Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Shady Rest Trailer Paradise

After a pleasant visit to Venice Beach area in Los Angeles, house-sitting and gallery-cruising for two weeks, I returned to Bishop and moved my trailer into Shady Rest Trailer Paradise in the northeast corner of Bishop, between City Park and the Canal. I have a concrete slab for a front porch and am hooked up to electricity, cold city water and sewer, with showerhouse privileges and a small storage shed. It's the Ritz!

A  major amenity is Winford Flud, general manager and Vietnam Vet (for real), pictured here watering flowers. He has planted flowers all over the park and keeps the place green. He encourages potted gardens and tomatoes, corn, lettuce and cucumbers  flourish amongst aluminum sidings. One afternoon when he returned from a fishing expedition (note sunburned legs) he fried up the new trout with all the other trout stashed in his freezer and handed it out to everyone in the trailer park. It was delicious. He told me he'd teach me to fish for trout if I bought a fishing license. I told him that if I sold a painting I'd buy a fishing license ($50). 

Winford scrounged me a small fridge, a fan, extension cords, and some frames to fix up for my paintings from his extensive holdings in converted container storage lockers down by the airport.  I bought parts at ACE and he fixed my interior water plumbing, gratis. He runs his giant TV and air conditioning all day for anyone who cares to walk in and sit for awhile. When the temp bakes up over 100, I look for a movie in his cabinets and flop on his couch drinking his gatorade. We share watermelons.  
Typical conversation-in-passing:

Winford;   HEY. YOU. whattayathinkyerdoin'?

Inna:  laundry.

Winford:  goddam.

























Owens Valley is very green this summer, hot and green and the canal is running high from the last snow melting fast. I like to walk along the canal in the evening when fish jump, air cools down, and sunset colors sky and hills.

NEWS FLASH: Apparently I have in fact sold a painting at the ESLT fundraiser art show in Mammoth, so I may have a fishing blog soon. . . .Next blog will be about the paintings.







2 comments:

  1. Bishop's the place to fish, that's for sure. And a tutor, that's a valuable thing!

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  2. Dear Ms. Ray, I'm a Franciscan School student updating our alumni directory for the development office. Hunting down names I found your blog. Please contact FST if you will, to get in touch with me! (i don't want to give more contact information online. Peace and good, Jackie (

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