Colorful Characters

Watershed Illuminated

Yellow

At the Hospital

Waiting…

 Waiting…

Waiting for the loved one's return from repair.

Hidden Legacy

 

The handrail for the steps leading to overflow parking at the Howard Hospital campus includes an echo of the Howard family racing silks used in the days of Seabiscuit.

Haiku

Meanwhile, back in Willits...

This could, plausibly, be gang tagging. Haiku is well known as Ukiah spelled backwards, and Ukiah is a neighboring town. It also hosts the (International) http://www.ukiahaiku.org/ Festival. If you enjoy composing haiku, this is your place.

Mayan Weaver at the Market

Today's farmers' market had some light rain, but some people still turned out to shop. The market manager wrote up a nice preview for the local paper, including this tidbit:

Special this week: Katja Grace will bring her friend, Albertina López Húmez, a Mayan weaver from the town of Santa Catarina on Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. Albertina will demonstrate Mayan back-strap weaving and show her work, along with that of other Mayan craftspeople featured in Katja's "Tomorrow's Traditions" fair trade business.

According to the resident vendor, Katja, this woman will be going back to Guatemala before next week, even though her home has been "wiped out" by the flooding down there. I wish her well.

Painted Past

The ghosts of commerce past presented themselves on recent travels to Ukiah and San Francisco.

Another Main Street Change

I'm all for creating access for people needing mobility assistance to get around town. Gradually, existing infrastructure will sport improvements like banked curbs at street crossings or audible walk signals. Privately owned businesses are wise to welcome all the customers they can. On older structures, a certain amount of rebuilding makes all that possible, as with these two doors.


The ramped access replaced a short step-up, lined on its outer edge with ceramic tile. Sadly for me, this improvement came with the sacrifice of one of my favorite art installations; a lovely illusion of koi fish swimming in a shallow pool. I'm glad I got a picture of it last year.

New Shop

The windows of a shop front on the uptown promenade had been painted over for longer than a year, with a scene resembling Little Lake Valley in pastel colors (photographed last year). It was a pleasant enough alternative to seeing a vacant room moldering away. But I was reminded that I need to get over to the business hub more often, when I saw this new clothing boutique already open. Welcome, Stefany's, and good luck!

Gallery Door Art

I've always admired the artistic double doors at the Willits Center for the Arts. The building started out as the Women's Improvement Club, then served as the local jail. A great deal of work has been done to repair and refinish the premises, and they have much more to do. They really scored well with whoever designed the entrance.

Sitting at the gallery desk for an afternoon recently, I got to study the interior left panel of the door, with its inset prisms of glass. I think these are of the sort used in the decks of wooden boats, to cast light into the chambers below.




Here are the full doors from the outside. Just lovely.

101 Drive-In Mural

I hadn't made it over to the 101 Drive-In in months and months, but got a cheeseburger there on Tuesday. I talked about the place way back about a year ago on Willits Daily Photo, but hadn't featured it since. Even after such a long time, the proprietor still remembered that I took my burgers without lettuce!

While waiting for my order to cook, I decided to get a good look at this mural/panel painting decorating the open air dining area. It was done by students at the nearby Sanhedrin Alternative High School, situated nearby, in 1998. This image doesn't really do justice to its details.

Om-bama

The adoption/co-option of President Obama into every niche of liberal culture continues. I was amused to see this little poster behind the counter at Mendonesia a few weeks ago. This coffee/sandwich/smoothie house now offers free WiFi, and is open until 10pm. Shanachie's Pub cuts off the WiFi at 8pm, and J.D. Redhouse closes at 6, so this is a good development. When my very first mobile device arrived, an iPod Touch, this is where I went to test its connectivity for the first time. Fun!

Photography Show Reception

It was great that so many people turned up amid a series of blustery rain showers that evening.

August Evening Art

There was a well attended opening reception for a new show at the Willits Center for the Arts last Saturday night.

Code Pink Bakes Up Some Justice

The nationwide anti-war group, Code Pink, participated in the annual Frontier Days parade in Willits. As with the color pink, they use the traditionally feminine motif of hmemade pies to carry their message of protest. I photographed them while they waited for the procession to begin.


They had copies of the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights, ready for distribution during the parade, as well as a couple of rolling pins (used for flattening pastry dough for pies) to wave around.