NOT IN MY LIFETIME

Not sure who shot these pictures but my knitting friend Aileen sent them to me.

I'm pretty sure they were taken from either 

Long Beach, San Pedro or Santa Monica Harbors.

You can see Los Angeles in the left hand distance

 and the San Gabriel Mountains in the far distance. 

I have never in my life seen so much snow on our mountains,

ever!

In this shot above you can barely see the Hollywood sign,

and below,

 an even closer shot of it along with the crazy amount of snowfall we got. 

Sadly we haven't even been able to reach our cabin at 5000 ft.

The roads were closed for several days and our only grocery store's roof

 was caved in along with several other stores in our tiny little city of Crestline.

And more rain and snow is predicted this Wednesday.

Many of the full time residents there are without food and their medicines.

It's been a nightmare for them.

OUR CALIFORNIA SNOW PACK JUST KEEPS GETTING DEEPER

This is Big Bear Mountain in the San Bernardino National Forest Range

 after our last big snow a couple of weeks ago.

I took this picture on our way up to our cabin last Thursday.

Our cabin is at 5000 feet in Crestline and we had tiny patches of dirty snow

when we got there.

Big Bear is at 8805 feet and is one of Southern California's favorite Ski Resorts

with a lot more excepted today.

As I scanned the horizon and turned in the opposite direction,

I was able to get a great picture of the San Gabriel Mountain Range.

The city of Wrightwood is located there 

with Mountain High being its Ski Resort at 8200 feet.

Not quite as crowded or popular as Big Bear 

but the perfect resort to learn how to ski at.

When we got to our cabin last week,

one of the first things I looked for 

was any water run off in our streams.

It's still a bit too chilly for much being in the 20's, 30's and 40's.

We have a stream next to our property that has a tiny trickle right now

 and too difficult to really take a decent picture of.

But this stream above is much more beautiful and about a 1/2 mile walk from us 

in a neighborhood called Valley of the Moon.

It had a bit more water streaming down the rocks

and some lovely moss/lichens beginning to grow.

It's such a peaceful place to sit and listen to the water run.

Another huge storm partially moved in yesterday 

with a lot of snowfall expected. 

Today its really coming down.

We were going to go up but now are taking a pass,

we don't want to get snowed in.

STILL ENJOYING...

a favorite gift,

a black and white shot of our cabin,

 from my son and his wife.

We haven't been up lately but we hear from our neighbor it is covered in snow.

I think we are offically out of our drought.

It's been raining a lot this season already.

Yippy!!!!!!

MAGICAL

Our first winter's snow up at the cabin.

 

A SPECIAL VISITOR

I always get a thrill when our local bear pays us a visit.

He passed our cabin up for the one above us because they had their trash out,

and our neighbor was home and able to get a quick snap shot of him/her.

Usually it comes down to eat the apples on our other neighbors tree

 except they aren't ready yet.

In fact it's a bit early in the season for a sighting at all.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 Here's wishing all my family, friends, art students and blog followers

 a

Truly Magical Holiday Season.

 Our dear neighbor's cabin this Xmas during right after the big snow.

He went all out this year for his family who came to visit.

Thank you for spending the year with me here,

and for all your heartfelt comments and e-mails.

For the friendships we've made via our blog-sites,

and the inspiration you all have been to me thru your art and stories.

I feel so very blessed to have all of you in my life.

Wishing everyone the best this Holiday Season and always.

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOWS

Two rainbows in one week.

I made a wish on both.

Above are the hills that were on fire last year.

But with all the rain,

 life is starting to regrow.

This is my exit off the 91 Fwy at Weir Canyon.

We live at the top of the first hill to the right.

This is also the bumper to bumper traffic I drive home in everyday.

Packed solid for miles and miles.

This rainbow was up at our cabin Saturday night during the Crestline Wine Walk thru town.

All the local mom & pop shops stay open until 8:00,

with local musicians at every stop.

It's a lot of fun with great food booths and local artisans as well.

Plus you are burning calories while you drink and eat.

Gotta love that!

WILDFLOWERS

Picked these gorgeous California Natives along the side of our mountain roads

early this summer,

and have been trying to identify them all with a little pamphlet I picked up called

Native Plants of the San Bernardino Mountains.

After they expired,

 I threw them into a special corner of the cabin yard 

hoping they had some seeds to share for next year.

A NEW SPACE

Trying to get back into the groove of blogging again.

I've had one of the busiest summers ever,

 and this is my first time to turn on the computer in a good month

(too difficult to blog on my phone).

So thank you all for your patience,

especially my dear students.

One of the things my husband and I have been doing this summer

is a lot of thrifting for school art supplies and treasures 

for school and the two spaces I went out up on our mountain.

Because my inventory is moving fairly well up at Trinket Trader in Crestline,

I rented a larger space this month,

and we just got it put up with lots of new areas to hang things from.

I'm just tickled with how well everything is fitting together

and I wanted to share my joy.

Above is the side you see first when you walk thru the store.

This next shot is more of a frontal peek

and below the back side.

Recently included in this new space are dolls from my childhood, 

pictures and antique clothing from my mother,

Play Station games and Warcraft goodies from my son,

 a fun lamp from my daughters bedroom,

and some artsy fartsy clothes of mine from the 1980's.

Dawn and Lonnie Roberts who own Trinket

do a great job of moving my things around as they sell out,

until I can get there with new treasures.

Below a bit more of a close-up.

My husband told me this morning 

that I have over 50 pages of inventory now between the two stores.

We are not making even close to enough money for me to quit my job,

this is more a labor of love.

Who knew I'd be a junk dealer!!

hee hee.

Life sure takes you on a lot of twists and turns.

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

I feel like our very serious drought is almost over.

We have had lots and lots of snow.  

A couple of days ago,

 2 feet in 24 hours.

That's a lot for us.

This was our view 2 weekends ago as we drove up to the cabin on the 15 Fwy.

To our left here were the San Gabriel Mts and Wrightwood Ski Resort then onto Las Vegas.

These to our right were the San Bernadino Mts and Big Bear Ski Resort.

And then in the middle between the two was our little mountain

which takes you to Crestline then onto Lake Arrowhead.

Sadly our snow was all melted.

But I just talked to our neighbor up there 

and he says he's never seen so much snow from this last weekend's storm.

Oh boy!!

Gonna need chains.

Can't wait to see what this lil' mt. will look like this next weekend.

A MATCHING SET

I recently opened up some Eco-dyed pillowcases

for our bed up at the little cabin.

I tried purposely to make them match 

and I really like how they came out.

Rusts and corals,

so pretty together.

When I put everything back on the bed 

and stepped back a bit,

the light changed and I wasn't able to get a very good pix,

but at least it shows the way all the colors in the room come together with the pillowcases.

The hand sewn doll is by a gal from the Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival

 that I picked up this summer 

(sorry name forgotten),

the pillow she sits on by Susan Johnson of Avalanche Looms,

and the little rug hooked tree pillow by Karen Kahle of Primitive Spirit.

The quilt and 2 other pillow cases are vintage with hand embroidery.

In fact,

all the furniture and accessories in the room are thrifted

 from the little mom and pop stores in Crestline.

I love supporting the local community.

FINALLY FALL...

up in the San Bernardino Mts. 

A tree nursery up in Arrowhwead,

and ginormous fallen leaves from my neighbors tree.

WILD ANIMAL SITING AT THE CABIN

 We were able to get up close and personal recently with this lone coyote.

We spotted him as we were packing to go home. 

He was across the street eating on something he had found in the grass.

He saw us watching him but didn't move from his spot.

He was hungry and didn't want to abandon his catch.

So I was able to go into the house to get my camera and take his picture

before he ran off to the woods.

Another first up at the cabin.

EXCITING NEWS

Woo Hoo!!!!

I just found out that my little art studio in the woods 

made the cut for the Artist's Studio Tour this next September 

sponsored by the Mountain Arts Network.

So now I need to start stocking it with fibery goodness

and ceramic pieces.

I'm so excited!

More info to come.

Artisun Studio

A PEEK INSIDE

Our little barn/loft/studio is really starting to take shape.

I found a beautiful rug at overstock.com that's pulling all the colors together.

I'm able to drape my collection of antique quilts over top the loft railing.

And we found the most adorable handmade table and chairs from the 1920's with leafs on the end that fold out.

I've got a lot of built in storage for textiles and books.

And Jim has a place to practice to store a couple of his guitars and amp for when he uses the barn to practice with his new musician friends.

It's nice to come home to, 

music wafting thru the trees.

We found an old hutch for the corner with display space and more storage.

But my absolute favorite is the loft sleeping area.

We've put up a queen air mattress with more of my antique blankets and quilts to keep us warm, 

a hand hooked rug for the floor, 

and if we need it,

 another air mattress for the other side where the cradle is at.

Now all's we need is company!

:)

Let It Snow

Last weekend up at the cabin we had our first light snow.

We drove up to a higher elevation to see the snow at the top of Big Bear

which at is 7000 ft.

We are only at 5000  in Crestline.

This was how much we had at our place in the morning.Tiny little patches of ice.

Fall at the Cabin

Waiting on the rain and snow, 

please hurry!

Our First Rain and Sleep Over

It was a momentous weekend over the 31st as it rained and poured at the cabin.

We finally got a good ground soaking.

The trees and plants are soooo happy!

And it's raining leaves and pine needles as well.

Fall has finally arrived  :)

And it was also the first time to test out the sleeping loft and air mattress we installed inside the new barn.

My son Zach, and his girlfriend Nicole joined us for a sleep over that also involved a bit of day labor on the new pathway I'm building from the street directly to the barn.

We even had time to make 2 pumpkin pies.

A really yummy and wet weekend.

See ya soon!

Autumn Colors at the Cabin

A First, Touching a Butterfly

I know the pix is blurry, but I was trying so hard to touch and take a pix at the same time.  

Not as steady as I used to be.

This was up at the cabin this weekend as I was watering the yard.

This beautiful butterfly was totally unafraid of me.

He must have sat on the rocks for a good minute or two as I ran into the house to get my camera, then raced back out to get it's picture.

I could barely feel it's delicate wings.

What a treat this was.

Daphne, Kaili and Bianca, you know who this is, right??

LOL