Fabulous Fall

Travels with Heart By Annie Bowler, Vol 21. December 1, 2024

Fall brings us all many wonderful opportunities. We’re lucky that our county has the “Placer Artists Tour,” which showcases the work of more than 120 local artists each November. Recently, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in the studios of my artist-friends Mya Louw, James Hirschinger, Imi Lehbrock-Hirschinger, and June Steckler. I especially enjoyed meeting photographer David Corey who is new to the tour and is currently showing his work at Casque Winery.

Being an artist isn’t easy. (Trust me, I know, I’m married to one!) This grassroots-run tour gives artists the opportunity to make important connections in our community and sell their work.

I was excited to bring home one of Jim’s beautiful photographs which is of water in a

centuries old fountain, taken in the town square of Imi’s Austrian village, as well as a lovely June Steckler painting. How lucky am I?

Along the way, I enjoyed many stunning trees, doing their fall thing. All in all, it was a

successful afternoon!

I hope to spend a full day next November viewing the work of artists in other parts of Placer County. Let me know if you’d like to join me.

My family has managed the Flower Farm’s seven room Inn for many years. All in all, it’s

been fun watching our guests come and go. Our most frequent guests are couples who are getting married, along with their families and friends. When they arrive, they tend to be understandably excited and anxious. Our kind staff reassures them and does their best to make sure everything is in order, so their wedding celebration goes smoothly. As the couple’s special day unfolds, our staff watches from a distance, like proud parents. We are pleased when couples return to stay at the Inn to celebrate their anniversary, to take family photos or show their kids around, though that doesn’t happen very often.

We have had one group though that has come back each fall for years. We call this group

of women the “Loomis Loonies,” though they are not at all looney, they just know how to

have fun! These women live in the Bay area and are talented quilters and dear friends to one another. They say if it’s more than a week since they've spent time together, it feels like their lives are incomplete.

The Inn’s main rooms are rearranged and turned into a quilt factory where they sew and

chat happily all week. Over the years, these women have become our treasured friends.

These are photos from their last visit.

I spent time in Sacramento recently and was absolutely blown away by the amazing fall

colors. With the recent wind and rain, the show will over shortly so take a look soon; you’ll

be glad you did. As you probably know, Sacramento is known as the city of trees and for good reason. Sacramento has a wide range of tree types, including sycamores, maples, and redwoods. Experts say that Sacramento has more than 115,000 street trees which offer a shade canopy to over 28% of the city. This canopy has a wonderful cooling effect on hot summer days and also provides lots of needed oxygen.

Sacramento has a great system for cleaning up the huge mountains of leaves that are

created each fall. Homeowners rake their leaves onto the edge of the sidewalk, then “the Claw”comes by and scoops up the leaves into trucks on a specific day. The leaves are taken to the landfill and composted. It seems to me this system works quite well, though I don’t envy how much raking some people have to do!

I looked into Sacramento’s trees a bit further and learned that its tree canopy is mostly centered around downtown, midtown, and East Sacramento, which are some of the more affluent areas of the city. The city is working with the Sacramento Tree Foundation to plant more trees in the less wealthy areas so those areas will also have the benefit of cooling shade and increased oxygen on hot summer days, and of course, also enjoy their beautiful fall display.

You've got to love small towns! These photos were taken after the great Loomis tradition, the Day Before Thanksgiving Parade.

Seeing these photos brought a smile to my face as it reminded me of when I was a kid when my friends and I rode our horses into downtown to Ojai Frosty to enjoy ice cream cones. Ojai Frosty even welcomed us with tie up posts for our horses. There’s nothing better than being a kid eating an ice cream on your beloved horse!

These calm horsewomen riding up for coffee are all members of the Painted Ladies Rodeo Performers; this group has performed for 26 years in many venues including River Cats games, the Hollywood Christmas parade, Hangtown Motocross, and the Rose Bowl Parade. Painted Ladies Rodeo Performers aren’t an ordinary drill team, they are an extreme drill team, where these beautiful ladies and their beautiful horses bring crowds to their feet by their stunts and grace. The Painted Ladies will be riding once again in the Rose Bowl parade to bring in 2025.

It also brought a smile to my face because my longtime friend, Teresa Glissman, has long been a member of the Painted Ladies, I was lucky to live near Teresa and watch her teach her young kids how to ride. I and my daughters learned so much from her, especially her relaxed but firm approach to horsemanship.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!