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The Painted Cats of Kokopelli Gallery in Saint Helena
Three painted cats of Kokopelli Gallery
Before the painted cats of Kokopelli Gallery, this Sacramento Realtor has collected many different types of cat figurines over the years. They come from all walks of life. From friends as gifts, art galleries, antique stores, tourist shops and even the goofy Franklin Mint. I began collecting cats in the 1970s when I lived in Newport Beach in southern California. My biggest fear back then was an earthquake would shatter my display case and take all of my cats with it. I didn’t think of myself as a cat collector then, just a person who had a few knickknacks.
People collect all sorts of things. I see these collections in their homes as a top Sacramento listing agent. Some people enjoy dolls and dollhouses, others prefer life-size action figures from Star Wars lined up against the wall, and some pick very particular things like miniature hurricane lamps. My sister collected frogs for a while. My husband collects books, magazines and CDs. Everybody has their thing. I would like to collect art, large sculptures and oil paintings, but I can’t justify spending thousands and thousands for that kind of whim, which is probably a good thing or we’d never travel. The painted cats of Kokopelli are more affordable.
I first noticed the painted cats of Kokopelli while walking by the shop on Main Street in Saint Helena on the 4th of July. The shop was closed. My husband seemed relieved, and when I stopped to look in the window, he was already standing next to my car, waiting. But I had just spotted the tan painted cat with all the spots. I put the name of the shop into my cellphone. Sure enough, they have a website.
At first I thought the cat was a fimo clay. I described the cat and ordered it from Kokopelli. But when it arrived, I was horrified to discover it was not the cat in the window. OK, there are worse things in life to be horrified about, like the slaying of police officers in Dallas, the killing of an innocent African-American motorist in Minnesota, and whether Donald Trump will become president and force us to move to Mexico, but I set all of those nightmares aside for a moment when I opened the box. My initial reaction was the cat was ugly. It was not like any of the painted cats of Kokopelli.
I quickly rectified the situation with a call to Stephen at the Kokopelli Gallery. He located the painted cat I desired. But I made the mistake of inquiring about the specific number of painted cats of Kokopelli. Stephen emailed me photos. I examined the fimo clay cat more closely. Actually, the fimo clay cat was beautiful. Intricate detail, gorgeous color, and now suddenly I did not want to bid adieu. No, kitty, this is my pot pie! I had touched, admired, and became hooked.
In addition to the tan painted cat with the bright colors, I also selected the cats I nicknamed elevator butt and Wild Man of Borneo cat. Above is a photo sent by Stephen. If you like cat figurines, there are more painted cats of Kokopelli Gallery available. They come from all different Mexican artists and are signed. Go to kokopellinapa.com. Just don’t ask me why they have two cards from the Saint Helena police department taped below the ledge of their work area. You can see it in the photo above.
I feel like I should make a confession before a group of other addicts. Yes, my name is Elizabeth Weintraub, and I collect small cat figurines.
Sacramento Getaway in Calistoga
This metal sculpture of a horse in Calistoga is Elizabeth Weintraub’s favorite kind of horse.
Among all the places to go for the 4th of July, a Sacramento getaway in Calistoga sounded very appealing. We have house sitters to take care of our trio of cats and home. And there are a huge number of places a person can go for a weekend to get out of Sacramento. As the saying goes, Sacramento is a delightful place to live because it is close to so many other places far more delightful. They don’t come right out and say it, but that is precisely what people mean.
There is some truth to it as well. Especially when the temperature in Sacramento is over 100 degrees, like it’s been lately. During our Sacramento getaway in Calistoga, the temperature has ranged between a morning low of around 60 and an afternoon high of about 85. It’s a slower pace, more kickback, without as many tourists as, say, St. Helena.
The phone calls from clients to this Sacramento Realtor has been nonexistent this weekend. I’ve had a few callers who sound like they are already preoccupied when they decide to call some random number looking for a rental and wonder if I can help, but only after they share their life story of misery, which makes me regret ever having written a blog about selling rental homes in Sacramento since that’s how they find me. Regardless of how many times I explain that agents do not work with tenants, they can’t seem to fathom that explanation because, after all, they read it on the internet, even if they didn’t read every word, and gosh darn it my name was there.
I don’t have to answer my phone but I do.
Below are a few interesting photos I shot while walking around and enjoying our Sacramento getaway in Calistoga. We explored many of the shops, enjoyed a spa massage for couples, and lounged about the pool, mostly relaxing and preparing for our next adventure at the wineries.
Adam Weintraub waits patiently outside a dress shop in Calistoga.
This dog in Calistoga looks very concerned, by Jove.
Colorful baskets for sale at the Calistoga Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.
Victorian in Calistoga decked out for the 4th of July
Fire engine at Calistoga Fire Department washed and polished for 4th of July
Peaches at Calistoga Farmer’s Market
A Short Visit to Dunsmuir, California
On our way home to Sacramento from Mt. Shasta yesterday, we stopped by the ambrosial town of Dunsmuir, California. The front desk clerk at the Mt. Shasta Resort told us she lives there and was a bit hesitant in trying to recommend the town to us when we asked about it. I think she didn’t want to appear as though she was boasting in case we didn’t like the town and would somehow hold her responsible for her personal recommendation.
She was really nice to us. One thing I noticed about the people we encountered in Siskiyou County is they are incredibly polite and nice, well, except for the housekeeping police at Mt. Shasta Resort. Here is an example of the niceness in people: the clerk at the Sacred Mountain Spa had a difficult time figuring out a 20% tip for us. I tried to offer a bit of assistance by suggesting that it’s easy to just double 10%, you know, move the decimal point and then double it. She countered by sharing with us that she always leaves $10 and thereby most likely overtips but she doesn’t mind being generous; she doesn’t have to think about tipping or math, and it seems simpler to her. I can see where that approach would work in Dunsmuir, not so much at Ella in Sacramento.
If you like trains, you’ll like Dunsmuir and maybe the Dunsmuir Railroad Depot, the woman at Mt. Shasta Resort finally threw out there. There is a historical area on Sacramento Avenue that runs along the train tracks, but if you read a real estate ad for a home for sale on Sacramento Avenue, it will describe that location as being across from the river, which it also is, but it neglects to mention that between your new home and the gorgeous river lies the rail yard. Of course, I had to stop by a few closed real estate offices to peruse the homes for sale in the windows to see if my estimate of value for those homes was on the mark. I had guessed $150K and sure enough, a few along Sacramento Avenue were for sale at $159,000. See, you can take the real estate agent out of Sacramento, but you can’t take the real estate out of the agent.
Much of the downtown area appears built on a hill. The homes on one side of Dunsmuir Avenue are elevated from the street and the homes on the other side are situated lower than the street, so low that you have to take stairs to get to them, which I imagine means they might fight water retention during a hard rainstorm.
Much smoke in the area from lightning fires prevented us from completely enjoying the tremendous mountain views as the haze was a bit intense. But the weather was warm and the streets quiet. My husband had to stop to take a photo of the assumed food battles between the Pizza Factory and the Burger Barn. We both loved the throwback to our childhoods: the obscure Pacific Bell telephone booth situated on the main drag, Dunsmuir Avenue.
The phone had a dial tone, too, in case you’re wondering. It was a free phone sponsored by some of the businesses in town. Directions on the wall provided the extensions that would be important to people in town to reach such as Social Security, coupled with an extension to obtain a credit card. Any person wandering down the street who had a sudden urge to get a VISA card could pick up the phone to apply. I noticed, though, it was missing an extension for pizza delivery from the Pizza Factory.
Signs about town warned of the dangers of squeezing fish. Like me, you might ask, why would anybody squeeze a fish? Toilet paper, yes, fish, no. But that’s not such a dumb question if you’re participating in the catch and release program, and I’m not talking about jail time. Other signs pointed to fines of $25 to $200 for not picking up dog poop. There will be no dogs running loose in Dunsmuir, and you can’t bring your dog into every restaurant either. Civilized people live in Dunsmuir, I’ll have you know.
We can recommend the Dunsmuir Brewery Works for lunch, in case you’re ever driving by this part of the world and yearning for craft beer, juicy brats with the yummiest mustard seed varieties in a side of potato salad or maybe a mixed garden salad with heirloom tomatoes from next door, topped by adobo chicken. The flies are a bit crazy out on the patio, but large umbrellas keep the beating sun off your head and really, what else could you want?
