Christmas Countdown

This is the best news I've heard all week! Woo hoo! And I think it helps that it says "only" because then 177 days doesn't seem nearly as long as it would otherwise. This groovy website is called xmasclock.com.

Yosemite in Black and White

Fort in a Yurt!

Our yurt

Last weekend was my first experience staying in a yurt . Ha ha, I love that word...it's fun to say and funnier to type! I didn't even know what one was until about a year ago when my mom sent me a link to an ad on Craigslist sh found that was offering a yurt for $500 a month, as an alternative to apartment living. As an added incentive it was located within a "clothing optional" community in the mountains. (I have often wondered if anyone ever signed a lease on that place.) But I digress.

Cute, but SO HOT inside!

Anyway, the yurt I stayed in was within a "clothing required" campground about an hour outside Yosemite National Park. And I thought I write a quick blog about my yurt-ing experience just in case any of you should someday find yourselves in a position to possibly reserve one for a weekend, or lease one in a nudest colony for six months.

I thought a yurt was a cylindrical shaped cabin. But that isn't true. A yurt is more like a cylindrical tent. And by tent I mean that it has a wood frame, but only a canvas (or nylon) shell, as opposed to a cabin that has insulated (or not) solid wood walls. A yurt, therefore behaves like a tent. Scorching hot during the day, and pretty freezing at night. (So probably not a great investment for those folks who prefer to go about their business in the buff). The things that make it superior to a tent are 1.) You don't have to put it up. 2.) It's tall enough to stand in (or even put bunk beds like my yurt had) 3.) It has a door you don't have to zip. 4.) They usually come furnished with a real bed. 5.) They are less likely to blow down in a strong gust of wind. Besides that through, I don't see much advantage over tent camping. I probably wouldn't do it again, especially because they charge a lot to rent them, almost as much as a cheap hotel room in some places! And they don't have a bathroom. But as a once in a lifetime experience I would rate them as OK to good.
They are too hot to occupy during the day, so even though they look comfortable and homey you essentially have to be outside, and can't even enjoy it. And at night it's almost the opposite.

Our fort in a yurt!

I thought it was going to be warmer than it was so we were unprepared clothing wise. To solve our predicament of not having brought warm enough pj's we ended up (and this was totally my idea by the way) making a fort out of the bottom bunk with the blankets from the top bunk, and sleeping in there.It was like a little cave, and had to be at least ten degrees warmer than the area outside the fort, but still inside. It was a fort in a yurt! It turned out to be pretty fun, especially since I haven't built a fort in...oh at least a couple years:) And it was a pretty good one too. So I am glad to know I haven't lost my touch. But spending 70.00 a night and having to make my own shelter is a little steep for me.It was a fun adventure for my birthday weekend, but next year if I go hiking I'm staying in a hotel!

Totally Nautical

Nautilus in Stained Glass

Just to be clear it's a painting of stained glass, not actual stained glass.

In Memory of Georgia

I was talking to my little brother yesterday ( the one in Alaska) and learned that one of the puppies, Georgia, got her chain tangled with one of her siblings, and died. It made me so sad. And I've been thinking about her all morning. I don't know how I got so attached to those dogs in such a short time but I did. My favorite memory of Georgia and the other puppies is when we took them on a walk and they were playing together in the snow. The Georgia I knew (albeit briefly) was a happy little puffball of energy, that loved to play with her brother and sisters, and in her spare time enjoyed eating mittens and pulling cameras out of peoples pockets.  I made a little video of her playing in the snow with her siblings when I was in Alaska, and it is how I'll always remember her. I'll miss you Georgia girl!

Yosemite Falls Trail

This past weekend marked my 32nd (gasp!) birthday. To "celebrate" I decided that unlike last year when I spent the weekend in Las Vegas sitting by a pool, I wanted to try something a little more technically challenging. So I set my sights on Yosemite National Park, and the most difficult hike you could do from Yosemite Valley (besides hiking Half Dome which now requires a permit). That hike is the one to Upper Yosemite Falls. It's a 7.3 mile hike round trip. The first half of the hike is a 3.25 mi 3,000 foot elevation gain up to the top of the falls, and so while the route is not as direct, essentially it is equivalent to scaling one of those sheer valley walls that Yosemite is so famous for. Since it is impossible to go straight up, the trail is comprised of a million (probably closer to thirty or forty in real life) switchbacks, that just keep going and going. It's taxing on the body and on the mind, especially when you feel like you should be getting close to the top and then you look up and see people on the trail who are so far above you they look like ants, and realize you aren't even close. It was somewhere in the middle of those torturous zig-zags, when my right butt muscle was seizing up, my nose was running, and I had sweat dripping in my eyes that my BF wished me "happy birthday" for the tenth time. I just started laughing.
But I made it to the top. I decided I was going to get there, or die trying. It's one of those weird challenges you place upon yourself when you get older, to confirm that you aren't really that old I guess. It took me longer than it should have, and my BF had to wait for me to take a break every few switchbacks (which I appreciated!), so maybe I wasn't totally successful in not feeling aged, but the bottom line is I made it, and I didn't die. And sometimes that's all you can ask for.
The best part of the hike is half way up when you've already conquered the first grueling set of switchbacks, and are hot and exhausted, and you turn the corner and get blasted with a brisk wind, and a roar that sounds like a mix between ocean waves during a storm, semi-trucks rummbling on the freeway and thunder. They you get sprayed with a fine mist of water that is so welcoming it makes you want to cry with joy, and then the falls come into view (for the first time on the whole hike I might add!). At that point you are at the base of the upper falls, or at the top of the lower one depending on how you want to look at it. It's just incredible, so beautiful and powerful.
Then the rest of the hike to the top is switchback after miserable switchback. When we got to the top, we took a break on a granite boulder and watched the water rush down the final feet of the upper river bed. To get a view of the water actually falling over the cliff is difficult, since the opening is shaped like a V and so you have to almost be down in it to get a view. There was one "lookout" area where there was about 8" of rock, a metal bar, then a 3,000' drop, but I got vertigo just looking at it, so I opted to climb out as far as I could (before my knees began to buckle and my head spin) on a solid looking boulder farther back, reach by arm out as far as I could, and snap a picture. Then we booked it out of there.
The hike down was a breeze for me, and I actually really enjoyed it. I wasn't as hot and tired, so I was able to take in the view a little more, and felt a little more inspired by the outdoors at that point. I even wondered why I don't do more hiking!
It took a total of 7 hours, (one hour was walking to and from where we had to park to the trail head) but we finally made it down to the truck. We took off our shoes, cracked a victory beer and looked up at the falls and basked in the accomplishment. Even after we'd done it, it still looked impossible to hike all the way up there. It was hard to believe we'd actually done it.
Anyway, here is my very brief summary of the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail:
Q.Would I do the hike again?
A.Probably not.
Q.Was it worth it?
A.Totally.
Q.Was it a great birthday?
A.Absolutely.
(Video is the view half way up at the bottom of the upper falls.)

Bee's and Things

As the summer has finally made it's debut, so have the insects. I noticed bee's hovering ominously over my patio two weeks ago, and haven't swept since then. My plants are paying the largest price since I've been too afraid to go out an water them. I contacted the property management company, and after a considerable rigamorole (How go you spell that??? rigor marol...rigger ma- never mind? ) The pest guy finally showed up, just moments ago. I showed him the spot which hardly needed pointing out since it was the only place on the patio that heinously creepy insects were flying in and out of.
He immediately informed me they were not bees but yellow jackets. How he was able to discern that from a distance I guess I'll never know. It probably has something to do with the fact that he's been exterminating for more than twenty years. He informed me that honey bee's aren't so bad. They go about their business and don't get in the way, or sting, as long as their hive is left alone.
I lost him at the word "hive" which made me shudder and wish eternal damnation on anything black and yellow with wings.
But anyway, my particular infestation is not of the charming and non-hostile honey bee sort. They are yellow jackets, and according to him, are of an entirely different breed. They are the the criminals of the stinging insect world, posing as innocent pollen munching bee's, but in reality they are an aggressive, confrontational variety of wasps. Eeesh! Freaks me out even to type that.
The pest guy needs to wait until it got dark to...spray them, or slice them to pieces with a samurai sword or how ever it is that exterminators get rid of unwanted creatures. (I prefer the latter, but will settle for anything that makes them go away.) So hopefully I will have my patio back by tomorrow!

Painting of the Day

Bottle and Apple

IRT Supa-Star!

The bearded gentleman in blue is my bro:) 

He has mad acting skills. See how he works the camera?

So the BF and I were watching Ice Road Truckers the other night when we saw a familiar face pop up on the screen. It's my littlest brother and he was on TV! Isn't that so rad?!? I just hope all this fame doesn't go to his beard...er, I mean head.

Party of Five

I have suddenly found myself into "mini" paintings. The canvases are only a couple inches wide/tall (see fruit in background for scale), and I had to buy special little easels to put them on, but I think they are pretty cool. These particular ones I painted with the intention that they would be separate works, but after I was all done I decided that they should stay together as five parts of one whole, and that they look better as a team than as individuals.

Summer of Painting

Fleur de Cocoa

Riley

Tomato

I have been on a painting kick the last month or so, and I am just now getting around to posting some photo's of the ones I've done. So stay tuned! BTW all paintings by me:)