A Warm and Lovely Place

I LOVE THIS TOWN. It's population is about 185. Amador City was incorporated into a city around 1915. Historically located in a rich gold bearing area in the Motherlode of California. In 1848-1849 an unknown creek was prospected by a wealthy rancher named Jose Maria Amador. There were no known settlements until 1851.

The Gold Rush changed the landscape of California. Amador's most famous and productive mine, the Keystone produced about $24 million in gold during 1853-1942. These prices would be higher using today's gold standard. A LOT HIGHER!. 

Gold today is worth $1544.00 an ounce. In 1850 it was worth $19.00 an  an ounce. 

The old Prospector, my husband, won't sell any of his gold. He says it's too precious and he worked too hard for it. I understand.... but one ounce would pay for the potting shed that's going up, outside.

Which, so far, has two sides standing and a great dance floor. All we need are some strings of lights. 

This morning there's a third wall up. 

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All right, sorry.... back to the Wine Social.

I would like you to meet the "Mayor" of Amador City.

 Other than a few minutes of squirrel chasing, he was running the show last night. I don't know his name. We were only informally introduced. He came over and checked our credentials, sniffed us out and continued on to the next table. This was one busy dog.

He was a dog with a mission. His human companion is the owner of the Bellflower Home & Garden store. This is his town and he isn't about to let any strangers just mosey into town uninvited. I loved watching him trot from one place to another all evening.

The outdoor part of the store is where we put up our table.

This is our table on the right, above. That's Christie looking at the wonderful iron garden art and fencing. They have some great things out there.
  Christie and I have been doing this show for four years now. It's always so relaxed... probably because there's WINE involved.

Here's the left side of the table.... Below is the right side.

Lots of people "just looking". We have dropped prices so low the last few years. It's the ECONOMY. Folks are just not buying ART. It's low on the priority list.

People look... and they ask a lot of questions... but they don't buy much.
It was still quite warm at 5:00 p.m. and it seemed humid. We were sticky and uncomfortable.
This is unusual for the foothills. Dryness is the norm. Maybe all that late rain left some moisture in the ground and the heat was sucking it to the surface.

I sold a couple of soaps.

And my wall hanging called "River Spirit". I will miss this piece. It was made with some shards from a broken gourd. It's represented an experience on the Burnt River in Eastern Oregon.
We camped there, one night, years ago. There was a full moon and I woke up thinking that I  heard voices coming from the river. I walked down to the river. The sound was shallow water running over stones . To me it sounded like voices speaking very softly. I've never forgotten the feeling of standing there beside that river in a canyon filled with moonlight. On of those really wonderful moments that you only experience by yourself.
Two years ago, as I worked on this piece, the stark mountains, the moonlight and the voices came back to me.
I didn't want to sell this one but the woman loved the piece and I could tell she was listening to the "River Spirit" too though this art work of mine. So I sold it to her. I will miss it. There is still a small part of me that will miss this piece of art. It leaves an empty place on my living room wall and in my heart.
I sold two more pieces later in the evening so I would say that it was a good show. We have reduced the prices so much over the last two years,almost cutting most sales in half. It's hard right now and I'm glad that I'm not relying on these shows for my main income. Some do and it's a hard row to hoe.

This is my "Feathered Nest" gourd. It's a bird house but has never been outside, yet. It's kind of a primadonna birdhouse. It's embellished with things from our property... moss, twigs, feathers (bought... and they are legal) and creek stones... and sits on a river rock. Folks love it, but they never buy it. I don't know why. I have reduced the price every year and last night I priced it at $20.00. It still didn't sell. Any suggestions? It's about a foot high. I'm sure a bird would love it.
The rest of the evening was lovely. The music was wonderful.... kind of a Cajun, Bahama, South American, "Girl from Ipanema", bossa nova beat. Really nice. One guy sang "Summertime" from Porgy & Bess. People were dancin' and swayin' to the rhythm of it...DANCING IN THE STREET.
I stood there through the whole song dancin' a little myself. It was kind of Groovy... like in the 60's.

And this women could play the Saxophone.... I mean she PLAYED that Sax. She was GOOD!

The evening and the people seems to mellow out as the sun disappeared. Lots of folks stopped to talk about all kinds of things.... everything. Could have had a lot to do with the WINE.

The wine tables were the busiest. All the local wineries were giving free samples if you bought a glass. Some folks were having trouble walking from one table to the next. I know for a fact that the wineries sell a lot of wine at these shows.

It was a nice evening in the Gold Country.