Intrusion

Friends -
Sometimes I consider what I would like to have happen to me when I die. No mummification, casket and burial; I am certain of that. So cremation seems the only choice. But then what should be done with the ashes. Will I even care? I do know that if the remnants of my bodily minerals can be put to any good use, I would like that to happen here - in the Tuolumne Wilderness area near Carson Pass. Caples, Woods, Frog, Winnemucca Lakes and so many alpine meadows and rugged alpine peaks could incorporate pieces of me into their beauty! That would be nice.

The area is at once wild and welcoming, and has been a place of restorative hiking for me for decades. There is something reverent and spiritual about a place that incorporates vibrant, new beauty of pines, aspen, meadow grasses, lakes and wildflowers with unexpected, fantastical shapes intruding from the volcanic underworld. It is a wilderness chapel that gives me peace.

The particular spot that I chose to commemorate in this painting is up the trail just past Round Top Lake looking northwest-ish through volcanic intrusions and across the canyon that hides Caples Lake. My place of worship.


I hope to use this painting, and prints of it, as trade for donations to a worthwhile organization that makes the world a better place. Let me know if you are interested.

margie lopez read

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