets confused. However, since the rides/races cover anywhere from twenty-five to one hundred miles, it is obvious that a horse who doesn’t “take care of himself” does not have the make-up for endurance. Lancer isn’t an endurance horse.

Night, on the other hand, is atypically lazy for the breed. Take note of that final qualifier. The gray would never be taken for a Quarter Horse, but compared to the chestnut he’s down right calm. He, by the way, is fine with endurance rides and sees no point in racing unless urged.

All this rambling leads me to my point about the photo above. When The Husband recently took Night out for a ride, leaving Lancer behind, I wondered what the show would be like. I was a bit surprised. While Night had remained agitated almost the entire time Lancer was gone, Lancer got over his abandonment issues fairly soon. He charged about madly for a bit, calling out to his buddy, and making a big fuss. But, before long, he began to notice that there was quite a lot of uneaten grass and after a bit, he would charge once around the pasture, pause to nicker plaintively, then take some time out from missing Night to nibble. Horses are a mass of contradictions.

Time Management

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The harder I work the behinder I get. What’s with this? I know that many of our faculties begin to fail as we age, but I seem to be less and less efficient at keeping up with my self-assigned chores.

My to-do list never shrinks. It just keeps growing longer and longer. Believe me, this isn’t happening because I spend my time doing admirable things such as keeping a pristine house and cooking three meals a day for The Husband. By the way, I love him enough to cook for him, but we both have rather strange eating habits. Because of my pesky digestive problems, I am forced to graze throughout the day eating tiny, strange meals that are the mostly the antithesis of what average folks would consume. The Husband is all about quick, easy and he, too, eats light. One advantage is that we don’t have weight problems; but our refrigerator and pantry certainly don’t look anything like those of the typical family, or even couple.

Furthermore, I don’t spend much time on the cliché girlie stuff. I hate shopping, don’t like spending time in that female haven, the beauty salon, and can’t think of anything more boring than spending a day at a day spa.

While I have been adding new projects, I think I just am less efficient. Part of the problem is that I have made an effort lately to stop working at around 8:30 or 9:00 PM. The Husband and I typically take about forty-five minutes to sit together and watch one of the recorded episodes of the few television shows that we can get through. The distraction is welcome and it allows me to decompress so I stand a chance of being asleep by about 10:30 or 11:00. In this environment, I find I rarely sleep past 6:30 AM (all too frequently, my eyes pop open at 6:00). These days, being in bed until 7:00 qualifies serious sleeping in.

Of course, I am spending more time currently on printing, framing, and publicity plans than I have in the recent past. (Here I have never posted my business cards, and now I’m spilling the beans that I prepared a postcard for the owner of the shop in Tehachapi. Shame on me.)

Whatever all the causes for the behinder syndrome, I post here about half to one-third as often as I would like. Moreover, I never have as much time as I would like to read other wonderful blogs. It goes without saying that I haven’t done my practice book for SoFoBoMo, and I still haven’t a clue what my project will be for 2009.

Enough. I’ll wrap up this whine and get on with today’s share of my to-do list. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just send brain waves to our blogs and skip the sit down at the keyboard part?

On to the Next Event

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The work from fifty-seven Bear Valley Springs artists will remain up at the Art Show through Easter. During the lull before picking up my work next Monday, I had planned to post pictures of what I showed and make a report on my education from that experience. (Much of that education centers around the prices here. After coming from a market like Los Angeles and some pieces that were sold by a contact in the Palm Springs area, I have a great deal to learn about Tehachapi and Bear Valley Springs. Perhaps the most important lesson that I have learned is that I must cut my costs considerably. Thus, I began almost immediately after the reception last Saturday to shop like a mad woman for frames.) A still bigger shift came when I got news that sent me scrambling and elevated my education to critical status.

A lovely lady, who coincidentally moved to BVS last year, had asked several weeks ago to display some of my work at her new store in Tehachapi. Now, she has been accepted as a participant in the First Friday Art Walk—the event that I mentioned in my last post way back last Friday. Has it really been that long? This week, I learned that I will be the featured artist at Lori’s gallery May 1. Of course, I am scurrying around shopping, digging through unpacked boxes for stored mattes, printing test prints, struggling with profit/loss sheets (ah, math my favorite pastime), and just generally having a hectic, but exhilarating time.

I will try to keep up, but anyone who has read my blog for any time knows that I am rather lousy at juggling a long list of projects—which makes one wonder why I inevitably insist on piling up tasks much like a chronic overeater at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I just can’t resist piling one more goodie on that virtual plate.

So, wish me luck. I hope to supply Lori, my friend and new partner in crime, with plenty of pieces priced to suit our new market.

Ready for the Spring Art Show

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I’m still in a bit of shock over having finished all my work for the Bear Valley Springs Art Show two full days before the deadline. This gets recorded in a journal as a first for me. Typically, I am frantically working until the wee hours the night before the event. The thing that really saved me was the rules for the show. Each participant is allowed only five pieces. Thus, when the five pieces were framed and ready to go, I couldn’t get any crazy ideas about adding maybe just two more to the display.

The thing I am looking forward to most of all is meeting some of the local artists and, of course, particularly the photographers here in the valley. I have met a couple so far at the monthly art walk. On the first Friday of every month, a group of galleries in Tehachapi host First Friday, an Artist Reception for member artists. Along with the art work, guests are treated to refreshments and, frequently, featured artists give demonstrations or special signings. Furthermore, local musicians are frequently part of the event. The Husband and I have made it into town for a couple of these events and enjoyed the festivities immensely. Last month, one gallery featured a sculptor who talked to anyone interested about her process and had some molds in various stages of readiness for the bronze to illustrate her comments. She was personable, eager to answer questions, and we enjoyed her immensely.

The show tomorrow is at the country club in BVS. I have not yet been to the country club, so there will be lots of new experiences in store for me.

Mining Caliente Creek Road

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I am a sucker for old structures—houses, barns, sheds, most anything. Imagine how happy I was to see a cluster of old buildings along the narrow road following Caliente Creek. I was drawn to the textures and colors in the building materials. When I revisited this folder yesterday, I became more convinced that I have to return and shoot there when I am once again more mobile. I hope to somehow learn more about the background on these buildings.

I’m not certain that the area would be my ideal SoBoMoMo project, since part of what appealed to me is the allure of the amazing colors there and those are not apt to last through May. Those greens won't survive the warmer temperatures when it becomes more clear where the caliente part of the name comes from. Still, I want to explore further and try to determine whether I would be as fascinated without the intense colors of the spring vegetation.

My clean-up-the-computer project (clearing out files and moving folders off the C drive has taken up most of the time that wasn’t devoted to getting ready for the art show tomorrow. I plan to begin late next week refreshing my memory on how to cope with my creaky old Pagemaker 7 and produce a couple of PDF’s so that part of the SoFoBoMo challenge is less onerous. Once again, I have a rough idea of the layout. But, I remember that last year I also had an image in my mind of how my book would look and, as the project evolved, it took on a form that I hadn’t anticipated. We’ll see what happens this time around.

Separation Anxiety

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Yesterday, The Husband took some play-time for himself and took Lancer out for a ride. We both knew there would be some fireworks, but we didn’t know how much. To begin with, Lancer hadn’t had a saddle on him in a couple of months and the Arabian racing blood coursing through those veins makes itself evident on a regular basis. The second consideration takes us back to the basic fact that horses are herd animals and the longer members of a herd are together without separation, the more dependent they become on that herd for a sense of safety. Since The Husband has been completely occupied with helping to install fencing, putting up the mare motel, doing the farrier duties, etc., he hasn’t been able to ride much. Consequently, Lancer and Night have been pastured together for over a year now and rarely separated even for brief periods.

Lancer was fine it turns out and, according to reports, on his best behavior. Night, on the other hand, went berserk as Jim and his buddy rode off leaving him behind. It was a great show, but I will admit that a couple of times, I was bit concerned for his safety. Of course, he survived the trauma, but when Jim and Lancer returned, it was Night who was all lathered up.

Love at First Sight

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Yesterday, The Husband offered to take me for an outing. By Saturday, my left foot had only two-and-a-half purple toes, rather than four. Moreover, I had reached the point of gingerly picking my way about for a few steps in one direction or another, using the walker only when I felt the need for additional stability.

Of course, I was elated at the idea of seeing something outside our house. In three weeks, I had developed quite a case of cabin-fever. Since The Husband loves to take drives and explore back roads, I was happy to let him decide on our route and just be along for the ride. As usual, the Sherpa knows. He elected to head West on the 58, then north off the freeway to Caliente Creek Road. I knew I would enjoy the drive regardless of what we saw, but I was especially eager because our route would drop us just enough in elevation to mean some different vegetation.

What I hadn’t planned on was a dizzying variety of gorgeous trees (some already in full foliage), steep canyon walls, and stunning wildflowers. It was an intoxicating preview of what we will see here in a few short weeks. I am completely smitten. This is another of those occasions when I wish I were 6’3”, the size of an NFL linebacker, and capable of a nasty snarl (and worse) that would make people think twice about messing with me. Instead, I am a puny, 5’3”, little old lady who wouldn’t scare a rabbit. If I were that linebacker-type character, I would take off on my own and be back in that mostly wild canyon exploring every two or three days. I would love to make the canyon my SoFoBoMo project.

What added to the fun yesterday was that a couple of times I was able to get out of the car where we parked beside the narrow road and take a few steps in one direction or another. I have reached the point where I trust the ankle wrap to hold my foot and ankle steady for short trips. The right foot is messed up, but not nearly so badly, and it felt reasonably secure in some lace-up boots. By picking my way carefully one step at a time, I avoided inflicting any new damage and had a marvelous time shooting—even if I could not do any climbing about, crouching, or belly shots.

SoFoBoMo Considerations

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It’s not that I haven’t been thinking about SoFoBoMo, but since I can’t get out with the camera, I am still thinking only in broad terms and don’t have any specifics to talk about. Some people are excellent at determining in advance precisely what they will shoot and how their project will look. I can't fit myself into that mold. I will have to start shooting and discover the theme as I go.

All I had committed to was that I would shoot outdoors in Bear Valley Springs possibly as far away as Tehachapi and mostly landscapes with a few macros. Furthermore, I had thought that I would include some of our local critters. Beyond that I had planned to let my discoveries in March and April lead me. I am living in a place that still has many surprises for me, and I look forward to a great deal more exploring.

It turns out that I may have to rethink even my vague plans depending upon my healing time; but, since I had not made a firm choice, that means no major disappointment. Besides, I firmly believe that limitations promote creativity. Whatever physical restrictions I have to deal with may prohibit some things that I want to do; still, those restrictions are likely to force me to try things that I might not have thought about without the boundaries.

I had hoped to start May 1, but it depends now on how mobile I am when I get out sometime next month for a test run. If I have to wait for a June start, that can work, of course. But, I confess that I will be frustrated. On the other hand, I have never lived here in either May or June and maybe June will be a better month for shooting. I will know soon enough.

What it all comes down to, is I know only that I will shoot a project one way or the other. But, I probably won't have even the beginnings of answers to any more of my questions for at least another week.