Boatnik Parade, Grants Pass 2010

Here are some of the fifteen BearFest bears on Harley Davidson motorcycles in the 2010 Boatnik Parade. 

Brady Adams, BearFest creator and former President of Evergreen Federal Bank, hamming it up with his grandson before the parade.

Here's Brady leading the Bearfest bears. Bearik Estrada is following directly behind.

We were treated to great weather this year, unlike many Boatnik parades in the past. 

The Bears will be on display in Grants Pass all summer long near the corner of 7th and J Street. Here's a link to a video from Channel 5 news in Medford featuring the Bear Hotel (where local artists create all kinds of public artwork), and this year's BearFest bears. 

China Gardens

The weather was gorgeous yesterday. We decided to try to find the elusive China Gardens off of USFS Road 4612 in the Siskiyou National Forest. Touchdown! China Gardens is listed as an old mining site but when we got there we discovered what looked like an old homestead. There was evidence of mining, probably by Chinese immigrants, hence the name. Here is what looks like an old barn: The throne room:And evidence of mining: There were majestic Doug firs surrounding the area. You can see me, barely, to the left of the base of the tree:This is a marker on one of the Doug firs indicating the presence of an active red tree vole nest:Old shakes (Shakes are hand-split, shingles are sawn) covering the barn roof:
The California Ground Cone (Boschniakia strobilacea) is popping up all over the forest:We are happy to report that we did not get eaten by a bear. There was fresh bear poop in several locations but we made it out without any canine/bear encounters. Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Friday - Letterboxing Edition

First I was curious. Then enticed. Then driven. Then absolutely in the thrall of my new found hobby- letterboxing. I don't think there has ever been something more perfectly tailored to suit me (except maybe lasagne). Treasure hunting meets art. Is there anything better (except maybe a chocolate raspberry milkshake)?

At this point my enthusiasm is trumping any actual expertise I have about the process but I'll do my best to explain: you go to this website (or this one) for clues. You arm yourself with a nifty trail name, a hand carved stamp and a journal and then you go forth and seek out a letterbox. Actually finding one is exciting. Some stranger, somewhere unknown, went through the effort to put together and hide this box for you to find. Inside the box is a journal and a stamp. You stamp your journal with the box stamp and you stamp the box journal with your stamp. Capiche? Many of the boxes contain handcarved stamps so you're finding a little piece of artwork in an unexpected place. And you get to take it home. Isn't that enticing? Here's an example of a stamp:

If you have kids, they will love this. Each family member can have their own stamp and their own journal. For more concrete information check out About Letterboxing.

Here I am in close proximity to a letterbox. Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone.Hope you all had a happy week. Tell us about it in a post and link it to The Next Chapter: Happy Book Mail Around. Have a great weekend!

Ode to Unfinished Projects

From the two unfinished books To the color studies not completedWhy do you taunt me with your incompleteness? Why do I abandon you? Why can't I follow through?

Sunny Side Up

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx

This is our sweet Sunny boy. Not the brightest torch but he has a big heart. Good boy!

Thrift Share Monday

It's time for Thrift Share Monday sponsored by Apron Thrift Girl.

Years ago I worked with a woman who found the ultimate treasure (to me) at a yard sale - a personal journal written by someone from a different generation. The journal she found was written by a woman who wanted a career but in 1920s society was being pressured to marry. Much of the journal was about this woman's struggle with her desires and her role in society.

I've spent years looking for old journal of my own. I love personal journals. I can't say what ignites me so much but I've been keeping my own for years and I love blog posts abut journals and journaling - sketchbooks, color studies, art journals, diaries- I find them all fascinating.

Saturday we stopped at an estate sale. It was in a trailer park so I figured there probably wasn't too much of an estate. There was a box of notebooks in a corner looking forlorn and untouched. Kelly found it first and then I went through the whole box looking for paper ephemera for my journals. As a was looking through the box it took a while for it to sink in - I was looking at years of someone's personal travel journals. Long entries of handwriting with maps and brochures and pictures taped in. The one on top is a log of a travel trailer journey undertaken in a Dolphin in the late 80s. The orange one is from 1982 and the black one (the only one written in German) is from 1954 - the year the author came to America. There were quite a few more binders and notebooks but I ended up taking just three - the ones that really spoke to me. At the bottom of the box were these:About 40 pre-war German postcards. It looks like they were glued into some kind of family album and then pulled out. You can see in the upper left corner where she labeled some of them. The cards are in excellent condition except for where you can see the glued paper in the back. I think I might be able to remove it without destroying the postcards. Here are few I especially liked:The last thing that I had to have from this estate was this picture:It's about 13" x 20", mounted on thick cardstock and says Gossip 303, Hans Comotio on the back.

The estate seller explained that the woman died and all her heirs are in Germany so no one was interested in taking any of this stuff. From a wartime teenager in Germany to a senior in Brookings, OR with bountiful road trips in between. No one interested? Hard to believe.

All of the above (plus a book) is in great condition, no musty smell, no damage and I paid $1.25 for all of it.

God's Eyes

These are called God's Eyes (Ojo de Dios):I've only ever seen simple popsicle stick versions of these until our local favorite restaurant, Nacho Mama's Cantina, started carrying them.They are made by local artist Alan Laurie and are quite stunning. They are bigger than they appear in the photos - about 14' across. The colors! I just love the colors. Someday I hope to own one of these.