Road Trip With Mary

Earlier this week, Mary and I went down to the Central Valley to visit friends. We were happy to leave the cold and snow behind. 

When we stopped at Murray Farms at the foot of the mountains we were greeted by this beautiful pink rose.

I always enjoy the palm trees there. And I always take a picture. 

The sun was strong, the shadows sharp, so I took a picture. Just for fun!

Once we got to Carol's place, she drove the rest of the way to Exeter, where she and I had lunch and Mary met up with  Chan. Last time the four of us had lunch together, this time, we separated to better catch up with each other. Carol and I have been friend forever and so have Chan and Mary.  

When we finished lunch, Carol took me to her favorite thrift store, The Pink Lady, where everything was on sale for $1.00 or less. It was a fun place, and I bought a sweat shirt, two books, and two small paintings.

The valley is beautiful with fertile fields, plowed and planted now, 

and the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background.

We passed grove upon grove of orange trees; these are naval oranges, the best ever. Carol has a tree of her own in her backyard.

So, of course, when we came back to Carol's house, we picked oranges. I picked some of these and Carol gave me the ones she picked. You know I will be busy enjoying them for a long time to come. 

This backside of a row of kitchen cabinets faces my dining area. I know this is a fuzzy picture, but it's just for now. The two small paintings on either side of the Bell painting are the ones I bought at The Pink Lady. I thought they would be perfect here.

I will adjust them so they are at an even distance form the Bell painting. And take a better picture for a future post. Since the Bell painting was a gift from Carol, I just wanted to show her this to give her an idea of what "her" wall will look like. 

Thank you Carol for a lovely day. Mary and I had such a good time. Hope to come back in May.

Visiting With Friends

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Best wishes for a great day,

 may many treats and only a few scares come your way!

From Samson, Faith and me!

Last week, Mary and I drove down to the small town of Strathmore in the Central Valley to visit my friend Carol and her husband Chuck. Mary's friend Chan lives not far from there, so we arranged to meet her for lunch in Exeter, one of my favorite towns. 

We had a long, long lunch, chatting away and getting to know each other. After lunch, Carol drove Mary and me through downtown Exeter where all the quaint shops are located. We had been at lunch for a long time and I had to drive back, so this time we didn't stop. Instead, Carol ordered orange ice cream from a small restaurant close to her house. They make the ice cream right there from local oranges and are quite famous for it. And it's wonderful. Carol bought a quart each for Mary and me and one to take home so Mary could get a taste right then and there. 

Exeter is famous for it's many murals. I didn't take any pictures, but I'm posting some below from an earlier visit to Exeter that I blogged about back in 2010.

This is an edited repost from 2010.

As we drove through the orange groves, I could just imagine the smell of the blossoms on a warm summer night.

A nice woman in an art gallery gave us some information from the Exeter Chamber of Commerce, so I can describe the murals and name the artists. The sheet I got lists 26 outdoor murals and three indoor ones in various businesses in town. I also learned that Exeter boasts the sweetest and most delicious naval oranges in the world. I can attest to this since I have personally picked and eaten many naval oranges from Carol's tree. I get bags full of them to take with me home when I visit and they really are the best tasting oranges ever.

Orange Harvest:  Features a scene of orange pickers in the 1930s.

Artists:  Colleen Mitchell-Veyna, Visalia, CA & Morgan McCall, Farmersville, CA

Packing Ladies:  I fell in love with this one that features the Exeter Citrus Packing House, circa 1950. Notice how the ladies pack and grade the oranges, while the foreman sort of sits above them and keeps a watchful eye. Those were the days!

Artist:  Colleen Mitchell-Veyna, Visalia, CA

The mural reminded me of the silk/tissue-papers that oranges came wrapped in when I was a kid. Imagine that, oranges came individually wrapped in tissue paper!! The papers were gorgeous, with colorful, pictures of faraway places. In Sweden, the oranges usually came from Spain, with names like Seville, Valencia, and so on. I used to collect these wrappers and dream of places where oranges actually grew on trees.

Poppies and Lupine:  The hand-out we got says that this field of California poppies and lupine is located on the road to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, not far from Exeter

Artist:  Varian Mace, Visalia, CA

Mineral King "In Our Backyard":  This was Carol's favorite mural and it's gorgeous. It features the Mineral King area with Sawtooth, Farewell Gap, and Timber Gap.

Artist:  Jana Botkin, Three Rivers, CA.

A close-up

Hometown News:  The Exeter Sun Newsroom in the 1920s.  This was located across the alley from Mineral King and showed a newspaper office of long ago. I really enjoy seeing how people lived and worked in the early to mid-20th century. So this was another treat for me.

Artist:  Gary Kerby, Wilsall, MT.

Yokuts Harvest:  I was impressed by both the Yokuts skill in basket weaving and the artist's skill in painting the baskets you see below, thus honoring the skills of the original basket weavers.

Artist:  Ben Barker, Susanville, CA

Exeter Road Race Circa 1916:  One of my favorites (I have a weakness for old roadsters) it depicts race cars getting ready for a road race through Exeter. As I'm reading this hand-out, I see that all the murals have hidden objects in them. I have to go back someday and look for them. Hidden objects here: A polar bear, numbers, a child holding a bear, all symbols from the "Lost" TV program.

Artist:  Colleen Mitchell-Veyna, Visalia, CA

Timber Trail:  Oh, I spotted some long-ears! Mules, not donkeys, but still, what a beautiful painting. Look at the use of light and color. The mule train and wagons transported logs to Atwell Mill, which is now a part of Sequoia National Park (I'm quoting the hand-out here).

Artist:  Martin Weekly, El Dorado Hills and Exeter, CA

This is the mural of the orange pickers from a distance.

And this is a cat, crossing the street like he owns the place…which of course, being a cat, he does.

Thanks for coming with me on this visit to Exeter, California. If you are ever in Sequoia National Park or anywhere in Tulare County, I would recommend a stop-over in this little town. There are many art galleries, coffee shops, quaint places all over, and the antique stores I blogged about earlier. 

Back to the present:

Carol's naval orange tree was full of oranges, all green as they don't ripen until early next year. Now that I have the Honda and can enjoy a trip over there, I can't wait to visit again then and pick some. Mary and I made it home safely. It was a long day, I was out and about for nine and a half hours. A lot for me and, yes, I did spend the next day in bed, more or less. 

A Purple Cottage Painting

In February 2010, I visited my friend Carol in the Central Valley. I spent the night and the next day we drove to the town of Exeter, one of the best towns ever. Wonderful murals are painted on so many walls that we weren't able to see them all. I posted what we saw, but I think that post is lost. I will check again and repost if I find it. 

There are also, many antique, thrift, and consignment stores. And I remember a nice coffee shop where we took a break. Here are some of the things that caught my eye at the time:

Carol knew the woman who had this space in one of the stores. In addition to collecting and selling old china and decorative items, the woman, whose name I think is Betty, also paints. When I saw this painting of the purple cottage, I fell in love. I believe it was well over $100.00, and that I couldn't afford at the time, so I had to leave it behind. 

Time went by and I forgot all about the painting. But Carol didn't. She called earlier this year and told me that Betty was closing her space in the shop and selling everything. So Carol bought the painting for $50.00. She asked if I wanted to buy it for that. I said, yes, of course. So happy she remembered.

And here it is, on my bedroom wall, just opposite my bed. It's the first thing I see in the morning. It may be the painting -- but I really think it's Carol remembering and getting it for me -- that makes me smile. 

If they were awake, the dogs would say this with me:

Have a great Labor Day!