Sistering

My sister followed me back home on Sunday. She wanted a few days on the farm and a little R&R. The weather cooperated . It turned into a few day of achingly beautiful Spring weather that was warm and DRY. We just goofed off and had fun.
On Monday we drove into Sutter Creek and had lunch. We ate ice cream and shopped the south end of town. The Prospector always says, "Well, did we shop til we dropped?" and we say "Yep! We bought the town."
Truth be told.... the shopping part is getting a lot shorter as we get older.  So we don't spend hours walking up and down the street anymore. We form a strategy. We pick and choose the stores we really want to look at and then we only go into these stores. It's a matter of survival. I'm old. Sis is gaining on me.
After we had lunch we walked over to Yesterdays Heirlooms . I used amazing restraint. With all the beautiful Easter things and wonderful FREE PEOPLE clothing, which I can't afford anyway, but love. These clothes are really wild and unique styles. Kind of hippy style clothing with Anthropology prices.  But if I was in my 20's or 30's and had the money, I'd be buying this clothing .... and letting my hair grow to my waist.... and wearing flowers in my hair again.... Oh, yea!!
I invested heavily here. I bought a card. I liked what it said and reminded me that I need to be more careful about all human hearts and that loving kindness is always a better choice.

We moved on down the street to Topia Home and Garden. Well, you all know how I feel about Home & Garden. This is a very wonderful store at 33A Main St. that makes you go a little crazy when you walk inside.... and we did.

I bought this antique embroidered pillow. I fell in love with it . There it was.... sitting on a small, old sofa in the back of the store, with lots of other pillows. NO PRICE anywhere. I swear I heard it say, "Here I am. I need to go home with you. Forget me not." Yes, I'm pretty sure I heard the pillow say this to me. So this is why I had to pick it up and walk to the counter with it.... just to asked the price.
I'm not going to say how much it was, but I will tell you that it was almost 40% off the original price and that was when I knew I could not walk away. I bought it and haven't regretted it since. Look at the beautiful work that someone put into this.

The fabric is so soft and old.  The women who sold it to me said that her mother loved these pillows and she would buy them for her mother when she was alive. This pillow had memories. This was a well loved pillow and now it would have another wonderful home. How nice! A history, a remembrance..... no wonder the pillow was talking to me.
Now where shall I put it.... HERE? In my grandmother's old oak rocking chair?

Or HERE? In my mother's wicker chair?

Which do you like best?
Maybe I will switch it around and see which place the pillow seems most comfortable ... but right now I think I will keep it next to me in the tapestry recliner, where I sit all the time. It may have more to talk about and I want to hear what it has to say.
This beautiful old pillow sure does add something to my living room. Makes it seem like Spring is here and life is brighter.It's a good feeling.

The next day we went antiquing in Jackson. I bought some lace.

and a doily.

Each was only a dollar. This made me feel better about my splurge the day before.

On Wednesday we made felted soap. I showed Sis how to do it and from then on she went at it like a pro.

This is a fun and easy thing to do. You can spend a few hours with your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews making felted soap. Especially on a rainy day when there isn't much else to do. A few supplies and a little direction... that's all it takes. If you Google "Felted soap" you will have all the information you know what to do with. It's such fun..... and everyone smells good afterwards.

Look at all the beautiful soaps we made. It's a plate full of Easter.With little pieces of cotton doily felted in for exfoliation. Aren't they just the prettiest? Put them in an Easter basket for someone. I use little soaps I save from hotels, inexpensive soaps from CVS,Walgreen's and WalMart. Any soap that smells good and lathers well. I love Yardley's Lavender soap and it's not very expensive.
Sis made a most beautiful felted soap with Yardleys. It looks like a rock.  It's a soap rock. Kind of like a pet rock only softer and if you drop it in the shower it won't break a toe. Look at this one.

Isn't this wonderful?
You must try these felted soaps. They are useful and you will never need a wash cloth again.
I gave one to my youngest grandson last weekend. He is 4 yrs old. He held it, turned in in his hands, pulled at it and then said "Noni, how do you get the soap out of here?" He needed to have some fun with it in his bathtub to understand why Noni would wrap soap inside all that fuzzy stuff. I will let you know how this turns out the next time I'm there. I'm not sure he understood the concept of "fuzzy" soap.Maybe he can put it under his pillow at night (before he gets it wet) and it will make everything smell good.
So my sister left around noon yesterday. I will see her again in less than a week. We are driving up north, to Susanville, to celebrate our uncle's 90th birthday party. Should be fun.... if it doesn't snow and we get over the mountain passes. Our cousin is going with us so we can all take turns driving.

This was Tuesday evening.... Sis and I are sitting on the front porch, enjoying the beautiful weather.

The temperature was 72 degrees at 5:00 p.m. Honestly.

And the Tulip tree was showing off for us.

....Good ol' California Springtime.

What makes your soul bloom?

"If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom."  ~Terri Guillemets~

For me.... this.

Wordless Wednesday: Rainy Day Through the California Delta

How to have a really great birthday when you're six years old

First you invite all your really good friends and when they get there they tickle you until you're laughing so hard that you can hardly get your breath but it's still fun anyway.

And they just want to give you birthday tickles.

And they don't want to stop...

And then Daddy comes and says that you have to line up because the fun is beginning.

 You were already having lots of fun but you and your friends go line up and the rest of the fun begins....

This place is called Encore Gymnastics.

It's a gym for kids and you get to do all kinds of really fun stuff.

Like climbing a rock wall. It is scary but you keep trying and you can't fall because they have a rope and harness attached to you. So you keep climbing.

Your friend is climbing higher than you so you keep trying. You reach the red line.

The red line is half way but you are getting kind of afraid so you tell the guy on the ground that you want to come down. He tells you to let go and push away with your feet. It's fun to come down.

A few minutes later you try to climb again and this time you go further, above the red line.

It feels good this time and it's not so scary. Everyone tells you that you are brave and doing really good climbing.
You have so much fun.

You run and jump...

And swing....

And walk on a balance beam...

Then they let you be silly and you get to rest with your Dad for a while.

And then you have some more fun with you friends.

And your brother starts to look like he's getting really tired because he's only 4 years old.
Finally, you get to go into a room that has a big table and someone has fixed it all up with decorations, and food, and a birthday cake just for you. 

Your babysitter has made you a Lego cake with your name on it and it really looks like Legos. It's cool.
Then we have a great party. 

After the party we give everyone a bag of goodies to take home. We thank them for coming and we say goodbye.
Later, when we go home, there are some presents to open. 
What an awesome day !

Weekend for the Bean

I'm leaving for the weekend. Going to my grandson's sixth birthday party. Our road is clear after yesterday's storm. It's a miracle. The Prospector just did a road check for me. No downed trees or landslides. I can get into town. The rest, all the way to the Bay Area, is up to me. Wish me luck.
There's another storm moving in. If I make it across the valley and through the Delta, I will consider myself a lucky traveler.
Got my supplies.... energy bars, water, gifts,  cookies, change of clothes, vitamins, and a full tank of gas. I'm  ready for whatever comes my way. It's all about the journey. Right?
See you Sunday....

What a Day!.... and it's not even over with... yet.

This California girl has just about had enough of this "Springtime" weather. 
I'm tired of the wind, the rain, the thunder and lightening..... and three of my "billy goats gruff".
Gruff as in ... being really awful to Brownie.
Gruff as in... they are making Brownie miserable and they don't seem to care. 
It's bad enough that he's lost his horn....

But now he's being ostracized. The other goats don't want  to be anywhere near him and when he tries to join them... they push him away.

He a goat adrift... in a field of despair. 
He's a goat alone in the world.

Oh, Brownie. I'm so sorry this is happening.

I don't understand why the goats are rejecting him. He was always one of the pack. I think it has to do with him losing his horn. I don't know if they did it playing around, butting heads and pushing each other like they do. I think maybe they didn't like all the blood, or that the missing horn makes him different. I just don't know. Maybe they are rejecting the weakness. He had always been such a hard nose. Now he's acting very vulnerable.
The other day I got mad at Bart for pushing Brownie away from the fence while I was petting him and all I got from Bart was attitude.

And after he stopped playing around trying to be.... "all that".

Then he gives me his "wonderful goat" look and walks away.
BEAST! 
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This morning we are having a wind storm with lots of sideways rain. It's a really cold ( well, not cold like Michigan, Dawn.) rain. It's snowing in Pine Grove.  the news this morning said it's even snowing in Sonora. (1900 ft.) 
The trees are swaying back and forth. One of those days when people should stay inside so I was downloading some pictures from my camera and I heard a cry from what I thought was Brownie.
I put my raincoat on. Ran out to the goat house and Brownie was on the other side of their house hunkering against the wall. The other goats were in the goat house. 
I put my boots on, sloshed out to him and led him back into the enclosure.  I closed the gate so he couldn't leave again and told the other goats to behave themselves. They were guarding the doorway so Brown couldn't get in. They have been doing this for weeks now. This photo shows them a few days ago, ganging up on Brown because he had the audacity to go into the house. They went in and chased him out.

So, I realized that it wasn't Brown's bawling I heard from inside the house. His is more pathetic.
As I stood there, I heard it again and guess what?.... I walked out to the front driveway, looked up the road and what did I see? COWS above the chicken house. BIG BLACK COWS!!! We don't own any cows. The Prospector had gone into town. I'm here dealing with a rejected goat and, all of a sudden, a small herd of COWS appear. WHAT THE...!!
I ran up the road toward them yelling and shouting. They gave me that wide eyed stare that cows get when they are confronted or startled. Then they turned around (thank God) and walked back up the road. I'm so glad that they were being agreeable. They are very big animals. Wouldn't want to have one argue with me. They were much more cooperative than Brownie, who had to be sweet talked and pushed back though two fences and  into the goat house.
About a half hour later the Prospector came home. He went up and closed the big gate that we installed, half way up to the well, just for those occasions when cows decide to visit. He didn't see any cows. I must have made an impression on them. They were heading back to where ever they belonged. I'm sure that they were saying, as they walked away,  " Crazy woman! over there. We don't need to go down that road again." 
***********************
Well, SH%*TE... now our Flowering Pear tree just lost a big limb and it's laying on the garage roof and back porch. I will return.....
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And a couple of hours later...
I've been gone for a while. I needed to be out there to watch over my husband . He was up on a ladder and that's kind of scary in this wind. He has a bad knee. He was using a chain saw. I just wanted to be close by.

You had to be there. The wind blowing. The rain pelting down. The branch landed on our iron fence and then the wood fence. Thankfully the fences broke the heaviness of the huge branch and there was no damage to the back porch or the garage roof. The Prospector started cutting the heaviest part of the branch to relieve the weight on the fences.

The photo is kind of blurry because of the rain and wind. Then the Prospector went around and cut some of the smaller branches away from the back porch.

The trellis held up really well considering that it caught the top of the tree.

I'm guessing that the weakness from the other branch that fell last year is what weaken this one. It came from the same area on the tree. We may lose the whole tree now. I hope not. It's so much shade in the summer and it's such a beautiful tree. 

The rest of the tree is moving back and forth. We are hoping that it doesn't fall over. The wind is so strong today. It's still blowing hard out there..... and the rain....  We are thankful for a sound home and that the electricity hasn't gone off..... knock on wood....

I didn't say that.... knock on wood...

Mother nature is sure having it her way this year. 

The rain is even hitting the window that's under the front porch.... What a day!