Time???? and Thoughts

Usually the members sit Timberline Gallery once a month, but I will also be in the Gallery, on Sept. 27th.

The exciting part is we now have Internet connection for the artists that want to participate. So if it is quiet I can get some other work done. The above photo is of my "Day of the Dead" piece, other art pieces are by Julie Mitchell and Valery Runningwolf.

I have been very busy completing projects, jewelry, fiber pieces, and gourds for Sierra Art Trails.

Since I have 2 blogs and "Riverwind" is not getting much attention, probably because I have not paid it much attention and my thoughts about keeping it more for local announcements does not seem to be working to well.. I am going to refer you to my
http://vivianhelena-creates.blogspot.com/ , and close this blog down at least for the time being.

I hope you will pop in and follow at the vivianhelena-creates location. Keeping up with Facebook, Twitter, learning the Iphone,
and trying to update with entries to shows, is a challenge all the artists seem to be having.

So to use the term "busy", is not right.. or not effective.. we are all busy,, hopefully, doing things we love..
I have been pulling out the dried sunflowers and getting ready for Fall and working in the studio. Now that it is cooling off, I am feeling energized.
See you at
Vivian Helena Creates..make it a great day!

River Knolls is back to a white fence.

We are back to a white fence and colorful little American Flags for Sept. 11.

Thank you to some industrious neighbors, painting in 100 degree weather. Our entry to The Knolls is back to an inviting country lane..

Not a Llama, but a cow.

Ever feel like you have suddenly walked though the looking glass with Alice.? We have 4 llamas, and one is black and white.. I came down to feed, and had a very odd feeling that what I was seeing was very strange... it has 2 horns, round ears and a tail, and is not my black and white llama! No llama's in sight.

I turned and ran to the house for my camera, because no one will believe me, and in the process called my next door neighbor, since he was a cowboy! I had no idea where my llamas were, or where this animal came from.. Monty and his son arrived and tried to get it into the next field, I found the llamas screaming at the other end of this field, as this cow went to the far end the llama's ran toward my neighbors fenced area, where we sometimes let them graze.. at least they were safe.. I thought I could help shoo this guy out, but when he lowered his head at me,,, I thought twice about that.. Finally he ran though our fence and out to the river.

It took me two days to get the llama's to even come home, had to bribe them with grain. Don't things always happen when your husband is out of town? This is the first time we have had a cow in our field, and I hope it is the last... The llama's were not to keen on this guy!

Neighbors, Cows

I was looking for a photo that made me think of slowing down.. What do cows have to do all day... Eat, moo, and enjoy the open fields. I always laugh at them and their sweet faces. Do I look as funny to them as they sometimes do to me. And then I saw this saying on the Daily Om.

The universe is always offering us signs to help us, we just need to slow down and pay attention.

I guess I need to slow down, this is a reminder.

Flash Mob Sierra Arts and Friends

Yes, Come to a fun gathering.. meet artists, art lovers, musicians, dancers and your neighbors.

We will have food, by the Produce Place for sale and fun. Wear a funny hat if you wish and a smile to share.... If you would like to paint, there will be a chance to experiment, and everyone is asked, if they have any tube of acyclic paint to share, the balance of it will go to the local schools..

If you have a fun idea, come and do it.. musical instrument, bring it, bright colored scarf, wear it.
.

Sunflowers, the beauty of Summer

We have bright sunflowers at this time of year... Soon they will bloom out, the seeds will drop and there will be dozens of sunflowers next year. Little birds flit from flower to flower enjoying the expanse of flowers on tall stalks.. Some are 10 ft. high, it is a forest of tall stems and leaves.

Positive thinking dramatically increases your chances of success in any endeavor. ( from the Daily Om)

When I look at the flowers I can't help but have positive thoughts.

Block Printing with Celeste

Celeste is one of our members who lives some of the time in Alaska. That in itself is amazing to me, because I think of snow, wind, ice and tundra.. She visits her sis during the summer. I think I might come to Ca, in the winter if I lived in Alaska, and spent summers there.

This time she showed us her beautiful art work, done with Block Printing, each piece is printed at a time. AFTER you think of a design, after you carve out the block. It used to be harder to carve the blocks but now it is a bit easier with new products and softer materials to work with..

I have just shown you a small piece, she brought us amazing large framed pieces to see, depicting life in Alaska. Very amazing and fun to see each step that she takes to finish this beautiful art work. Thank you Celeste for sharing your passion with Block Printing.

Benches, repeat design, color

If you have read my other blog, you know I have a fascination regarding benches... Are they for relaxing, viewing, color or just wonderful lines.. Like these at a restaurant in Fresno.. Thankfully, my friends understand when I fall behind and take out my camera, they wait for me. As I took out my camera, I heard " Now what is she looking at"... here is one shot of this grouping.

I love the lines, designs and color! The softness of the bushes, behind the steel tubs, the broken footings, and the wonderful red. What an inviting place to sit and wait one's turn to eat! Oh, yes, my Chicken Salad was delicious. You can see other Benches on my Vivian Creates Blog.

Veggie Garden & Tomatoes 2011

We had to redo our veggie Garden, move it because I goofed and it was over the septic, and then the wood had rotted.. I planted one zucchini, 2 beans some peppers, tomatoes and marigolds.

Two weeks later, after we got back from a trip, they were doing wonderfully. I do have another area that is 6 ft. X 6ft, and in the direct sun.. This one is under an old oak tree.. and the sun flowers are finding this a wonderful area also.. I think it is going to be over run and a bit wild.. I am closely watching a couple of zucchini develop. Love munching raw right out of the garden.. Most never make it to the kitchen... My English Peas are almost done, with all the heat. I think I picked 10 lbs this year... Have to start them earlier next year!!!

Below is a view down the hill with the tree in the distance that fell in the storm, closer are the wonderful wild sunflowers, this is just a partial view of them..

Ralph and a friend have been cutting up the tree for the last 2 days. We can not leave it there, because it will catch everything coming down river in the winter.. It is amazing what they are finding stuck in the branches. Not all nice, some old tires, some one elses cut wood and anything else that was bobbing by..

It is so sad to see a beautiful oak come crashing down. But we will have wood for next years winter... each piece will have to be hand carried across the sand and up the hill... Not a fun job!

First Fire of the Season

First Fire of the Season, Coarsegold Ca,, just off of 415.. We have had lots of rain, but suddenly it is hot and the grasses are drying out fast... Scary, but no houses were involved and everyone safe.. Thanks to our local Fired department, and lots of drops by the wonderful Flying crews.. Because our area is so hilly and inaccessible the best way is to fly retardant and water in...

Thankfully, the lakes and waterways are full of water from the snow melt...

Ronald McDonald House Madera Ca.

Years ago one of my P.E.O. Sisters started saving pop tops off of soda cans, and now soup cans have pop tops also.. Our group added a few each time to her collection and she delivered them periodically to the Orange Co. Children's Hospital..

She was a dear friend that passed on from Cancer. This is my way of continuing the work she started and remembering the good deed she shared. It does not seem like much but you are looking at 3 1/2 lbs of pop tops that have been gathered recently by my Sisters and friends in P.E.O. Madera County.

I save up about 3-5 lbs. and when we go to Fresno, we stop in and give them to Ronald.. As you can see he is just sitting there waiting to comfort the kids and collect pop tops!

These are the summer months, friends visit, and pop tops are around to share.. I put a little pot above my sink and save them there.. Ronald has some cute little houses you can pick up to put your collection in.. Join the fun, save and share some kindness.. ( P.S. you can also collect the empty cans, stop the littering, two good deeds all in one!)

Point Bonita California

Once a year I go to Point Bonita for a quilting retreat. It is a very special time with friends that quilt.. The beauty of the area is both stimulating as well as calming and inspirational.

Every year I take photos, mostly from the same vantage points. I never tire of the view of the Golden Gate bridge. Thinking of the cars, trucks and people that pass that way every day.. Some taking it for granted others in aw seeing it for the first time.

On the other side are the old Bunkers, with their rusty locks and weathered sides. There are little smudges of graffiti showing through the white wash.. On week days & week-ends there are visitors of all sorts. The young and older, walking, and riding.

Visitors also enjoy the Light house. Although I think this year they are redoing the bridge that connects it to the land.

Blogger and Frustration...

Yes, I have not been on my blogs... For some reason,, my photos disappeared from my Draft. So now I am trying my other blog site.. Hey, Blogger and Picasa,, are you listening.. Hope this gets fixed soon!!! And I could be calmly in my studio creating.. but this monster, the computer has my attention and hopefully yours also.

I am a visual person, I love to see photos, my inspirations come from nature, photos, texture, and life around me.. not being able to post photos is traumatic to me..

Guess I will go back to the studio and hope that some magic wand is waved and Blogger and Picasa get it together..

Robert's Frosty- Coarsegold, Ca.

Dinner at the local "watering Hole",,, or is that statement just for when people drink, the hard stuff.. Robert makes the best Mexican food in Coarsegold, great hamburgers, and I love his fries.

My husband, Ralph had Eggs Rancheros, and I had the Hamburger with fries.. yes, there are a lot of calories.. but it will be soup this evening,, or maybe tomorrow, or for the next few days.. but we had fun and saw neighbors at the same time. Great Family Neighborhood Restaurant...

Great in the summer, also for out side dining, and the old car shows. Meet the locals!

March Rains 2011

The rains started slowly and then built up, to being consistent and hard.. and as the story goes, the river rose.. It is amazing the force of water, compared with Japan this is nothing. California Rivers usually don't have much water, but this year is like the every 10 year flood. Our town is lucky we did not lose electricity, but our neighbor city Oakhurst, in the mountains lost theirs and many of my friends are still in the dark. One of the grocery stores used their generator for checking out, and handed out flash lights to see what was on the shelves.

The road up there was closed due to landslides and also snow..

One end of our property where all the tree branches and debris gathered to pull down the fence.

The geese are loving it and we saw a beaver for the first time since we built here. The end of our "island" used to be a 4 ft. step up, is now gravel and a gentle rise.

The view from our house.. the river parts and makes an island, usually the water stays on the other side all year and we can cross over with lawn mowing equipment to keep the grasses down.

Not sure what it will look like when the water recedes.. We lost one Oak in the river and several more are tipping. Some of our fencing is down and had to have some neighbors help set it up, so the llama's would not get out. Our other neighbor had already put his fence back from the river an additional 10 ft. and now will have to do that again. Water spread out about 40 feet in to this side, while the river grew to about 100 ft. plus.

This is such a infinitesimal amount when we see the damage on T.V., but it is a reminder to us the power of nature. It is beautiful, magnificent and there is certainly some thing way greater than us.. What a gift to share this beauty. We truly are blessed.

Today is sunny, but rain is predicted for the next 3 days.. Hope the weather man is wrong!

Sunsets and Gratitude

It is great fun to travel, visit friends, quilt with other quilters, and just thoroughly enjoy the moments away..

Being grateful is a subject that many of my friends write about.. Each day I am grateful when I get up and see the weather, hug my honey. Be it sunny, raining, or hail, as it did yesterday in Fresno.

I must tell the truth,, I want to be home when it snows,, not up in town trying to get home..
Where I live is not like the snow on the East Coast that I marvel at on the T.V. but enough to make driving the pass home, a bit dicey.

Being grateful is a big part of my daily life.. we are so blessed to have been able to make the choice to live here in the mountains. The friendships we have gathered around us. As a Mixed Media Artist I try to observe and use what is near me with my art...Become involved with nature, the passing of the seasons, the screeching of the hawks at this time of the year.. Even the cats that tend to prowl at night,,, after all Spring is coming...All this plays a part in my daily life.. and I am grateful..

Many of my friends are artist, and all are artists in some way.. the art of living, caring, and enjoying.. The positive and loving in life. We can become side tracked with the news, it can bring us down.. but then I get to thinking about history and the eons ago, where man kind wanted that little piece of land that the other man had,,, and the human ego goes on chasing that dream..

Not much has changed,, so I do my part, I know that living a happy productive life is how I can help,,, We must be grateful, loving, caring and enjoying our family and friends.

I love this time of the year with the fantastic sunsets that nature shares with any one that looks up!

A New Year 2011, but it is now February

Packing up my Christmas decorations, or at least the few that I put up.. The small quilt is Poinsettia, a class I took in 1997 with Monica Calvert. Many of the fabrics are ones that I hand dyed, and mixed with commercial fabrics. It was a fun class and I enjoy seeing it during the holidays. My Christmas Cactus was kind enough to flower at the holiday season also.

The Fresno River brought many trees down during the storm. This is just one log that is stuck, but too far too reach at this time.. We will try later to get across this section and see if we can haul it to a safe place to dry out and cut it up for fire wood.. Many went flying by that we could not reach.

I love these little river rocks, they have such energy. What stops me from taking them to the house, is it is a long up hill walk , but periodically I do bring a small bucket and then I put them around my plants. One of these days I will try drilling little holes in them and making some jewelry. Just the smaller ones!

New Years 2011

Will this be a year of looking at the details, or examining the whole picture.. We have started this 2011 with lots of rain, the creeks and streams are full of water. Is prosperity coming this year,, what will the year bring? What ever it will be, will be and we have to adjust.
Happy New Years...