The Frolic
Old Pals at the Beach, from Eve Fowler's Diaries
Long-time Los Angeles artist friends of Salmon Creek Eve Fowler and Anna Sew Hoy came back to the land for a restorative visit last month during the fall session of Schools of Salmon Creek. Here are a few diary excerpts from Eve. A show of her new work opens in January 2026 at Gordon Robichaux and then moves to Harvard Radcliffe Institute in mid February.
September 4th, 2026
Iām just waking up in Albion at Salmon Creek Farm. I woke up at 6, waited 30 minutes and then made coffee for me and Anna. She appears to be meditating in front of the open door with a view of tall pine trees.
Itās chilly but not too chilly. Our morning yesterday was wonderful. I got up at 6:30, showered and left the hotel. I walked up the steep hills of SF from the wharf to Russian Hill. It was gorgeous. Views of the bay, early morning light, old wavy glass. I marveled at the landscape in the distance and at the architecture. And again the conspicuous consumption. SF is clean. I walked for 25 minutes to a cafe called Saint Frank. I had a croissant and a coffee and as I sat drinking my coffee a line formed outside. Heterosexuals in expensive leisure wear lined up for coffee- similar to Maru in Los Feliz. I felt happy even though heterosexuals have taken over. Anna texted and we met for breakfast at a sweet cafe that was a 20-minute walk for both of us. I had eggs, she had huevos rancheros. We walked back to the hotel and on the walk I noticed queer people everywhere. SF is still gay. We packed up and left, drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Marin, through narrow winding roads with mammoth redwood trees. After two or so hours, we arrived in a small town and stopped for lunch. We were standing outside of a cafe talking and a woman approached us with two puppies and asked if we wanted to hold them. Of course, we said yes. She owned the wine bar and at 12 in the afternoon was already a little drunk. She asked us to come into the wine bar. There were over 40 dogs sleeping on pleather sofas. It smelled like pee. I dissociated, as I do. When we were at lunch afterwards, eating burgers, Anna asked what happened. She said it seemed like I was triggered. I told her the woman was drunk. I explained the magnetic force of following a drunk (with a puppy) and the subsequent realization that I made a mistake and wanted to remove myself from the situation. I removed myself without removing my body. Just my mind. We discussed it - at length. We arrived at Fritzās and walked straight to the apple orchard. We sat on the ground together, trying different kinds of apples and catching up. It was heaven.
September 5, 2025
Itās morning and Iām sitting at the window looking at the flowers I picked yesterday. Anna is on the phone with the divorce lawyer. We were up at 6:20 this morning. I made coffee, we chatted and then I walked for an hour. I visited some llamas who really wanted nothing to do with me. Their lashes were long. So long. I saw some slugs. Lots of fog/mist. We are headed to Napa today to see a private collection with Fritz. Itās a 3 hour drive but a drive into the sun which I think will be nice. We might wine taste in Napa. Just a little.
September 9, 2025
I woke up late today. Probably because of the long drive from Albion yesterday. Our drive was quiet, somber at times. When we arrived at Jumboās, after driving an hour, Anna said she felt sad to have left Salmon Creek Farm. I did too. We seemed to have such good luck on our trip. Everything was timed right. Everything worked in our favor. We also wanted to do the same thing at the same time and that made the trip easy. And fun. Two water signs on a trip. Itās easy. I did some writing on the beach on Sunday. This is what i wrote:
From A beach in Mendocinoā¦
September 7, 2025
Iām reading āthe bluetā by James Schuyler over and over. A sexy, queer poem about a flower - seemingly. Queering the flower. Redundant. Flowers are inherently queer. My phone is on airplane mode. There is nothing to disturb me. There is a dull pulsing noise on the beach. Yesterday we tried to figure out what it was but could not. Thereās no fog. Maybe itās a pump. Iām eating all the grapes. Iām trying not to. I told Anna yesterday that if a doctor ever told me I could no longer eat fruit I donāt know what I would do. That was after standing next to a black-berry bush eating berry after berry. Anna, who was tired of waiting said āyou really like those blackberriesā. I said āIām a fruitaholicā I felt like a bear. The other day in Fritzās garden I felt like a deer eating Fritzās raspberries. I like the beach here. Itās not polluted. We donāt have to worry. We didnāt have to look at burned out buildings or cars or scorched earth on the way here. Fresh air. Clean water.
That is all. Anna made five small watercolors just now. She used ocean water which she said makes the watercolors act faster. These watercolors have a special quality that reminds me of painted ceramic.
There are three people and a dog with us now on the beach. They are young and taking photos of each other under a cliff with a fresh water dribble which resembles a tiny waterfall.
Anna is looking at the sea watching summer disappear. Tomorrow we will drive back to relentless heat. We will wait for summer to disappear looking for relief not lamenting its ease.
I will swim at the Rose Bowl to get through the rest of the heatwave.
Later on Sunday at another beach (after eating one of the most delicious pizzas ever) we walked down many stairs to a vast pile of driftwood. There was a cliff covered in nasturtium, Thai basil, blackberries and what looked like cabbage but was actually Chinese broccoli. Anna said Fritz told her the following story:
The Frolic, a 19th-century opium clipper, wrecked off the coast of Mendocino in 1850 with a huge and significant cargo of luxury Chinese goods. The vessel was heading for San Francisco to supply wealthy merchants and gold prospectors. The shipwreck and the subsequent discovery of its artifacts also played a key role in the early development of the Mendocino area.
The cargo of the Frolic
The Chinese goods on board the Frolic were a veritable āemporium of Chinese elegance,ā a diverse collection of luxury items. The shipās manifest included:
Porcelain: Over 21,000 blue-and-white porcelain bowls.
Textiles: Fine silks from Canton.
Furniture and Decor: Lacquerware, marble inset tables, and ornately carved camphor wood trunks.
A prefabricated house: A complete pre-cut house with decorative oyster-shell windows.
Jewelry: Gold filigree jewelry and tortoiseshell combs.
Gambling items: Mother-of-pearl gambling pieces.
Opium: A significant part of the original cargo on this former opium clipper.
Other goods: Brass weights, tea, rice, and wine.
The cargo also included 6,109 bottles of Edinburgh ale, the only goods not of Chinese origin.
The discovery and impact of the shipwreck
Initial salvage: The Frolic ran aground and was washed into a shallow cove near Point Cabrillo. The crew escaped, but local Pomo Indians were the first to find the wreck. They salvaged large quantities of pottery and other goods.
Archaeological finds: In 1984, archaeologist Thomas Layton found pieces of Chinese porcelain at a Pomo settlement, which led him to investigate the wreckage. The story of his quest is told in the documentary Impact of the Frolic.
Stimulated the lumber industry: When a salvage party went to look for the wreck in 1851, they found the shipās cargo but also discovered massive redwood forests nearby. This led prominent San Francisco businessman Henry Meiggs to establish a sawmill, kicking off the North Coast logging industry and leading to the founding of the town of Mendocino.
Shortly after The Frolic ran aground Chinese broccoli started to appear, growing on the cliffs near the shipwreck. And that broccoli remains on that very cliff today. More on our day later. Gotta go to the studio. The day is escaping.
I love this - and I never knew why Chinese broccoli grows around Mendocino! Thanks for the stories.