Yosemite on my mind

I wrap up this 3-part blog with the front-end of a delightful escapade. I felt inspired a few weeks ago to start the series with the end of that long get-away weekend. The series kicked off with the remote ghost town of Bodie - the post in the middle was very much ghostlike as well, as there truly is nothing on earth like the Tufa Towers of Mono Lake. But the front end of that early summer weekend was definitely not ghostlike. It was stepping into the folds of a national treasure.  It was a return to nature. It was incredible. What a perfect beginning!

Yosemite National Park stands tall and majestic. It is such a beautiful place. One comes upon this World Heritage Site fairly quickly after traveling just under 4 hours from the San Francisco Bay Area. From the flatlands heading east to the high mountain tops beyond, it is not long before one drops into a deep valley floor edged by wilderness, sheer granite cliffs; picturesque vistas, endless waterfalls, groves and groves of giant sequoia trees, and enchanting rivulets and meadows at every turn. 

The Ahwahnee Hotel was the perfect base camp for the morning. The charming grand dame of hotels dates back to 1927; it was built to host early European and American tourists to the area. It went on to host US Presidents, foreign Queens and Shahs, as well as famous writers and actors.

I will let your imagination wonder - for myself, I was warmed by the sunshine, enchanted by my company, relishing every vista, every breath, devouring the grandeur of this national gem.

I close the series with the spirit of the valley tucked close in my heart.

Step away from your routine - Be good to yourself - Spend time outdoors - Cherish whom you're with.

All of that is so good for the soul - no doubt.

 ~ Adeline

Mono Lake Detour

There is a quiet stillness about Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierras. It is vast. It is ancient. It is over one million years old - one of the oldest lakes in North America. Its southern shoreline is a sight to behold - a bizarre sight - a surreal sight of weird, yet remarkable limestone rock formations called Tufas Towers. 

The road along the Tioga Pass from Yosemite to the lake is beautiful - breathtaking - with its graceful twists and turns, its snow dusted rims. You come across the last ridge into the town of Lee Vining on the western side of the lake. I waited until twilight to go to the shore. I knew the light would be softer. The tourists, would mostly have left. It was tranquil, just a few of us. It was eerie. It looked fragile. It looked elegant in a way I could not quite pinpoint. I felt as though I had left planet Earth for a moment, and caught myself looking around to get my bearings.

Scroll down for a little history, and to be mesmerized like I was. Uploading my photographs once I returned home made me do a double take - there is no place like home, but there is definitely no place like Mono Lake.

A little history… just a little… Mono Lake has no outlet. For centuries, freshwater streams and underwater springs have fed into it, and still do today. With surface evaporation came dense deposits of salts and minerals. These deposits stayed behind to intermix and accumulate into twisted ghostlike sediment towers. Tufa towers grow exclusively underwater - some as high as 30ft. When water diversions from the lake to Los Angeles began in the early forties, the level of the lake lowered, and exposed the towers. For different ecological and environmental reasons, a hard battle was fought and won in court to partially restore the lake level. Since 1981, the formations themselves are also protected under the Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve.

This is part two of my three-part East Sierra long weekend. Part one was Bodie ghost town. Next up is Yosemite National Park, where I started my awe inspiring long weekend. But first, if you ever go to Yosemite, make sure to take a detour and go further east. Mono Lake is a majestic body of water. The Tufa towers that grace the shoreline are magical. Oddly, they are calming. You walk away back to your vehicle, and you look back, just to be sure you really saw what you just saw. This is no mirage. This is Mono Lake, and yet again, this kind of detour is good for the soul.

Adeline

Ghost town USA ~ Bodie, California

I am in the mood to start this 3-part blog with the last part! 

Growing up with my French family across several anglo-saxon countries before moving to California, 

we were caught up in watching Spaghetti Westerns on television; we would hear about the folklore of the enigmatic Wild West, the major Gold Rushes across California, and I would imagine warm howling winds across the wide open expanses of vast American landscapes. 

It was just last month that I headed to the Eastern Sierras to the most well preserved historic Gold Rush ghost town of Bodie, just a bit east of another grand Dame of American beauty - Yosemite National Park. With the discovery of gold in the hills north of Mono Lake, Bodie, at an elevation of 8370ft, is now a State Historic Park and a National Historic Landmark. What began as a mining camp in 1859, quickly flourished to a Wild West boom town in 1870 with over 2000 buildings.

The opium bars, the 65 saloons, the thriving mines are now closed; the thousands of migrants, laborers, young families, and the prospectors have all left - the streets are now deserted - only about 100 buildings remain on the gently sloped hillside, yet the authenticity of those far gone days is ever so present, preserved in an eerie state of arrested decay and stillness.

Camera in hand, I wandered around ~ childhood dreams under my arm.

Bodie is not far. Do venture there. In one long weekend, I was back home in Marin County. Working backwards to part two for the next blog, will be a visit south to Mono Lake with its very own eerie edge - the unusual rock formations known as Tufa Towers.

It won't be long until I post again.

For now, enjoy that ghostly sensation… it's good for the soul, remember…

Adeline

Easter ~ Pyzanka from Ukraine ~ Papier-mâché from Kashmir

I always seem to have a destination in mind these days with my blog posts. With Easter here, and my constant need to rotate vignettes of ideas in my home; this time, I turn to Ukraine, a country which has been in the news of late. Just like my last blog honored the mystery of a lost flight, here I honor the art of Pysanka - the magnificent Ukrainian custom of Easter Egg decorating using pen-like styluses filled with liquid beeswax to draw intricate folk-inspired imagery in a wax-resist dye method.

Done a few years ago, the rust/red and green/yellow eggs below are my own elementary attempt - all the while trying to keep a steady hand, follow a proportioned design, and making sure not to crack the empty egg shell! I was humbled by the task in no time at all. 

A concentration like no other.

                       

Another beautiful technique is the Kashmiri art of hand-painted papier-mâché. When I traveled to Kashmir over 30 years ago, when the turmoil of today did not exist, and tourism flourished, I remember being on a student's budget with incredibly fine pieces completely out of my reach. How I would love to study and create my owns pieces, even small eggs like these below… but I shall leave it to the masters - they alone can create with an eye like no other.

Sprintime flowers, lace-like patterns on a porcelain bird, glittered glass eggs. 

My fingers are always itching for a new curiosity - a new experience.

 Look up Pyzanka online and you too will be awed by this intricate art form!

Look up Kashmiri papier-mâché and you will continue to be awed.

Look up and be inspired - it is good for the soul.

Happy Easter, Adeline