Forestiere

I had a rare, special weekend, with good friends and good weather, out of the city, closer to nature. We drove out to Fresno, and camped at Lake Milerton, one of the Ca. state parks. The reason for the treck was to see the Foresteire Underground Gardens, but I'll get back to that in a minute.
These are Bernie's photos of our lucky campsite, under a monster tree of beauty, before a smooth, glassy lake. We spread out over our big space, and set up tents, laid out in the sun at the water's edge, basked in the twilight, ate bacon wrapped sausage and fire baked potatoes. It was like heaven.



(I have also sampled pics from Christine's Flickr, I took snaps on my film camera, so again, I have to wait to get my shots.) Dinner evolved into campfire dance party, under a full, radiant white moon. In the morning we ate eggs and bacon, and some of us took a nice jog around the campsites, and cooled off in the lake before packing up. I was reborn in the lake, it was so cold and clean, and made my heart want to explode with it's fresh purity. I don't do cold water, but I had to go in. I needed to shock some part of myself into quite calm.
The trip ended with our stop at the Forestiere gardens in Fresno - a true find. It's more amazing than I can explain here, but to summarize, about 10 acres of land were tunneled under and developed into a network of chambers - living quarters and gardens, by one man with a second grade education. He dreamed and created, completely self-taught. Trees grow up through the ceilings of tunnels into the light at ground level. I was truly staggered by this functional work of art.




I can't believe I've lived in California for 28 years and never heard of this. It's really worth the drive to see, and the tour is great.I bought the book they sell, and am looking forward to reading more about him. The book says maybe 1% of people who live in Fresno have visited, and I was appalled. It should be totally famous, I was so inspired about pursuing a dream and not being lazy with my life.

Winged Ladies of Punch Studio

Long Beach Finds

I met Agata & Dari at the Long Beach Antique Market last Saturday for some amazing times.



My fave find of the day is this old wooden sewing box, which folds out into 3 levels on each side, and was packed with old wooden spools of thread.
Can't wait to fill it with all my bits and pieces that litter the table, and get down to more summer sewing.

Adventure

We awakened our appetites for adventure this weekend on an amazing last minute spur of the moment camping trip with Bernie & Craig, new friends and camping buddies! Bernie invited us to come, as I'd been begging her for some lessons on how to use my camera better, and she used to teach a photo class before she worked at Punch. I can't wait until I develop my film, all my photos of Salvation Mountain are on it, and some shots of the wonderful Slab City outdoor library.

I'm jumping ahead though - here's the lowdown I found online to describe the place:

Several thousand campers, many of them retired, use the site during the winter months. These "snowbirds" stay only for the winter, before migrating north in the spring to cooler climes. A group of around 150 permanent resident live in the Slabs all year round. Most of these "Slabbers" subsist on government checks and have been driven to the Slabs through poverty; some of the "slabbers" also have a strong desire for freedom from the American government. The site is both decommissioned and uncontrolled, and there is no charge for parking. The camp has no electricity, no running water or other services. Many campers use generators or solar panels to generate electricity.

Located just east of State Route 111, the entrance to Slab City is easily recognized by the colorful Salvation Mountain, a small hill approximately three stories high which is entirely covered in acrylic paint, concrete and adobe and festooned with Bible verses. It is an ongoing project of over two decades by permanent resident Leonard Knight.>

I was taken aback by Salvation Mt., Leonard gave us a few tours of it, and his mind is pretty gone, but he's lovely, wants you to take lots of pictures of his message that God Is Love, and spread them around the world. He seems so small and yet has built his own mountain, an outpouring of paint and clay and love, it's staggering to stand before, above and within.

We set up camp in a dusty spot that looked OK, rummaged through some trash to make ourselves some makeshift chairs & tables out of tires and an E-Z Financing banner, and had a great day exploring the slabs, playing dominoes, making friends with a traveling Canadian who had camped nearby, checking out some sun-down musical talent, and feeding s'mores to the hippies.

We were rained out the next morning, and packed our tents up in bare feet, as the water level rose and we worried for the Bee Car's ability to drive out of the mud. Our new friend, Leo convinced us to take a dip in the natural hot spring with him on our way out, as it was so cold and muddy, and this would be relaxing and soothing, and we were only too eager to do so... and then the Bee really did get stuck in the mud, and all of us pushing couldn't get it out. Stranded in the middle of NOWHERE, Bernie called AAA, and we made the best of things by getting into the hot springs anyway while we waited for an hour or so. We dunked ourself in the hippie soup, and waited to be rescued as it rained on our faces, and the earth cooked our bodies. The bee eventually made it out, and we got home, feeling like the craziest, happiest, filthiest goonies.

Bernie took lots of digital pics, so I hope I'll get some soon from her to share, for now, here are a few shots of my phone, just a taste, more to come.

Spontaneous!!

Just when you thought we couldn't get more homebound, David & I are off for the weekend to Slab City, California on a whim. Salvation Mountian, here we come.

Happy Plants

I get really mad when the rain keeps me in on the weekend, but when it's over, the plants are so so happy! I did a patrol on Sunday morning to see how beautifully everyone is responding to so much water lately ;)