Christmas 2008

Leisure Lee and I spent Christmas evening at his sisters house in GrassValley. Though this picture depicts a good time... I did not feel the Christmas Spirit. I find myself at a loss of words with his family anymore with the exception of the grandchildren and my sister and brother -in-law. I do find myself interacting with Big "E" this is Leisure Lee's nephew... I was happy to be at home toasting the close of the night with an egg nog!

Winter Time

Other than Christmas there are many reason why winter is beautiful. One of my favorite past times is looking into the sky, whether it's a glorious sunrise, a red-lined setting sun, and my ultimate time is the night sky! Recently I enjoyed gazing at the full moon with one of the planets and north star sitting next to each other. Also, Leisure Lee and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by attending a Carpenter's Service Pin ceremony whereby he was awarded his 35 year service pin. I enjoyed being with him and meeting new people. I actually met a woman who was born in Auburn and raised in the little town of Penryn. She knew my Dad and her family knows my Mom and Dad - we went to the same high school too. Anyway - it was great. Our traditional night out for dinner and attending the Festival of Lights Parade was preempted by a night of surprise

Post Cards from the Woods

So, my daughter, T has moved away to the woods on the east coast and everyday since her departure she has been sending me post cards. She's giving me tidbits of information on how she's fairing in her new environment. T is a pretty surefooted daughter, I knew she would make friends right away and build herself a new barn, so to speak. She's learned so much about her new town and community in just a short time, exactly 2 1/2 months. Did I mention she's a great Poet, writer, Mom, Wife, friend and a great person to hang out with. I read her blog everyday this gives me a snapshot of her daily life too, I read it faithfully. I want to share the many post cards I've collected. I miss her!!!

Painted Ponies

Childhood dreams fade as you get older and you sometimes forget what you really enjoyed as a child, until someone comes along and reminds you. M. Heads painted this picture and it is one painting of a thousand paintings of a huge equine mural in Canada. A very talented young woman, wouldn't you say. I loved horses growing up, everything from reading horse stories, paint by number oil painting and riding too. Honestly, I was always a little weary of riding and being thrown to the ground with a hard smack could be painful. I'm speaking from experience and that's okay because I learned to get back on, again and again. Somewhere through my journey and life taking me down it's own path I lost interest in my dream. A few years back I volunteered and assisted children with riding Ice Atlantic ponies or horses. It wasn't only rewarding for the children but for me as well. Maybe this is a little more than you want to know but I love the smell of horses, and barnes, all the aromas of a ranch. I especially loved the sound of a horse chomping on an apple or a carrot. Learning to ride and taking riding lessons has crossed my mind recently. Did I mention my grandfather, James was a horse trainer - I never knew this growing up and I wonder if I have a horse gene. That would be a nice gene to have, don't you think. My Mom has a beautiful framed picture of my grandfather on beautiful chestnut horse by the name of Cimmeron. Dare to dream - it really is quite an inviting thought.

Visit with Sweet Tater

It is so hard to believe that our granddaughter is just growing up... Sweet Tater is 11 1/2 now and she is just a beautiful young girl. Her Papa, Leisure Lee and I were lucky enough to have her stay with us for a few days while she's out here visiting from the woods. We just hung out, watched a couple of movies, did some shopping, bought a few books, tried are hand at watercolor and I taught her how to play checkers and she won fair and square. Before she left in June, I had taken a couple of pictures of her in her favorite tree and some how or another it was deleted from my digital camera (arg). I was just sick about it because to me it was a lost photo, a moment captured that I would never get back. So, when I asked her if she would mind posing for another shot, she was up for the task. I know she really likes to climb but the day may come when it's not cool. Yet, again I think Sweet tater will always love the outdoors and with that comes climbing. So, here she is sittin pretty in her tree - I already miss her!

Lighting of the Marquee State Theater

Last night was pretty amazing; Leisure Lee and I actually went out at about 7:00pm to have dinner at our new favorite pizza place. It's actually not a new place, it's our favorite since we find ourselves no longer ordering from Pizza Express. Leisure Lee said,"I wonder if they miss us not coming in anymore." So now we travel down to old town Auburn and go to Old Town Pizza. It used be know as the Wine Cellar and I went there once or, twice in my life. Afterwards we headed uptown Auburn and joined the community for the lighting of the newly installed State Theater Marquee lighting party. As a kid I didn't visit this theater much. The one time I remember going to the show with a bunch of cousins and one of them kept running up and down the isle and the usher came along and kicked us out on the street. We couldn't call our parents to come get us because then they would know what happened. We listened to some pretty good music and musicians. Glenda Gonzales sang (drama teacher from Placer High School)"Fly me to the moon" and I can't believe how much I was smiling just listening to her. Then there was a count down, 10, 9, 8, 7... etc and it was spectacular to see this old building with such a pretty new look. We didn't plop into bed until past 11:00pm - the air was the best it had been all week- I can't say enough about the fire crews- THANK YOU!!!!

Fire Season in California 2008

Here we are almost in the middle of July and we've not been able to plan an outing because of the fires and smoke. On the 4th we were really thankful for one beautiful day - for one day we were fortunate enough to see blue skies. It's our hope to try golfing this year and we'd like to see a River Cats game and for Leisure Lee's birthday we wanted to go fishing at our favorite fishing spot, French Meadows (the lake is 80 feet below normal) and there are so many restrictions on camping, and most likely it's not safe to even be near the woods because of the fires. I just heard on the news that the National Guard has been called to help with the fires because our firefighters are stretched to their limits. I can't imagine how it would be to work on a fire line and never see the end in sight or, how people are coping with being evacuated from their homes. My friend Mo's mom lives in Paradise and she was evacuated yesterday. My heart goes out to all these folks!

Cream Puffs My Way

Well today I made my first batch of cream puffs. Man it takes a pretty strong arm to beat in all those eggs but I did it! I can remember loving cream puffs as a kid and could never fathom how someone could possibly make these at home, other than a bakery, Dainty Pastry comes to mind. One late afternoon along time ago (sounds like a fairytale) Nana Ivy said she was in the mood for cream puffs and walked into the kitchen and whipped up these delicate, light, fluffy pastries in just an hour and for me it was as though magic was happening before my eyes. Nana Ivy was full of surprises when it came to any type of cooking and her daughters have this same talent. She may have used every pot and utensil in the kitchen but you could bet whatever the meal was, it was going to be SO good. I feel very fortunate to have learned quite a bit about a little of everything from her family. I really thought I could never attempt cream puffs and then I thought, wait a minute, why not me! Though my cream puffs weren't drizzled with chocolate, because it burnt up in the microwave, Leisure Lee ate three of them and I must say they tasted purty darn good. Now I can make them even better and it doesn't matter how many times I try, it's all worth it - it's good for my soul!

Marigolds and Mosquitoes Solutions

My daughter and I have been discussing mosquito remedies and though they are not buzzing around my ears here in California, she said they are in full force in Massachusetts's. I'v read that marigolds are great to repell mosquitos and other unwanted insects. I recently subscribed to "Real Simple" (life made easier) and they also suggest trying, Repel Lemon Eucalyptus in a concentrated formula which can be found at http://www.repel.com/ and costs about$6.50. Other interesting facts about those pesky insects: they are not attracted to perfume they are only attracted to your breathing, they are weak fliers, keeping a fan on may deter them and wouldn't you know it, female mosquitos are the ones after your blood because they need the protein to lay eggs. Other suggested websites by Real Simple are: http://www.bugband.net/ and patches, http://www.dontbitemepatch.com/. Come to think of it the smoke that is blanketing our state might be keeping the mosquitoes at bay - it's a miserable situation!

Busy Bluebirds

I've never been one for birds, that is I've never admired them as pets or, liked seeing them in a cage. But watching them in their own habitat and building birdhouses is nice hobby and something I've really come to enjoy. This picture was taken this morning and the male is a beautiful violet color and the female isn't quite as showy. These two parents feed their babies all day long, they are just like my grandchildren, always hungie. I built the birdhouse in a woodworking class and the specifications are just for bluebirds. Of course there's always some disagreement on the dimensions an if a perch should be added or, not. My instructor disagreed with my theory on the perch. One thing to remember is not to paint your birdhouse, leave it all natural!

Auburn State Theater

It has been a long time coming since our home town theater looked so beautiful, it is finally being renovated. I drive past the theater everyday on my way to work and the change is wonderful, the colors pop out at you and the marquee has an old vintage look. I'm not sure if the theater will be showing movies again but there are quite a few people that are very happy see part of their history saved. There has been an out pouring of community volunteers to assist in saving our State Theater. You can view more pictures at auburnjournal.com. The lighting of the marquee is July 11th - Yippee!

Summer Solstice an Fiddle Festival June 2008

Leisure Lee and I attended a Fiddle Festival at the Nevada County fairgrounds last night. I hate to say it but it has been along time since we went out on a Friday night. We've become so glued to our T.V. it's really pathetic. So, when last nights master teacher of the fiddle camp said, "don't get stuck in your lounge chairs and start looking for your remote," it rang true for me. The evening started off with an old Scottish tune, "The Armes Dealer Daughter." It was my favorite tune of the night. The Fiddle Festival was held last week and the group spent the week in the woods and Alsdair said they were anarchist of fiddlers, cellists, guitarist and piano players. Since the festival landed on the cusp of the summer solstice, there was dancing, singing and of course music from Scottish to Quebec and a cross between Celtic fiddling with rifts and lots of stomping of the feet for percussion but there was a drummer and one flutist. The Fiddle Camp is head towards Santa Cruz and then onto Pyrenees, Spain. What a memorable night!

Dawn Redwoods

Last year during fall a beautiful Dawn Redwood was cut down on the school property where I work. I was devastated because it was such a careless mistake. Dawn Redwoods have an interesting history with our region and at one time they thought to be extinct. So, after having a few words with the man who cut down this giant of a tree I scavenged to find some seeds and I thought it would be cool to try and grow one myself. I planted the seeds awhile back and nothing happened. In my research, I read not to be disappointed if not one seed germinated. I hadn't given up on the idea of growing my own Dawn Redwood, I still have more seeds. But one week ago I decide to park my car down in the area where the beautiful Dawn Redwood stood for more than 70 years plus and to my surprise I spotted a little Dawn Redwood growing. I ran up to the office and told my friend Mo come down and see what I discovered. While were looking over the area we must have counted seven little Dawn Redwoods trees. I hope to inherit one of these little beauty's - see for yourself!

June Gloom

June has been a rocky month with my family just moving back to Massachusetts - I felt like my world dropped out from under me when they drove away. Me and Leisure Lee are looking forward to visiting them in October and once I become more familiar with their surroundings I know I'll feel better about their move.
They live next to a really beautiful pond so they can swim, fish and ski if they choose to. Our little Buckaroo will no doubt learn to swim on the pond among other things his older brother and sister will teach him. I can visualize their live and how nice it will be for them to grow up with nature in their backyard.