Wordless Wednesday: Car Show in Jackson, CA

Farmer's Market Goodies

To market, to market, to buy some ...

Okra (Yes, my husband LOVES Okra.) and a few more veggies.... and some garlic.

Saturdays and Sundays we have a Farmer's Market in Jackson. It's in the parking lot behind Mel & Fay's Diner.

They sell lots of local produce, but they also sell other things. I made the mistake of walking in without a list. I knew that I needed some Okra and garlic... and the little squash that we love so much.
What I didn't know was that I also needed some lemon curd,,,

...from this sweet lady, with a scotch accent, who lived in Mokelumne Hill.

And I also didn't know that I needed this beautiful night light. But, there it was... waiting for me.

Don't you think that I just had to have this wonderful piece of artwork for my green bathroom? Of course I did.
This lady had some beautiful jewelry. Her name is Helanna Andres.

 She was so nice and she makes beautiful jewelry. Her business is called Classic Art Glass and she has an email address: helanna@comcast.net.. If you are interested in glass art, I'm sure that she would be happy to tell you all about it.
That night The Prospector fixed some fried Okra to go with our dinner and, later...
 I went into the bathroom just to look at my new nightlight... in the dark.

It's so pretty.
I can't eat it... but that's OK. It will keep me from falling, in the middle of the night, and breaking my neck. It's my new beacon in the dark. A perfect blend of form and function. I just love it.

Wordless Wednesday: Breakfast in Jackson and a drive to Lake Tabeaud.

Going once, going twice...SOLD.

We have a new auction house in town. They auction just about anything you can imagine.

Saturday morning The Prospector and I decided to go and see what they do and how they do it. What a good time we had.
The Amador Auction House  is a well organized, interesting place. It's in the old Prospect Motors building coming into town across from the park and library. I didn't think they would ever use this old car lot for anything worthwhile again... but they have.

We Got our "number" and then, because we came a little early, we got to preview the items that were going to be auctioned off.
There were books and old boxes.

There were all kinds of old bottles and lanterns.

Furniture...

 And signs of every kind.

There was a lot of mining equipment...
Some of the artifacts were old and antique... some not so old and from the "gold" tourist industry... but all gorgeous items.
 I loved the mining carts. They even had the track underneath them. That's how they got these very heavy carts down into the mines. Track is very hard to find now.

There were hats, holsters, and pick axes... and some fake bars of gold. Ya gotta know the difference between the real stuff and the fake. I WISH that I had a BAR of Gold.
As of 4/3/12 at 9:00 p.m. PST, the price of gold is $1,643.18 an ounce, so those "bars of gold" would not be just sittin' on a table like that if they were real.

There were heaters, old milk cans and fire extinguishers.

You can decide what you are willing to pay for something you really want... ahead of time. The preview lets you take a look at all the items, write down the number of the item and drool all over yourself. Like the wonderful old school desk that was talking to me from the minute I walked across the room.

But the desk wasn't what we came for. We were looking for old mining artifacts or something that we could use as a planter.
The auction started and what excitement it was. A noisy, fast paced process of bidding, shouting and confirmation of sale.
I bid on a box of books but someone else wanted them more than I did. I started the bidding on some of the wonderful signs ,but that Fort Defiance sign (in the fifth photo) ended up being sold for $100. I loved the signs and wanted one but I was unwilling to pay the price.
Then we focused on an old water trough that had a couple of gold signs attached. The bidding started at $25.
We went back and forth with one other person and finally.... WE won the bid.
The old trough was ours.
Oh Joy!

They had a lunch break and some entertainment.
Calamity Jane was causing all kind of trouble as she kicked a chair over and accused one of the men at the poker table of cheating.

 Our local thespians were giving us a good show and everyone had a great time.
I drove home in a raging wind and rain storm, around lunchtime, worried about the dogs. The Prospector stayed to see the rest of the auction... and the entertainment.
Yesterday, the Prospector drove the truck downtown and picked up our "water trough" planter..
We are delighted with it.
Here it is next to the garage.

It came in two pieces. The legs and frame are separate from the box. There is a sign on the front that says

"REAL GOLD" and one on the end that I forgot to take a "before" picture of.  The Prospector unscrewed them from the front and side of the trough so I could paint them. I have redone them with acrylics and today I gave them a coat of Urethane.
We lined the box with a metal liner and filled it with dirt. Now I can filled it with all kind of beautiful flowers for summer.
The signs turned out nice. It was fun to work on them. The old outlines of the words were there so I just redid what had already been there before.
The sign above ended up looking like this...

And the smaller sign that will be put on the end facing the driveway looks like this...

I think that this trough was used for a panning tough in a state park like Columbia, CA. to teach tourist how to pan for gold... but, for the rest of its life it will be holding flowers.
The auction was really a lot of fun, even though I didn't stay for the whole day. I wanted to bid on so many things but you have to stay focused and you really have to stay within your budget.
Some items went for a lot more than I thought they were worth. But, what is the worth of something when you really want it? I guess only the person who bids on that wonderful thing that "has their name on it" knows what it's REAL worth is.
But we are so happy with our new planter and the experience was really great.
The storm brought us a wild auction day and a rainbow at the end.
This seemed like a happy day to us.
******************

Guess who called me last night? THE BEAN.
My grandson called to thank us for the birthday present and we talked for quite a while.
 He says that I need an IPad so I can learn to play games better and practice more.
 He says that the IPad would be a better choice than an IPhone. It's bigger and "Is more fun."
So, I have it on the best authority, that I need to invest in another form of electronics to improve my life and "play games better." He proceeded to tell me how to play a specific game which I didn't understand at all, but he was being very patience with me. After all, I'm his Noni. and he knows how easily I can "drop my transmission" over these games.
He's seven. He knows everything about computer generated games and programs and "apps".
I just love listening to him tell me how to do things.
He is such a smart little boy and he is so full of knowledge about the things that are important to him.
I'm still not sure how to play these games but I sure like the idea of carrying the Internet around in my purse.
IPhone? IPad? IPhone? IPad? Kindle? Laptop? Oh my gosh!  I know they all have different uses but I'm so confused . I will have to have another discussion about this with the Bean, before I buy something. He'll probably be eight by the time I buy anything. He'll be even smarter by then.
His brother talked to me too. Little Bean is fine. He was watching TV at the same time so I only got bits and pieces of a conversation.... but, he's fine.
Then I got to talk to my son.
I love it when they call.

A Good Day for Two Old People

It's garden project time. The first project is to get rid of something that we planted and is, now, taking over our garden. This is a warning to all of you who want to cover a big area of ground fast. DON"T PLANT VINCA MAJOR~!! It's common name is Periwinkle. It really pretty with it's little "lavender-blue dilly, dilly..." pinwheel-shaped flowers and it's "green all summer" leaves but, oh my gosh, this stuff is so invasive. It's coming up everywhere. It is what my cousin, who was a biologist in Oregon, called a "noxious weed". I can remember her talking about people who plant things and let them get out of control. I can hear her voice shouting at me, as I stand and look at this pretty stuff that is taking over my garden..."Didn't I tell you about this? What were you thinking?". I guess I wasn't . I was trying to cover a rocky hillside.  I've seen it growing wild in the creeks around here. Vinca thrives with just a small source of water. It seems to survive our horribly hot summers here without water at all. So we are on a mission to eradicate as much as possible and take back the gravel walk that is in the front garden.
I started Saturday morning, with my two little canine helpers. They don't really work very hard but they come cheap and they give me lots of moral support. I cut down as much Vinca as I could and then I raked and pulled, ripped and tore, trying to get as many roots as possible. The Prospector will use weed killer to get what I didn't. Sorry if I have offended anyone but sometimes you have to use tough love in the garden. It would be worse if this plant got out of control. We will try to be as GREEN as we can be. Then we will cover the whole area with riverbed rock and gravel.

We are also building a inner fence to confine our two little dogs this summer. We only need a short fence for our short dogs and we found this really amazing fencing at LOWES that comes in 3 ft. sections and has a two piece gate in the same design. It went together so easily. It has posts with a spear like attachment that goes into the ground first. Then, you put the post through the extensions on each fence section and hammer the post into the piece that is already in the ground. It's so easy my grandkids could do it. and it worked really well in our rocky soil. We got everything done except the second gate going down to the vegetable garden and when we finish we won't have to worry about the puppies running into any RATTLESNAKES down the hill or behind the house, in the summer. It's doesn't guarantee that a rattletail won't come waltzing into the lawn area but it does improve the odds of an unexpected encounter with one..., and it looks great. I will take some finished pictures tomorrow.

This morning we took a break for a few hours and went down into town. Jackson was having it's big Dandelion Days celebration. It's a street fair. They close down Main St. and all the parking areas, for vendors that sell just about everything and music, singing, rock wall climbing, good food and all sorts of activities.
We left home early and went to the pancake breakfast at the Police station. Filled ourselves with good food and then walked up and down Main St. looking at all the things that were for sale and all the lovely people. People watching is one of my favorite things to do. Someone had a gourd booth with birdhouse gourds and craft/holiday gourds. They were cute and very inexpensive. I bought a pair of gloves, two drill bits for my Dremel, two wire brushes, a charm for a friend in Michigan and two little porcelain dolls (without arms) that will be used for artwork.We had a great time.
Then we headed back home to work on the fence and garden all afternoon. This weather is so wonderful right now. I could do SPRING forever.
Tonight we are two tired, old people. Sore?.., Oh yes. Sleepy?.., absolutely, but feeling a sense of accomplishment. I'm quite sure that neither of us will have trouble sleeping tonight.

Wordless Wednesday: Jackson, Ca. with a few directions.

Corner of Main St and Water St.

Looking East on Water St.

Catholic Church on (of course) Church St. and Court St.